Welsh Government Biodiversity Targets Advisory Panel meeting: 6 March 2025

The second Biodiversity Targets Advisory Panel (BTAP) meeting took place on 6 March 2025 and was Chaired by Alice Teague, Deputy Director Marine and Biodiversity Division. The meeting covered a variety of topics to update members on the Bill and the work done so far on target development, and to get the Panel’s input into the prioritised targets.

WG officials gave an update on the progress of the Bill.

The Welsh Government (WG) team updated the Panel on the extensive stakeholder engagement exercise that was conducted to prioritise the Global Biodiversity Framework targets to create a shortlist for Wales. The Panel peer reviewed and approved the proposed method back in the first meeting in December so that was taken forward for the exercise. 

WG were seeking the Panel’s recommendations on the prioritised areas to take to the Deputy First Minister for approval.  WG officials presentedthe results of the GBF prioritisation exercise. 

Panel members were asked to review and comment on the proposed statutory priority areas and for target for development. Priority areas were widely supported by the BTAP members, noting that the four areas provide structure for targets that will halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It was suggested by several members that ‘information’ should be changed to ‘evidence’ in the relevant priority area. 

WG officials presented on the work done on target development to date, including evidence gathering, indicator development, and scenarios modelling. WG have commissioned the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) to support the development of an indicator suit to measure progress against Wales’ Nature Positive Mission. This includes identifying current biodiversity related indicators, consolidating learning from other indicator frameworks, identifying gaps in current indicators and making suggestions for where new indicators would need to be developed, and developing a plan for any new indicators. The JNCC will also support on the scenarios modelling stage of target development.

The Panel noted that financial benefits and Natural Capital Protocols need to be considered in modelling and not just biodiversity. Social datasets should also be included in the indicator mapping. The importance of disaggregated UK indicators was also discussed.

The Panel fed into evidence gathering for the priority areas to support notional target development and identify barriers to determine feasibility and deliverability of targets. Panel members were divided into 3 breakout groups and asked to review the shortlisted Global Biodiversity Framework targets associated with the priority areas. Groups discussed potential notional targets and what good may look like in Wales for the shortlisted targets. Groups also conducted a PESTLE analysis for these targets to determine potential constraints and opportunities. Officials will use this information from the BTAP as part of the evidence gathering process.