5. What role will the sustainable farming scheme play in species recovery? OQ57743

Thank you. Responding to the nature emergency is a key objective of our proposed sustainable farming scheme. Future farm support will reward farmers who take action to maintain and create resilient ecosystems. This will help create the conditions that will enable species recovery at farm and landscape scale.

In a written response to me from the Minister for Climate Change six weeks ago, she said,

'Longer term, the Sustainable Farming Scheme will be an important mechanism and source of funding to address habitat loss and species decline, including some of our iconic farmland birds such as the curlew. Representations from the Gylfinir Cymru Partnership will be considered by the Minister for Rural Affairs, North Wales and Trefnydd as the Sustainable Farming Scheme is developed.'

But, with country-level extinction by 2033 threatened, I hope you'd agree that we don't have time to wait. As it's going to take the best part of a decade for the Wales-wide roll-out of the sustainable farming scheme, how will this help restore populations of rare and vulnerable species like curlew, which need urgent action now if we're not to lose them from Wales? And can the Minister confirm her acceptance of Gylfinir Cymru's request for an on-site meeting with farmers, land managers and Gylfinir Cymru partners to discuss curlew recovery, the wider multiple and multispecies benefits provided, and potentially support policy development like the sustainable farming scheme?

Thank you. Well, as we are already in the middle of a climate and nature emergency, you're quite right that we don't have time to play with. So, I wouldn't want people to think we were just waiting for the sustainable farming scheme to come in relation to protecting our species, and the Member will be very well aware of many schemes that now sit within the Minister for Climate Change's portfolio—the sustainable management scheme, for instance, which is already improving the resilience of our ecosystems, it's enhancing our biodiversity, and of course it's tackling climate change. There's been significant funding—I think it's about £235 million—already gone into around 50 projects across Wales. We've also got the national peatland action programme, which is helping increase the ecosystem resilience of our Welsh peatland. So, what the sustainable farming scheme will be looking at is the good practice from these schemes and building on that.