10. What action is the Welsh Government taking to protect threatened wildlife species? OQ58941

A team Wales approach is taken to protect threatened wildlife. On 10 January, my colleague the Minister for Climate Change announced measures to support a wide range of wildlife species, including many that are threatened. These measures include direct stewardship and enhancements to the habitats and ecosystems that support our wildlife.

Thank you. Trees provide numerous environmental, social and economic benefits, and tree planting is widely considered to be one of the most important ways to combat climate change and poor air quality. However, the decline in the curlew is strongly associated with increased amounts of woodland near breeding sites. Although the iconic curlew is our most pressing bird conservation priority, it will be extinct as a breeding population within a decade without intervention. However, woodland continues to be seen as a public good, even when it provides an ideal habitat for the apex predators whose predation of nests and chicks is a primary cause of curlew breeding failure. As the Welsh Government Minister responsible for the protection of management of wildlife, what specific action are you taking to ensure that the Welsh Government's target for woodland planting in Wales takes account of this, and that, although the snares of yesteryear are not acceptable, modern humane cable restraints are recognised as holding devices not killing devices, with a key ole to play amongst the range of urgent intervention measures needed to prevent imminent curlew extinction and to reverse biodiversity loss?

Thank you. You're quite right, the curlew is an iconic farmland and moorland bird. I am pleased that you continue to champion it. I was due to meet Curlew Wales and, unfortunately, I had to postpone the meeting. I can't remember quite why, but I will make sure that I reschedule that meeting, because I'm certainly very interested to hear what they have to say.

You're quite right about trees and, certainly, if we're going to meet our net-zero commitments, we have been told in very clear terms by the UK Committee for Climate Change we need to significantly increase our woodland planting targets.

You refer to humane cable restraints and, as you know, we're looking to ban snare and humane cable restraints in the Agriculture (Wales) Bill 2022, and that really is about preventing inhumane methods being used, and it doesn't prevent other more humane methods of control.