Welsh Government Biodiversity Targets Advisory Panel meeting: 29 October 2025

Alice Teague Deputy Director Marine and Biodiversity Division welcomed panel members to the meeting. Following an open and fair recruitment process a new Chair had been appointed to the Panel, Dr Fred Windsor. The Chair reiterated the role of the Panel - to provide independent advice to the Deputy First Minister (DFM) on biodiversity target development. This includes peer review of the steps taken in the target setting methodology to ensure targets are evidence based. Panel members were invited to ensure a range of expertise is considered in target setting.

The Chair outlined the objectives for the meeting which were to:

• discuss shortlisted target topics and provide advice for progressing these topics for target development
• review indicator methodology and provide advice on the shortlisted indicators and future project development
• review and input into the approach to scenario creation and analysis

An update was provided on the Bill which was currently in Stage 1; the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee and Finance committee had considered the Bill, conducted scrutiny sessions and laid their recommendation reports in October. Early November there would be the General Principles debate. Stage 2 would follow, where government and non-government amendments could be brought forward.

Links to the committee reports: Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill (ar business.senedd.wales).

Officials provided an update on the target development. Welsh Government (WG) had conducted several workshops and evidence gathering exercises, as well as stakeholder engagement, to determine which biodiversity target topics to further develop. The BTAP contributed to a RAG analysis of the target topics in the summer, and officials then worked on case for changes to further shortlist target topics. The stakeholder Task and Finish group had met recently and commented on the shortlist, and it had been signed off by the DFM. The panel provided advice and considerations for target development for the shortlisted topics under all priority areas (reducing the risk of the extinction of native species; the effective management of ecosystems; reducing pollution; and the quality of evidence to inform decisions relating to biodiversity, access to that evidence and its use and application). 

WG had presented on the indicator work packages in previous meetings and were seeking the panel’s advice on the steps taken to date and for the next work package with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).

The amount of work and detail that had gone into the indicator assessment to date was acknowledged and the approach considered robust. The panel advised that WG should also think beyond indicators that we already have access to and noted that the criteria for shortlisting the indicators may be too restrictive for this reason. Reductionism should be avoided, and future development should not be limited – WG should not simply rely on past data and knowledge. The panel did however acknowledge the balance between working at pace and not limiting ability to deliver more in the future.

The JNCC gave a presentation updating on the progress of the scenarios analysis project and outlining the methodology for scenario creation. The panel were asked to complete a questionnaire prior to the meeting to help inform what the transformative scenario may look like, and the results of this were presented. 

The panel agreed that the definition of transformative change needed to be unpacked further. Regarding the definition of transformative change for the highest scenario it was suggested that the IPBES definition and guidance are considered. Media Release: IPBES Transformative Change Assessment | IPBES secretariat (on ipbes.net). 

The panel were assured that the biodiversity targets would align with the Sustainable Land Management indicators and targets being developed under the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023. The indicators and targets of which are due to be laid to the Senedd by the end of the year. To ensure that the targets and indicators don’t contradict one another, officials were working with the Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring and Modelling Platform project-led team.

The panel supported sharing affiliations and expertise on the website.

The Chair thanked the panel for their input and challenges on the target topics and thanked the JNCC for their work. 

The next meeting will be in early 2026.