Item 4 is next, a statement by the Minister for Climate Change on the Gwent levels, nature recovery exemplar areas. And I call on the Minister, Julie James.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I am really pleased to be able to speak today about the progress being made across one of Wales's most important protected areas, the Gwent levels. As a Government, tackling the climate and nature emergencies is very much at the heart of everything we do. We must protect our environment for future generations to enjoy, and to play our part on the global stage. Globally, nature is still being lost at a frightening rate, and the situation in Wales is similar, with a rapid decline in our most precious species and habitats. I am absolutely committed to helping reverse this decline, and that is why I am currently working on a biodiversity deep dive, focused on our 30x30 target, to, at the very least, protect 30 per cent of our land and sea by 2030.

The Gwent levels are an important part of the contribution to meeting this ambition, and the focus must now be on improving the condition of this protected area and its margins. The levels are of national importance for their biodiversity and landscape, being designated by a series of sites of special scientific interest, as well as being a landscape of outstanding historic interest. Their location, adjacent to Cardiff and Newport, and into Monmouthshire, also make them a valuable cultural and recreation asset for locals and visitors.

In July last year, I released a written statement on taking action to better protect and manage the Gwent levels, following the decision not to proceed with the M4 relief road in 2019. Today, I am updating Members on the progress being made and the measures I am supporting to ensure the levels have the right level of protection and management in place to preserve their unique interest.

In February 2020, the Welsh Government convened a Gwent levels working group, chaired by John Griffiths MS, to explore how the levels could be better protected and managed. The group is now well-established and includes representation from the Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales, local government, environmental non-governmental organisations, and other local groups, and has developed a strategic action plan of its shared priorities.

Having visited the levels last July, and met members of the working group last September, I've been very impressed by their enthusiasm and dedication to the protection and management of the Gwent levels. This partnership approach, adopted by the Living Levels Landscape Partnership, has delivered significant achievements on the ground in terms of habitat restoration and management, as well as extensive community participation and engagement with nature and the cultural history of the area. This is an exemplar of the partnership approach that is so vital across an area or landscape, to focus the many actions that are needed to reverse biodiversity loss and help nature recovery. Since July, good progress has been made.

I'm very pleased to say that, thanks to the hard work of the Living Levels partnership and the working group members, further funding has now been secured to support the partnership for a further 18 months. This will help the partnership develop longer term management arrangements and vision for the levels, as well as the co-ordination of more restoration work and continued engagement activities.

One of the priorities identified by the working group is to help address the pressures for development on the SSSI sites by developing a better evidence base and guidance for developers and planners to inform development decisions. Getting this right is absolutely vital for these SSSI sites, and I have approved the development of strategic planning guidance for the area, which I want to see taken forward at pace. This will be the first pilot of the 'Future Wales' policy 9 approach to proactively embed biodiversity considerations into planning policies within national natural resource management areas in Wales.

The working group also identified the need to accelerate the programme of habitat restoration and management on the levels, so it can continue to support wildlife and deliver the huge range of benefits it does, both globally, locking up carbon, and locally, providing a natural and culturally rich place for people to enjoy. Drawing on the great work that has already been achieved, the partnership will continue to work with farmers, land managers and volunteer groups, who are vital to the success of this work.

To contribute towards the habitat restoration and management work, I have agreed with the First Minister to review the suitability of land that was acquired for the M4 relief road. This will help us better understand the biodiversity potential of these sites, which will help inform the decisions we make on their future. I'm pleased that consultants have now been appointed to produce a strategic enhancement plan, which will start with site survey work this summer, and will be completed by the end of this financial year.

And, as already mentioned, I am currently conducting a biodiversity deep dive. This is focused on the Wales approach to implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 global biodiversity framework to protect 30 per cent of our land and 30 per cent of our sea by 2030. I'll be asking participants how we can harness and expand the collaborative working exemplified by the Living Levels partnership, and other similar partnerships across Wales, to ensure our valuable sites are protected and effectively managed for the future. I look forward to sharing the outcomes of the biodiversity deep dive and its recommendations with Members in September, once it's concluded. Diolch.

Conservative spokesperson, Janet Finch-Saunders. 

