Mike Hedges calls for Action on Biodiversity in Wales

Mike Hedges calls for Action on Biodiversity in Wales

Speaking at The Senedd, Local Swansea East MS, Mike Hedges said… ‘Swansea and South West Wales finest assets is it environment, coastline, animals and wildlife. We are all aware that it is changing before our eyes. Some reasons are man made, and some related to climate change. We urgently need environmental legislation to protect our environment after the lapse of European Laws following Brexit. I urge the Welsh Government to bring forward legislation now; I look forward to supporting

30/06/2021 17:11:54 / Mike Hedges MS

As others have said, we are fast losing biodiversity in Wales, with the latest ‘The State of Natural Resources Report’ stating that the overall trend is one of serious decline, reflecting the global situation of an internationally recognised nature emergency.

The danger is a dystopian future, with the only mammals surviving being pets, farm animals and scavengers such as rats. Could Kenneth Grahame write The Wind in the Willows today, and do modern children know the animals that he is talking about? Take badgers, which are not liked by many in this Chamber, being blamed for bovine TB. They eat slugs, mice and rats. The danger of losing top-of-the-food-chain predators is that the animals lower down the food chain can expand, like rabbits do, in accordance with the Fibonacci. Remember Australia?

Biodiversity loss in Wales is being driven by a number of human-induced factors, including agricultural management, climate change, urbanisation, pollution, hydrological change, woodland management and invasive non-native species, of which Japanese knotweed is the most common in my constituency.

Primary legislation is needed urgently to address the gap left in the oversight and enforcement of environmental law as a result of us leaving the EU. Wales unfortunately lags behind all the other parts of the UK when it comes to securing effective environmental governance post Brexit. The previous Welsh Government made a commitment to bring forward an environmental governance and principles Bill in the sixth Senedd. I look forward to the opportunity of voting for it, and I hope that we can see it soon.

(https://record.assembly.wales/Plenary/12320#C371361)