Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:10 pm on 10 January 2023.
Thank you, Minister. I was going to say that it's wonderful to hear you speaking so evangelically about this, but it's not just 'wonderful', it's very powerful. It's a new year, new hope. I genuinely mean that. I think there are genuinely things to be welcomed in this statement. Certainly, that's in stark contrast with the crisis that we're facing. We need hope—of course we need hope—and that's particularly true because of how exceptionally poor the situation is, as you've already been outlining already today. Biodiversity is declining at a greater rate now than at any time in the history of humanity. We talk about the different statistics very often, but that is—. It frightens me in so many ways. The average number of indigenous species in the majority of major habitats on land has declined at least 20 per cent since the beginning of the twentieth century; 41,000 species worldwide are under threat of extinction; one in six species is facing extinction in Wales; we often hear in the Siambr that natural ecosystems have decreased by 47 per cent on average, compared with previous estimates; and we've also heard that approximately 75 per cent of surface area has been significantly changed, and over 85 per cent of wetlands have been lost to date.
A number of the points that I wanted to raise have already been raised by Janet. I don't want to rehearse those points, but I have heard your responses. I genuinely welcome the fact that you attended COP15 and I welcome the fact that, given that you are holding this biodiversity deep-dive as well—. It is good to see that the Welsh Government, at last—. I think we are now on the same page. Certainly, your enthusiasm for this issue is so good to hear again.
You yourself have said that action is the key thing in all of this. So, can you tell us more as regards driving the work on the content of legislation—you have made promises regarding nature targets, about governance—in terms of a clear timetable for that? Is there anything specifically that you could tell about that timetable at the moment?
And in terms of what you said about Québec and the sub-national government, I think that work is really exciting. So, what partners do you think will be most important for us in the initial phase and as the work progresses? That's something that could be transformational, I think, in so many ways.
I agree with what you said, certainly, about how important it is to safeguard the rights of communities such as the Wampis. That's certainly something that I would agree with.
And finally—I don't know what 'immersive' is in Welsh—on the immersvie film that you discussed and how shocking it was to see and experience how wonderful the world is and then to see the decline and the threats that face us, is there any way that we could try to see whether there is a way of creating that kind of immersive experience, particularly for schoolchildren in Wales?. I say 'children', but we do need to take action before those children grow up. Is there any way—? Are there other governments worldwide that are trying to emulate that experience in some way for people in the community too?