Good afternoon, First Minister. 

8. How will the Welsh Government ensure a fair and just transition to net-zero for rural communities? OQ57674

Llywydd, our Net Zero Wales plan is predicated on ensuring a just transition across Wales, including in rural communities. The plan contains 123 policies and proposals, and draws on many live examples from the rural communities of Wales.

Thank you, First Minister. I'd like to raise the matter of the commitment of the Welsh Government to plant 86 million trees by the end of this decade as part of the plan to reach net zero by 2050. According to the Farmers Union of Wales, only 25 per cent of the plans to plant more than 50 hectares of woodland, which is equivalent to 93 football pitches—.

Farming unions are fully in support of the Government's climate and zero-carbon agenda, but there is concern, First Minister, that policies that drive tree planting, particularly where funding exceeds the level of support available for agricultural land, have the potential to impact on tenant farming categorised by short-term tenancies. Glastir has helped many, many farmers to diversify, as we know, so there's much to learn from, but we must be mindful of unintended consequences.

I'm looking forward to you joining me on a visit to a farmer in my region of Mid and West Wales, and I know that one of the issues they will want to discuss with you is around tree planting. And I wonder if you could tell me how the Government is going to ensure that the burden of decarbonisation does not fall unequally on rural communities. Diolch yn fawr iawn. 

Well, Llywydd, I'd like to thank Jane Dodds for that question. And, of course, it is true to say that we do have an ambitious target for tree planting in Wales, and that is important because that's the advice that we've had from the committee advising us. To help us to reach net zero here in Wales, we will have to plant many more trees, and in so doing, there are great opportunities for farmers in Wales to do things that are important to us as a nation, but where they can also receive funding to do things that are important to us all.

Of course I recognise that tree planting has to be the right tree in the right place, and that is an integral part of the plan that we have. It is not simply about planting any sort of tree anywhere. It's to use land that is not available for other activities that farmers can carry out in Wales, and which have a commercial value, but to use land that is not useable in that way to grow a crop that will be to the benefit of us all as we face climate change. 

I recognise the point that Jane Dodds makes. To plant trees is a long-term proposition, and if you're a short-term tenant, then you have to be able to reconcile those two things. We're aware of that, of course, and work with farming unions and others on it. I look forward very much to the visit we plan to make together, now that it will be easier, as we hope, to carry out such visits in Wales, and I look forward to discussing with farming unions in Wales the way in which they can assist their members to take advantage of what I believe is a major opportunity for rural Wales to play its part, as I know it wants to do, in tackling that major crisis of our time in climate change, and to do it in a way that rewards them for the contribution that they will make.

I thank the First Minister, and I very much hope that you make a full and swift recovery from COVID. Best wishes to you.