The White Paper sets out Welsh Government’s proposals to introduce a Bill into the Senedd that will embed environmental principles into Welsh law, strengthen environmental governance by establishing a new body to oversee compliance with environmental law by Welsh public authorities, and also introduce a new biodiversity targets framework.
Welsh Government says it is committed to continuing to develop and strengthen environmental law. Much of the environmental law in Wales is derived from EU Environmental Law which follows the precautionary; prevention; rectification at source; and the polluter pays principles. At EU level the aim is to ensure environmental protection is integrated into all policies and activities with oversight provided for by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU).
Making legislation
Following EU exit, that Commission oversight role has fallen away and because the environment and environmental protection are devolved matters, Welsh Government proposes to make legislation to embed the environmental principles into Welsh law and establish an environmental governance body.
Welsh Government proposals
The Welsh Government proposes that the Bill will make provision to set out environmental principles that reflect those of the EU noted above. It is also proposed that the environmental principles will be supported by an overarching objective around aiming to ensure a high level of environmental protection and improving the quality of the environment.
Welsh Government proposes that once the environmental principles come into force, a new governance body will have a role overseeing and reporting on this new environmental law. This new body, they say, will ensure robust oversight of environmental law by Welsh public authorities, replacing the current Interim Environmental Protection Assessor for Wales (IEPAW).
Finally, through the White Paper, Welsh Government proposes to establish a nature recovery framework which will include statutory biodiversity targets comprising a headline nature positive target and a suite of supporting biodiversity targets to be set by the Welsh Ministers in secondary legislation.
Effective monitoring, reporting and scrutiny requirements for both the headline and supporting targets will be established in law as will the requirement for a Nature Recovery Strategy setting out the Welsh Government’s long-term vision for a nature positive Wales and the strategic pathway for delivery of the statutory biodiversity targets.
More information on the White Paper can be found on the Welsh Government website. The consultation closes on 30 April 2024 and NFU Cymru will be submitting a comprehensive response.
Feed in your views
If you would like to feed in any views to this consultation. Contact NFU Cymru's National Environment and Land Use Adviser, Rachel Lewis-Davies by email: [email protected] or phone: 01982 554200.