Thank you, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you, Minister, for the statement. I think there's one thing we can agree on and that is the need to protect 30 per cent of our land and sea by 2030. Now, however, as you know, I've been asking, since October, what is the reason why we can't set these targets into law. You responded to me then, saying, 'I am considering the role that legislation can play in underpinning nature recovery targets more broadly, including the 30x30 target.' So, eight months on, have you made a legislative decision on the 30x30 target, or are you going to make Wales wait until you have the outcome of the biodiversity deep dive?

I suppose, for me, it's a little extraordinary that the statement has just been made in relation to the Gwent levels specifically, because it gives me the impression that you regard the SSIs there with greater priority and importance than those in every other corner of Wales. If not, will we be seeing oral statements on SSIs everywhere else in Wales coming forward? What is the crux, really, of this statement? Is it that you are taking steps to further campaign against an M4 relief road for Newport? And, in light of the decision to review the suitability of land that was acquired for the M4 relief road, will you clarify whether it is your ambition to see the land blocked from being used for a highway, and state—tell us—how much the consultants are being paid for the strategic enhancement plan?

As you know, the Gwent levels working group has already been created to explore better methods of protecting the Gwent levels, while acknowledging the need to maintain the area's significant historical importance to Wales. The working group is made up of representatives from the Welsh Government, NRW and other environmental NGOs, and they've met six times since it was formed, but have yet to publish an action plan. And according to you, any plan formalised would not necessarily be made public. I suppose I ask why that's the case. And how can we expect the people of Wales to entrust us with safeguarding them and their livelihoods, if you will not consult and communicate with them on your action plan for the Gwent levels? Currently, Wales is the only country in the UK that is not contributing data to the UK biodiversity indicator on the condition of areas or sites of special scientific interest. So, as a result, 70 per cent of the 60 SSI feature condition assessments on the Gwent levels are unknown. So, why, Minister, has the Welsh Government been so inactive on changing this by taking the initiative to improve data collection? And what assurances can you give that the target of having 100 per cent of SSIs in a favourable condition by 2026 will be achieved? 

It's not just me that's worried about this. In fact, Wales Environment Link have produced a checklist for nature recovery. It includes how Ministers do need to be engaged in delivering a coherent response, as well as regular monitoring, review and reporting against targets. So, Minister, would you outline what steps you have taken to co-operate with environmental stakeholders, so that any future work is developed based on a broad and experienced group? And can we, please, have some transparency and allow any reports, any plans, to be made public? Thank you. Diolch.

Well, I don't know quite where to start with that, Janet. The level of cynicism shown in your remarks has quite staggered me, frankly, even for your good self. So, I'll try and address some of the things that you raised.

So, first of all, the Living Levels partnership has worked its socks off. It's chaired by John Griffiths, whom I'm sure will make a contribution shortly to the debate, and who was recently joined by Jayne Bryant MS. It's a series of people who've come together because they really care about their area. And the idea that this is somehow conducted in a cloak of secrecy, et cetera, et cetera, is just rubbish, frankly—absolute rubbish. I just don't know where you're coming from with any of that.

In terms of the actual targets, '30 per cent of the land, 30 per cent of the sea, by 2030' is a really great global headline, but we don't yet know what it means in order to present targets. Is it 30 per cent of every local authority area, of every community council, 30 per cent of the overall land mass of Wales? We don't know what it means. I want to have targets that mean something, that mean that we can have our feet held to the fire properly so that, when we have these targets in place, we know what they mean. The biodiversity deep dive is made up of a whole series of experts on this, and a series of stakeholder meetings meeting in parallel. They are the people who will help us do that to make sense of what the global '30 by 30' means. That's a great slogan, but it doesn't translate into a detailed target, and that's what we're working on.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Delyth Jewell.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. As we know, the Gwent levels are a vital hub for nature, protected nationally and internationally. The 900 miles of waterways know locally as reens are a chorus of life and home to hundreds of rare creatures. Numerous rare birds live there and migrate there to breed. More than 144 species of threatened bugs and beetles are also amongst those that have made their home there. I'm proud to be the species champion for one of the Gwent levels' smallest residents, the shrill carder bee, one of the UK's rarest bumblebees. The numbers of this bumblebee have sharply declined in recent years, and over the last century as well. It's now found in only seven areas in southern England and in Wales, including the Gwent levels. They are a vital hub for biodiversity and recreation. They're an example of international best practice when it comes to conservation as well, and I'll be asking you about that in a moment, Minister. 

