Petition Enact greater legal rights of nature in Wales
Wales is incredibly environmentally progressive. Yet our nature is declining (NRW: 20% decline in wildlife in the last 30 years). Our environment needs more active protections to “maintain and enhance biodiversity,” stated in the Environment Act. We urge Wales to further its actions, granting specific legal rights to parts of the environment (rivers, forests, and mountains). Granting legal rights means that the nature of our childhoods can be the same as the childhood of future generations.
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With the specification of parts of Wales’ nature to protect, we can better safeguard our beautiful biodiversity, from Snowdonia’s forests to the River Wye and more.
The Greater Legal Protections for Welsh Nature Bill will:
Establish frameworks for specific components of nature (e.g. national parks, rivers and their drainage basins) to gain protected status as a basis for safeguarding (special areas of conservation, SACs)
Ensure that there is a regulator with stronger powers and greater enforcement of protections for SACs and restoration of biodiversity
Have significant consequences(limitations on operation) for harmful actions to SACs, especially for actors with a history of doing so
Establish periodic reviews of the state of these SACs, ensuring that the desired state of nature is maintained (biodiversity index, water flow, pollution level)
Granting legal rights prevents those that seek to harm it for their own gain, against the interests and the wellbeing of Wales, so they can be stopped.
At 250 signatures...
All petitions with more than 250 signatures will be discussed by the Petitions Committee
At 10,000 signatures...
Petitions with more than 10,000 signatures will be considered for a debate in the Senedd