MS, Deputy First Minister & Cabinet
Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs: Wildlife
management in Wales must be environmentally sustainable, legally
robust, and aligned with our wider nature recovery ambition.
Our commitments under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, our
forthcoming statutory biodiversity targets, and our wider
programme to reverse nature loss all require an evidence‑led,
proportionate approach to activities that may affect sensitive
habitats and species. Current evidence indicates that, when not
undertaken responsibly, gamebird release can place additional
pressure on some of our most sensitive environmental sites.
It remains our policy intention to move towards a more regulated
and sustainable system for managing gamebird releases, including
the potential introduction of a future licensing regime. In order
to progress this, I have initiated an independent call for
evidence. This work is essential to ensure that any future
proposals are grounded in the strongest and most impartial
evidence available, reflect Welsh ecological circumstances, and
can withstand legal and scientific scrutiny.
Environment Platform Wales (EPW), working across Wales's
universities, will lead this independent evidence‑gathering
process. Their work will draw on the latest scientific research,
expert insight and practical experience to build a clearer
understanding of potential impacts of gamebird release and to
help identify where regulation may be required to protect our
most sensitive sites.
This evidence review will form an important foundation for future
policy development. It will help ensure that any decisions we
take are transparent, proportionate, and aligned with our wider
commitments to halt and reverse biodiversity decline, safeguard
protected sites and uphold high standards of environmental
governance.
