THE protection of the Gwent Levels, and the biodiversity it supports, has been raised in the Senedd.

Newport East MS John Griffiths has highlighted the need for greater protection of the Gwent Levels in Plenary with the minister for the environment, energy and rural affairs Lesley Griffiths.

Mr Griffiths, who also chairs the Gwent Levels working group (made up of local representatives and officials from Welsh Government), also praised the efforts by the Living Levels Partnership to work with the community to address local issues on the levels.

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He said: “It is good to see so many Members of the Senedd serving as species champions and working with wildlife groups. I'm the species champion for the water vole, which I'm pleased to say is thriving on the Gwent levels.

“The Gwent levels themselves help us achieve biodiversity. If we're going to see the sort of biodiversity we want in Wales, we do need to make sure that areas like the Gwent levels are better protected into the future.”

The minister replied saying: “We all acknowledge that we're at a bit of a turning point. We talk about a green recovery or a blue recovery, I think it is really important that—what you just referred to about better protection is something that we need to do.

"We need to engage society more as a whole around this as well, recognising that there is a biodiversity emergency, and I think we just need to mobilise a broader range of resources, if you like, going forward, so that we can achieve our climate goals and aims, and also our biodiversity goals and aims.”