With the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) due to be ready at the start of next year, North Wales MS and Wales Species Champion for the Curlew, Mark Isherwood, has called for assurances that it will include the protection, management, and restoration of Curlews.
Speaking in yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood asked the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs to make a statement on the role of the SFS in meeting Wales’s 2030 biodiversity commitments and protecting threatened species such as the Curlew.
He said:
“Well, there's currently no requirement for Sites of Special Scientific Interest included in the Sustainable Farming Scheme to be managed. This is despite the obvious need for this to be the case in order for Wales to meet its 2030 biodiversity commitments.
“One of Wales’ most threatened species, the Curlew, will be extinct by 2033 in Wales unless targeted habitat management is put in place now.
“With the Sustainable Farming Scheme, or SFS, due to be announced at the Royal Welsh Show and be ready for January 2026, what assurance can the Cabinet Secretary provide that the protection, management and restoration of Curlews, and the multiple and multi-species benefits this would deliver, will form a part of the SFS, and that farmers, not just landowners, will be supported to deliver the landscape-scale actions needed?”
Responding, the Cabinet Secretary said:
“it is worth saying the Curlew is under real threat here. It's one of the species that is under significant threat in Wales. But we are investing already £2 million in projects through the Nature Networks Fund to drive forward Curlew recovery in Wales.
“There is progress being made through the Wales Action Plan for the recovery of Curlew, which remains a Government-supported plan. I'm looking forward to seeing the outputs from the 2025 review.”