Environmental report (including biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems duty reporting) – November 2020

We are required to comply with the section 6 duty under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016. This Act introduced an enhanced biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems duty (the section 6 duty) for public authorities in the exercise of functions in relation to Wales. The section 6 duty requires that public authorities ‘must seek to maintain and enhance biodiversity so far as consistent with the proper exercise of their functions and in so doing promote the resilience of ecosystems’.

To comply with the s6 duty we should embed the consideration of biodiversity and ecosystems into our early thinking and business planning, including any policies, plans, programmes and projects, as well as our day to day activities.

We must publish a plan setting out what we propose to do to maintain and enhance biodiversity and promote resilience. We must also, before the end of 2019 and before the end of every third year after 2019, publish a report on what we have done to comply with the s6 duty. The reporting duty should form part of our ordinary reporting systems. The reporting duty should not be burdensome and should be proportionate to the size and type of organisation we are, with regard to the action for biodiversity we can carry out.

At Estyn, we have included our plan setting out what we propose to do to maintain and enhance biodiversity and promote resilience within our Environmental Policy. We also annually produce this Environmental report which includes our compliance with the section 6 duty.