Shea Buckland-Jones, Head of Policy and Advocacy for WWF Cymru, asks if the Welsh Government is doing enough for the environment.
The new Welsh Government has officially marked its first 100 days in office, outlining what the new government see as key progress made in delivering on the promise to improve people’s lives across Wales. So, what are Plaid Cymru’s priorities on the environment and what progress have we seen?
When Plaid Cymru announced its 5 ‘core’ priorities (healthcare, childcare, Welsh economy, education, child poverty) earlier this year, it was hugely disappointing not to see the environment explicitly stated.
First, let’s understand the context. When Plaid Cymru announced its 5 ‘core’ priorities (healthcare, childcare, Welsh economy, education, child poverty) earlier this year, it was hugely disappointing not to see the environment explicitly stated. Nature and climate underpin many of the core priorities Plaid have set.
The climate and nature emergency is urgent, it impacts the lives of all Welsh people – look at the recent wildfires, the winter floods, the increase in the cost of food – and it is remiss of any government not to be tackling this emergency as a priority. The Plaid Cymru government have now published the first iteration of a digital dashboard to enable people to track progress against their core priorities. Without the environment explicitly mentioned in these core priorities, it is hard to track meaningful progress and impact.
Syniadau uchelgeisiol, awdurdodol a mentrus.
Ymunwch â ni i gyfrannu at wneud Cymru gwell.
I wrote an article earlier this year making the point that if the new government was to improve people’s lives across Wales, then it would need to commit to tackling the climate and nature crises as a core priority to help:
- safeguard over 273,000 homes in Wales that are now at risk of flooding
- protect communities from drought and wildfires (in 2025, fire services across Wales attended 3,474 grass fire incidents – a 275% increase on the previous year)
- protect the supply of food and farmers from the millions of pounds lost every year because of the impacts of extreme weather
- prevent Welsh citizens from rising food and energy costs
- recognise how interconnected action on nature is to our health and economy.
Since the election, the severe summer wildfires have been the first major crisis and emergency response faced by the Plaid government. Already, important lessons must be learnt regarding climate change readiness and future wildfire prevention (*spoiler alert, nature is arguably our biggest ally to mitigate wildfire impact – in Wales’ Elan Valley earlier this year, a massive wildlife hit a newly rewetted peatland and was stopped in its tracks). People in Wales are at risk from air pollutants from the wildfires raging across the country. The county borough of Torfaen had the fourth-highest intensity of carbon emissions per square kilometre in the world during July, due to the wildfires. Wales was built for a climate that no longer exists. People, wildlife, our economy, and our food supply are already feeling the strain.
We already know the solutions to the climate and nature crises, and action is needed now to protect communities from the impacts we are seeing.
In the first 100 days of this Plaid government, the environment sector has found itself digging in its heels to make sure there is no regression on environmental standards, whether that’s ensuring that the review to tackle regulatory burdens on Welsh farms does not weaken environmental outcomes, or getting early assurances that the Rural Proofing and Environmental Sustainability bill is not intended to give Ministers the power to then revoke crucial environmental law (such as the Habitat Regulations) without scrutiny. These are some of the ongoing risks to the sector, and we need to see clear commitments to not roll back hard-won environmental protections.
Understandably, there is also frustration in the environment sector as many feel that a new plan for climate and nature could delay action further. We already know the solutions to the climate and nature crises, and action is needed now to protect communities from the impacts we are seeing. In the past we have seen many plans, and not enough action.
Nevertheless, we do welcome efforts by the new Welsh Government to sharpen Wales’ approach to the climate and biodiversity challenges we face. We were particularly glad to see a commitment to a new practical pathway to net zero by 2040 and are now urging Plaid to publicly commit to global 30×30 targets – a commitment to protect at least 30% of land and waters in Wales by 2030. As ever, we need greater urgency, and what matters now is clear delivery pathways, measurable outcomes, and accountability.
The Sustainable Farming Scheme – which dictates how hundreds of millions of pounds of public money is spent every year in the farming sector – provides an excellent opportunity to pay and connect farmers across landscapes to join up and deliver nature based solutions, to help protect food supplies, support biodiversity, water quality and protect their businesses and the communities around them from climate induced extreme weather.
Gofod i drafod, dadlau, ac ymchwilio.
Cefnogwch brif felin drafod annibynnol Cymru.
Amongst other commitments linked to the environment, the Plaid Cymru manifesto committed to:
- catchment scale investment in nature-based solutions
- a new Welsh water regulator
- work to ensure every waterbody in Wales achieves a minimum ‘good’ status
- establish an independent Office for Environmental Governance Wales
- support for a National Nature Service for Wales
- strengthen protection within the Marine Protected Area network
- support a National Seagrass Plan
- and the growth of Wales’s seaweed industry.
We now need to see this government put these commitments into action immediately and truly consider whether existing manifesto commitments, and core government priorities, are enough to meet the scale of the nature and climate crises. The indications so far are that they are not.
As ever, we need greater urgency, and what matters now is clear delivery pathways, measurable outcomes, and accountability.
It is crucial that the environment sector gets a seat at the table and for nature to be represented on the Climate and Nature Action Plan Board, the Wildfire Summit, the Flood Preparedness Forum and the National Food Strategy expert group as a minimum. We would urge the Senedd to host a screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing, and for multiple Senedd committees to take evidence (as the Westminster’s Environmental Audit Committee did) on the impacts of biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse on Wales’ national security, and the solutions to the crisis.
The question for us today is not whether nature has a role to play (the evidence is clear), but how we move further and faster in making nature recovery part of the solution to some of Wales’ biggest economic and social challenges. This Welsh Government was elected on a promise to put the communities and interests of Wales first. It will not be doing so if it does not prioritise immediate action on climate resilience and nature recovery, putting us on the path to a healthier, cleaner and more resilient future.
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