6. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Biodiversity

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:19 pm on 4 October 2022.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 5:19, 4 October 2022

Listen, I'm going to rattle through some very quick things. First of all, well done on this and well done to the people who put this together with the biodiversity deep-dive. This is significant—every word in this statement carries us on a significant way. Now the devil is going to be in the detail, but can I welcome this very much, welcome the fact that you've restated today, in response to the statement as well, your commitment to bring forward statutory targets and ones that are stretching and ambitious? And they've got to be the right ones. I know you've stuck on this ground for some time; that's great, but we're looking forward to it and we'll hold you to that being stretching and ambitious. The signals for this are important around the team Wales; total contrast to what's happening in England, what we're seeing; we've all got to pull this together. And would you confirm for me that, actually, a lot of farmers have been involved in this deep-dive, a lot have contributed? They not only wanted this, they wanted us to go further. And would you also tell us how we're going to do the funding? Because you mentioned towards the end of the statement there that—it says:

'We recognise that we need to unlock additional funding to deliver for nature at a far greater scale and pace.'

I agree. When and how?