We’re catching up with climate committee members in the Senedd who are concerned for Wales’ natural environments, and are looking at surprising ways we’re affected.
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00:00If there's one thing that sets Wales aside from plenty of places around the world, it's our natural
00:07beauty and wildlife. We're not a big country, but we're absolutely full of incredible scenery
00:12and habitats that play host thousands of different creatures and helps our nature flourish. The
00:18environment, climate change, nature in general are all massive topics nowadays with natural
00:22spaces being wiped out across the planet and the Welsh Government back in 2019 were one of the
00:27first anywhere in the world to declare a climate emergency and one of the possibility of human
00:31impact on nature. On a smaller scale to the massive issues with the global climate, our natural habitats
00:38are at risk in Wales and there are committees, groups and studies ongoing around the clock in
00:43the Senate trying to assess what we can do to help halt and reverse the impact on our nature in Wales.
00:50What I also think worked really well as a member of the economy, trade and rural affairs committee
00:56is the work of Leo Griffith's committee, the climate change committee works hand in glove with the
01:01economy, trade and rural affairs committee in many of these elements as well and a fine example of that
01:06is the inquiry on soil health that the economy, trade and rural affairs committee is undertaking at the
01:12moment because good soil health underpins everything with regards to nature on our land. Food, food
01:20production and productivity, yes, but ensuring healthy soils and healthy microbes in the soils and everything
01:25that we're learning through the committee as well at this present moment really underpins the importance
01:30of good soil health to our nature restoration. Our rivers and seas around the country are at real risk
01:37and Senedd members are concerned that without action they can be massively affected by pollution
01:41in the future. They argue that it takes people from top down to help our marine spaces and keep all of
01:46our lives thriving. Our rivers and seas are heavily polluted. Welsh water and storm overflows account
01:53for approximately 30 per cent based on science. The majority is agricultural. Plastic pollution has
01:59also impacted and I'm pleased though that Welsh Government is investing in the National Seagrass Action Plan
02:05which will help create habitat, absorb carbon and help with flood prevention. It was also really popular
02:11with people and gain and gain their imagination really which was great. That's what we need to do
02:16to bring people along with us. Pollution has a massive impact on our marine spaces. Industrial activity
02:23on our seabed can throw our whole ecosystems out of sync which can have a huge knock-on effect to our
02:28wildlife. Welsh seas are more than a third larger than our land mass and at least 113 million tons of carbon
02:40are already stored in our marine habitats almost 10 years worth of Welsh carbon emissions and as we've heard
02:51already today most of those are actually not in a favourable state.