The vibrant cities and towns in my region that surround the edges of the levels reinforce a sense of tranquillity, remoteness, wildness away from human occupation in many places, but it is an area that belongs to all of us, those living now and those yet to be born, of course. The successful conservation work that has taken place in the Gwent levels has only been possible due to the provision of sufficient funding in recent years. Could you please outline, Minister, or could you give us an indication of, the funding that will be allocated in the long term to the conservation projects that are going on in the Gwent levels?

In order to inform effective conservation work, monitoring, as we've heard already, is absolutely essential. But, across Wales, monitoring is insufficient. There are gaps in vitally important data. While monitoring should be undertaken by professionals or by experts, there is scope to empower local people or visitors to nature sites to undertake their own monitoring as well through uploading photographs to databases. That would really help us to make sure that, when we're addressing the nature crisis, the nature emergency that we have, everyone feels that they have a stake in this—that it's something that we shouldn't just be concerned about, but actually trying to solve it is something that we can all be involved in, and we can celebrate the wonderful diversity that's there. So, I'd like to know how the Welsh Government is supporting monitoring work in the Gwent levels, please, and beyond. Could you provide us some further information on this, particularly on how local people or visitors from any part of Wales or the world can be part of that?

And finally, in terms of the lessons that you've learned from effective conservation work in the Gwent levels in terms of best practice in conservation and nature recovery, what bearing will any findings have on the Welsh Government's efforts to halt biodiversity decline and bring about substantive nature recovery in the long term, please? Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Diolch, Delyth. I share your enthusiasm for it. I haven't been lucky enough to see one of the bees yet, but I've tried a couple of times. I've certainly seen pictures and videos, but not yet in person, so I'm looking forward to that. 

The reason for bringing this forward today is because what we're looking to see if we can develop is a long-term sustainable management vehicle for areas such as the Gwent levels. Clearly, we're not just talking about the Gwent levels, but the whole landmass of Wales. What we're looking to do is see if we can develop a sustainable management model that allows all partners to come together. The Gwent levels partnership is supported by the Welsh Government, but it's also supported by the RSPB, the Gwent Wildlife Trust, NRW, and a number of other partners. What we're looking to see is how we can get that sustainable model to work in a number of different areas and types of landscape in Wales.

Clearly, the Welsh Government cannot fund all of this. If that's what we're going to try and do, we'll be miles off our target. This is about how we can facilitate the best model to come together of citizen science and local volunteers and all of the NGOs that come together, alongside the charities and third sector organisations in that sustainable model. It crucially isn't pivotal on one enthusiastic individual being the pivot point; we're all familiar across the Chamber with places where that happens. So, that's why we're focusing on it—because it's a bit more advanced, it's got a number of people very interested in it.

Part of what the Living Levels partnership is doing is looking at the models of data collection—how do you do some kind of baseline, what does good conservation status really look like, how can we spread that out. I'm also very interested—and I'm using the biodiversity deep dive expertise to do this—in what kind of protection should areas like the Gwent levels have. It's not a national park, it's not currently designated, but it has got a lot of sites of special scientific interest. I say this a lot, and I make no apology for repeating it: if you stop Mr and Mrs Jones on the street somewhere in Wales and you say, 'What level of protection does a piece of land of special scientific interest have?', they're unlikely to think that you could put a car park on it. But, at the moment, you could, really, in some circumstances, do that. So, one of the big things we're also doing is looking at the strategic planning guidance for these areas to actually firm up on the protections—what does this mean.

My own personal view, and I stress it's not the Government's view, is that that hurdle should be very high indeed. You can't say 'never, never, never', because you don't know what will happen, but you can say 'almost never, never, never', depending on a really extreme circumstance where that is, so that we can secure these areas in order to halt the decline that we see at the moment, and then, of course, reverse it and then spread out. There's a big issue as well about the buffer zones around the edge, and so on. So, the Living Levels partnership is just a model that we're looking at to see if we can spread that out. 

Minister, thank you very much for your statement today, but also thank you very much for your commitment and Welsh Government's commitment to taking forward protection and sustainability for the Gwent levels. As you know, a great deal of good work has already happened through the Living Levels partnership, and we really need to build on that through a body that can take forward that work, and have long-term sustainable funding, and then focus with partners on the action that's required to take forward biodiversity and the ecosystems. I know you are very committed to that, Minister, and I would like you just to say a little bit about how that future can be ensured. 

