Senedd members warn Wales is 'too late' on environment
Delyth Jewell expressed concerns about delays in introducing the environment bill, which aims to reverse nature loss, with one in six species now at risk of extinction in Wales.
Plaid Cymru's shadow climate secretary said: "For years, Wales has been behind the curve and we've been an unfortunate exception in terms of environmental governance."
Gaps arising from Brexit left Wales with the weakest environmental governance structures in western Europe, according to the Wales Environment Link charity.
The bill would establish the "long-awaited" Office of Environmental Governance Wales (OEGW) to check public bodies' environmental performance and hold them to account.
Similar bodies were set up in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England in 2021.
In 2018, then-climate secretary Julie James committed to legislation to address the governance gap at the "first opportunity."
Ministers declared a climate emergency in 2019 before appointing an interim environmental protection assessor in 2021.
Ms Jewell, who represents South Wales East, told the Senedd: "At last, I welcome the fact that we're now bridging that gap… the need for targets for nature is clear."
If passed by the Senedd, the bill would establish a framework for targets on biodiversity and enable the public to challenge public authorities on environmental issues.
Ms Jewell supported calls for headline targets and timeframes, with much of the detail – which is not included in the bill itself – set to follow in regulations.
Janet Finch-Saunders, the Conservatives' shadow climate secretary, warned Wales has been lagging on setting biodiversity targets.
"This is, I feel… too little, too late," she said.
Labour's Huw Irranca-Davies explained the bill goes further in some areas than in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, citing the example of a power to enforce urgent compliance.
'We may be behind other UK nations but actually we've been able to learn the lessons from them," he said.
He accepted: "We do now need to proceed with urgency… to refine and craft this."
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