Fersiwn Gymraeg ar gael yma
RSPB Cymru recently responded to the Welsh Government’s White Paper with proposals to embed environmental principles in Welsh law, establish an independent environmental governance body for Wales, and introduce legally binding biodiversity targets.
We have been calling for this legislation for many years and have given it our own working title – ‘the Nature Positive Bill’. Thank you to everyone who took action, and added their voice in support of the Bill to send a strong message to the Welsh Government – over 850 of you!
Why is the Nature Positive Bill so important?
Embedding the environmental principles in Welsh law and creating an independent environmental governance body are vital steps to secure robust environmental protection – this will address a gap that opened up with the UK left the EU.
However, simply maintaining existing standards is not enough - as the State of Nature Wales report [1] shows us, biodiversity in Wales is in serious decline, and Wales is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. For Wales to deliver on the global vision to reverse nature loss by 2030 and see nature restored and thriving by 2050, for everyone’s benefit, we need ambitious, binding targets to drive cross-government and cross-sector action.
Summary of our response to the White Paper
We welcomed the proposal that the Bill will set out five core principles – integration, the precautionary principle, the prevention principle, the polluter pays principle and the principle that environmental damage should be rectified at source – with an overarching objective to secure a high level of environmental protection and improvement of the natural environment.
The principles provide a way to make sure that proposed policies or actions won’t harm, but instead will benefit the environment; and in the worst case that damage does occur, they inform how that should be remedied.
However, we called for the proposed application of the principles to be made stronger – there should be a duty to apply, or act in accordance with the principles rather than the weaker requirement to ‘have due regard’ to them. The duty should also be broader – it should apply not only on the Welsh Ministers, but also on other public authorities; and deeper – it shouldn’t only apply when making policies and laws, but also when implementing them.
We also urge the Welsh Government to include a principle of ‘non-regression’ – to ensure that environmental protections can only be strengthened, and not weakened, in the future.
We welcomed the White Paper’s proposal to establish a new, independent environmental governance body for Wales. This body will oversee implementation of environmental law by public authorities in Wales. It will be able to consider and investigate issues – on its own initiative or in response to concerns raised by citizens - about potential failures by public bodies to comply with environmental laws. It will also scrutinise the Welsh Government’s progress against environmental targets. Equivalent bodies have already been created for England and Northern Ireland (the Office for Environmental Protection) and Scotland (Environmental Standards Scotland).
In our response we called for the new Body to have a clear purpose of environmental protection and improvement, and to have access to a wide suite of enforcement powers, including the option of financial penalties.
The legislation must include specific provisions to guarantee the body’s independence from Government and ensure it is adequately resourced.
We are very pleased to see the proposal to include a headline ‘nature positive’ target on the face of the Bill, to be backed up by supporting targets in secondary legislation. We are calling for the headline target to include detailed steps and requirements to make sure that at close of each decade the status of biodiversity has improved relative to the start of the decade. There must be a duty on the Welsh Ministers to ensure the headline and supporting targets are met.
The Bill will need to be clear that Ministers should obtain independent advice, and use this transparently, to set targets, and should lay supporting targets within six months of the Bill attaining Royal Assent. Reporting and accountability will be key, and we welcome the proposal for Ministers to report to the Senedd on whether targets have been met. If a target has not been met, there must be a clear process – Ministers should set out the steps they will take to ensure the target is met, and the Governance Body should scrutinise delivery of these steps. The White Paper proposed that the Bill will introduce a statutory Nature Recovery Strategy and Action Plan. To give nature recovery in Wales the gear shift it needs, these will need to capture all Welsh Government Ministers, Departments and Public Authorities to address pressures on biodiversity and unlock opportunities for restoration at scale. They will need to make strong links to policy and practice in all areas including farming, forestry, energy, planning and climate change if Wales is to succeed in reviving our precious wildlife.
No time to lose
A key point relating to all three parts of the White Paper is the need to act fast – the development of the new governance body, guidance on applying the principles, and the detail of nature recovery targets will all have to be worked on over the coming year, while the Bill itself is being developed. We expect the Bill to arrive in the Senedd in Spring 2025.
We now look forward to continuing to support the Welsh Government and other partners in delivering this work.
[1] Wales - State of Nature