On the planning issues, it's very good to see the work that's going on in terms of the strategic policy 9 and everything that goes around it, but you will know as well, Minister, that there are some current short-term pressures in terms of planning applications, for example solar farms, which, taken with those already in place, really change the nature of the area because of the prevalence of solar farms and the applications coming in. I know, Minister, you would expect developing Welsh Government policy and statements to be taken into account in the short term while the longer term work goes on, and I wonder if you could just say a little about those current applications in general—not any particular one—and developing Welsh Government thinking and the impact that that should have on decision making. And—

No, John. You've had your time, I'm sorry, and you've asked the questions. 

Okay. Diolch yn fawr.

Diolch, John. I know, John, you're very enthusiastic, and I'm very grateful for your chairing of the Living Levels partnership, which has certainly helped us move it on. We absolutely do need to improve the strategic planning guidance for the areas I mentioned previously. I can't comment on a number of outstanding planning applications for obvious reasons, so I'm not going anywhere near that. But just in general terms, as I said, this is going to be the first pilot of 'Future Wales' policy 9, the approach for mainstreaming biodiversity and ecosystem resilience into planning policies, and to ensure that as part of that pilot of policy 9, we get the right social, economic, cultural and environmental developments in the right place to enhance that biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. That's going to take the form of a masterplan for the area, which we've got, as you know, consultants working on.

We've sought views—as I know you know, John, from the Gwent Living Levels working group—on the governance approach needed to represent the political and technical interests around building this policy up and the guidance that needs to go with it on biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. I'm absolutely determined to make this a pilot area for this model of governance and planning policy, because this is a vital area—alongside many others in Wales, of course—of biodiversity and resilience. It's the green lungs of a big set of urban conurbations around its edges, as you know, John, and it's a source of rich carbon depositing and biodiversity. It's a really good example of carbon capture in a non-tree form as well, because, as I keep saying to people, the tree's just the iconic symbol for a whole range of different landscape types across Wales that support a range of biodiversity. I'm very determined to get that pilot up and running ASAP. We'll get the strategic planning guidance out and I remain very grateful indeed for your part in chairing the group.

Finally, Jayne Bryant.

Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. Thank you for that important statement, Minister. I'd like to pay tribute to the group chaired by my good friend John Griffiths, because it's done some incredible work over the time that it's been formed. The Gwent levels are a fantastic resource that needs to be treasured and protected. It formed around 8,000 years ago, and the man-made landscape dates back to the Romans. It really is a stunning part of Wales that I would urge anyone who hasn't been to visit.

I know that its importance is very much recognised by you, Minister, but I'd like to take this opportunity to push for more tools to be given to public bodies for them to be able to fight effectively in its defence. A particular threat is that of industrial-scale fly-tipping, where criminals utilise the levels' isolation but relatively easy access to the M4 to dump tonnes of refuse and waste. Local government and NRW do their best to issue fines and notices, but community groups have often found these processes arduous, and the fines issued comparatively ineffective. Can the Minister please look at the processes we use to protect the levels and whether there are any ways we can look to arm public bodies with stronger powers and deterrents, so that firmer and swifter action can be taken against the selfish criminal organisations that exploit this fantastic landscape?

Thank you very much indeed, Jayne Bryant. That's a very important point, isn't it, because we need to do a number of things. I'm very happy to look again at whether we can strengthen the enforcement abilities of the various agencies around it, but actually, what we really need to do is make it so obvious that this is a site of special scientific interest and nature conservation that it becomes just unthinkable that somebody would behave in such a way. This goes for all the sites across Wales, not just this particular one. So, we need to do more, don't we? We need to make sure that it's actively buzzing with nature—if you'll forgive the pun—and that's a deterrent in itself, really. So, I think there are two strands to that.

I'm very, very happy to look again at what can be done about the very specific issue that you raise. I'd be very grateful, if you have any instances you'd like to bring to my attention specifically, if you do that. But more importantly, this is about making sure that the network of people across the levels—and, of course, the other sites across Wales—come together to make it just socially unacceptable in the biggest way possible for anyone to behave like that. We know that getting hearts and minds on board, getting inclusion on board, is one of the best ways to do that. Diolch.

Thank you, Minister.