World Earth Day: How we’re safeguarding biodiversity

Whether it be the coast path, local nature trails or park I feel so lucky to be able to embrace our local wildlife whilst walking in my local area. Even sitting in the garden with a hot cuppa is a joy- listening to the birds and ignoring all the weeds that I need to attend to!

As the ecology and biodiversity advisor for DCWW my passion doesn’t just stop at home! This week we celebrate World Earth Day - a perfect time to share with you what we are doing for nature and wildlife within DCWW as part of the biodiversity team.

As you may be aware we have a strengthened biodiversity duty placed on us, as well as other public authorities, as part of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016. Section 6 requires us to "maintain and enhance biodiversity in the exercise of our functions in relation to Wales, and in so doing promote the resilience of ecosystems, so far as consistent with the proper exercise of those functions".

As part of this duty we published our second statutory Biodiversity Plan "Making time for Nature 2020" back in December 2020. This plan includes 30 specific commitments with actions across the business. You can find out more information here.

This year we will be publishing our Biodiversity Report showcasing the progress made towards the 30 commitments as well as other exciting projects to help maintain and enhance biodiversity.

We have lots of exciting projects ongoing at the moment which include a baseline study of our operational assets so we can establish how we can enhance biodiversity at our sites. Biodiversity champions are also being recruited across the business to support small scale projects across our operational sites such erecting bird boxes and bug hotels as well as identifying Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) and maintaining wildflower meadows. Don’t worry if you see some of our operational sites start to become a bit 'hairy'- its more than likely there is a wildflower meadow in progress! Of course, colleagues will maintain all our pathways and boundaries to our sites to maintain safety for everyone visiting our sites. We have been busy developing a Biodiversity strategy which we will be publishing very soon, setting out out our ambitions, objectives and will shape our action plan going forward so keep an eye out for that.

DCWW is a great place for collaborative working and I am very lucky to work with some truly passionate teams all working towards safeguarding the environment for now and future generations. I know there are so many people that share our passion and I welcome to you to get involved! There are a number of ways for you to do this;

1. Contact us on Biodiversity@dwrcymru.com if you have a suggestion or idea for biodiversity within DCWW or how we can join up with any partnership working.
2. For community funding for small scale biodiversity projects (up to £1000) find out more here.
3. For larger scale biodiversity projects or collaborative working opportunities find out more through our environment fund.

We can all make time for nature this World Earth Day, and everyday in fact! It doesn’t need to be a huge project- it can be as simple as making a bug hotel, planting a few bulbs and delaying that first mow of the year. Together, we can address the biodiversity crisis, safeguarding our environment for future generations to come. I’m making time for nature- will you?