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Local Authorities and Sustainable Peatland Management: Current Opportunities and Future Possibilities for Local Approaches
Nature recovery in Wales
Welsh Government produced a Nature Recovery Action Plan, in 2015, to help meet the targets set by the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (UNCBD) to halt biodiversity. In 2017, it also produced a Natural Resources Policy for Wales as part of a new framework of governance for NRW focused on the sustainable management of natural resources (SMNR) (introduced under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016). SMNR is described as using natural resources in a way and at a rate that promotes the maintenance and enhancement of the resilience of ecosystems and the benefits they provide to current and future generations. In 2019, Welsh Government declared a nature crisis. This reflects concerns expressed by the UNCBD which has recently agreed a further set of goals for halting biodiversity loss by 2050, with interim actions by 2030. These actions include ensuring the protection of 30% of land and seas across the globe (the 30 by 30 target). In response Welsh Government has pledged to achieve this within Wales and carried out a ‘biodiversity deep dive’ to understand and help address the challenges of doing so. The recommendations of the biodiversity deep dive, published in October 2022, included increasing the targets for peat restoration to 1800-2400 ha per annum. SPM may also contribute to and/or benefit from the other essential recommendations of the ‘biodiversity deep dive’ that relate to: the effective protection of existing designated sites; the creation of further Nature Recovery Exemplar Areas; using private and public finance to deliver for nature at a greater scale; embedding nature recovery in policy and strategy of public bodies in Wales; and building capacity, awareness raising and behaviour change. Local authorities are viewed as a key partner in delivering the objectives of Wales’ Nature Recovery Action Plan and Welsh Government also provided a commitment to ‘place based’ approaches to nature recovery in its Natural Resources Policy. Welsh Government has funded a number of posts in local authorities to support Local Nature Partnerships. Local Nature Partnerships aim to engage people and communities, businesses and decision makers, including the local authority, in strategic and practical action in support of nature. Following the deep dive on biodiversity, Local Nature Partnerships were also provided with extended funding, recognising the importance of local action in this regard. Local authorities will also make a significant contribution to nature recovery through their responsibilities for land use planning and other duties with respect to the maintenance and enhancement of biodiversity and resilient ecosystems. This will be essential in supporting Welsh Government’s planning policy on developing resilient ecological networks. This was first set out, in 2021, in Future Wales (the national development plan for Wales). This policy, its significance to SPM, and the role of local authorities in responding to this is detailed below.
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