Our Six Point Plan for Nature

Our six-point plan for Nature and Biodiversity

In the last year, we have all come to appreciate the spaces and places around us, and many of us have found the natural environment around us wanting. We believe that access to nature is more than just about the critical task of protecting our planet and our wildlife, and cleaning up the air we breathe, but it’s good for our health and wellbeing too.

Biodiversity loss in Wales has been dramatic with most mammals, farmland birds, invertebrates, and flower-rich unimproved grasslands having suffered drastic declines.

We need our land and our water to recover, supported by initiatives across government. There are no second chances. We must ensure that where targets are set, they are met.

Moving financial support to a 'public money for public good' basis, with payments for gains in biodiversity and other ecosystem services such as flood prevention and carbon retention, is essential.

We will:

1) Declare a Nature and Biodiversity crisis, setting out the cross-government and societal actions needed to leave a thriving planet for future generations.

2) Agree on Nature and Marine Recovery Plans, to clean up our environment and our waters, protect species, and ensure that our environment can thrive.

3) Introduce legally binding nature recovery targets with regular milestones, backed up by monitoring and reporting

Nature plays an essential role in providing food, energy, medicines and genetic resources. Environmental pressures are accelerating biodiversity decline, and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating: our natural environment is deteriorating.

We will introduce measures to reduce and re-use waste, make our communities and cities greener, support sustainable farming practices, improve the health of our marine environment, and drive changes in our economy.

Trees and hedges support vital habitats, support farm animals and help to restore soils and to capture carbon they are crucial to protect our farms and communities from increasing adverse weather conditions. We support plans for a National Forest for Wales.

We will:

4) Make every town in Wales a Tree Town, with every council preparing a long term Tree and Woodland Strategy to deliver and sustain a minimum of 20% tree cover in urban areas and 30% tree cover for all new developments.

5) Update and improve tree protection legislation as part of our plans for a new Welsh Planning Act.

6) Increase tree cover on farms with payments under a Hedges and Edges Scheme, supporting climate-smart, nature-friendly farming.

Find out more and join our campaign at https://www.brlibdems.org.uk/