Experts call for urgent action to save Welsh nature as new report reveals devastating decline in species

Experts call for urgent action to save Welsh nature as new report reveals devastating decline in species - Natural Resources Wales

Eurasian Curlew, North York Moors, Yorkshire, England. Credit - Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)

Ten years after its first publication, report shows nature continues to decline across Wales. The new State of Nature Wales 2023 reveals the devastating scale of nature loss across the country and the risk of extinction for many species.

18% (one in six) of our species is at risk of extinction from Wales, including plants and animals such as Fen Orchid, Water Vole and Sand Lizard.
The abundance of land and freshwater species has on average fallen by 20% across Wales since 1994.
Of almost 3,900 species assessed, more than 2% are already extinct in Wales.
Continued pressures on wildlife mean that Wales is now one of the most nature depleted countries on Earth.
Wales has committed to ambitious targets to turn around the loss of nature. While there is some progress, the response is still far from what is needed to deal with the scale and pace of the crisis.
But action for nature can make a difference with success stories for some bat species, terns and some butterflies.

The new State of Nature 2023 report, published today, reveals the devastating scale of nature loss across Wales and provides a detailed picture of how nature is faring and what is needed to fix it.

Now, conservationists, scientists and experts from more than 60 organisations are calling for urgent action across Wales.

Some of the wildlife that has suffered the biggest population losses are the insects, flora and mammals that people may be less familiar with. Well-known species like the Atlantic Salmon and Curlew have also suffered critical declines in Wales. These species are disappearing from our seas and countryside. The evidence from the last 50 years shows that on land and in freshwater, significant and ongoing changes in the way we manage our land for agriculture, and the ongoing effects of climate change are having the biggest impacts on our wildlife.

At sea and around our coasts, the main pressures are pollution, climate change and historic over exploitation with fewer than half of marine protected areas found to be in favourable condition.

One in six species are at risk of being lost from Wales; more than 2% of almost 3,900 species assessed using IUCN Red List criteria are already extinct. In addition, 11 bird species have been declared extinct in Wales. Moths, which are important pollinators, are far less abundant than 50 years ago, having declined by an average of 43% since 1970.