Plaid Cymru urges Welsh Government to “catch up” on nature emergency

Delyth Jewell MS leads call for legally binding nature recovery targets

The Welsh Government must commit to legally binding biodiversity targets before it’s too late, Plaid Cymru has said.

In a Senedd debate due to take place today (Wednesday 30 June), Plaid Cymru will also call on the Senedd to formally recognise the crisis by declaring a Nature Emergency.

Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for tackling Climate Change, Delyth Jewell MS, said that the threat to biodiversity was one of the greatest threats facing Wales and that it was “high time” action was taken to tackle the continued decline of biodiversity.

With the post-2020 global biodiversity framework due to be set at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in October this year, the Senedd and the Welsh Government have the opportunity to introduce nature recovery targets.

Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for tackling climate change, Delyth Jewell MS said,

“There is a nature emergency that coexists alongside the climate emergency, and that unless we tackle these crises together, we will not overcome either. But whilst we have targets for carbon emissions, there is no corresponding mechanism for nature: No targets to track how we will limit and reverse biodiversity loss.

“By investing in nature, we can boost our economy and create thousands of jobs. If we really want to achieve a Green Recovery here in Wales, we need to invest in the recovery of our habitats and our species, and create the green workforce able to fulfil our nature recovery targets.

“It took a motion brought by Plaid Cymru for Wales to declare a climate emergency – I now urge the Welsh Government to catch-up on the threat to our continually declining biodiversity, act immediately to reverse biodiversity decline, and to ensure nature’s recovery by introducing legally binding nature recovery targets before it’s too late.”