5. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Nature, biodiversity and local places for nature

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:43 pm on 12 October 2021.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 4:43, 12 October 2021

I agree it's easy to be paralysed by the extent of the challenge facing us, as the UK now has the most depleted nature resources in Europe. Good practice doesn't always travel well, and so I just wondered how we are going to share the good practice that is going on in various parts of our community. For example, I don't think that Nature Networks and Local Places for Nature are household names, and they absolutely need to be, and we need to engage all publicly funded bodies to be involved in this saving of our planet.

In terms of mental health benefits, last week I attended the open day of Adferiad Recovery, and saw the wonderful work going on, with people using gardening as a way of dealing with their addictions, and it really is a very, very powerful way of helping people with mental health crises. Next month, I'll be working with the National Trust, planting fruit trees in super-output areas of deprivation in my community as part of its Blossom Watch, and I'm very grateful to them for the work they're doing.

But I also just want to point out the work being done by Brent local authority, which I learnt about last night in a meeting, which I know that your Deputy Minister was also involved in, where they're using—. The fact that we've got cuts in local authority spending mean they're doing less grass cutting, but they're using that as an opportunity to plant more pollinating flowers and plants, and they've even got a bee corridor. They also have a monthly newsletter of the Brent forum, which ensures that everybody in the forum knows about what everybody else is doing. And I just wondered if there wasn't some sort of electronic way in which we could be spreading good practice on a fairly regular basis.