Commentary on Sections Part 1 – Sustainable management of natural resources
3.Part 1 of the Act is concerned with the sustainable management of natural resources. It makes provisions for a new iterative process for the Welsh Ministers, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and other public bodies to contribute to achieving the sustainable management of natural resources.
4.This Part defines natural resources, sustainable management of natural resources and the principles of sustainable management of natural resources.
5.Part 1 confers functions on the Welsh Ministers and on NRW to assist in the delivery of sustainable management of natural resources. The Welsh Ministers are required to produce a national natural resources policy and NRW is required to produce a state of natural resources report and area statements. This Part provides for the process and timeframe for the production of these documents and confers a function on public bodies (defined in the Act) to provide assistance and/or information requested by NRW for the production of these documents. This Part also confers functions on the Welsh Ministers to implement the national natural resources policy and for NRW to implement an area statement.
6.This Part substitutes article 4 of the Natural Resources Body for Wales (Establishment) Order 2012, providing NRW with a new general purpose to pursue sustainable management of natural resources. This Part also replaces NRW functions in relation to entering management agreements in the National Parks and Access to Countryside Act 1949, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Countryside Act 1968. This Part also replaces NRW’s functions in the 1968 Act, in relation to experimental schemes. Part 1 confers on the Welsh Ministers a power, on application from NRW, to make regulations to allow for a limited suspension of legislative requirements in order to facilitate an experimental scheme which is likely to contribute to sustainable management of natural resources.
7.Part 1 replaces section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (the NERC Act 2006) for public authorities with functions in relation to Wales and replaces section 42 of the NERC Act 2006 in relation to the Welsh Ministers’ duty to prepare a list of important living organisms and habitats for biodiversity in relation to Wales. It requires these public authorities in the proper exercise of their functions to seek to maintain and enhance biodiversity and in so doing promote the resilience of ecosystems.