Welsh land use under spotlight as report warns nature at tipping point

Welsh farming and land use are set to play a central role in future environmental policy after a major new report warned that how food is produced and land is managed will be critical to tackling the country’s deepening climate and nature crises.

Launching the State of Natural Resources Report (SoNaRR) 2025, the new chair of Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Neil Sachdev, said Wales must rethink how it farms its land, grows food, heats homes and travels if it is to halt environmental decline ahead of the next Senedd term.

Published under the Environment Act and timed to inform debate in the run-up to the Senedd elections, the report is expected to influence future land-use policy, farm support frameworks and environmental regulation in Wales.

SoNaRR 2025 assesses how sustainably Wales is managing its natural resources, examining the condition of soil, water, air, land and seas, as well as the wildlife and ecosystems that underpin food production, rural communities and farm businesses.

NRW says that while some progress has been made since the previous assessment in 2020, the overall picture remains deeply concerning.

The report concludes that nature across Wales is under sustained and intensifying pressure from climate change, pollution, habitat loss and unsustainable land use.

Almost one in five species now faces extinction, only 40% of water bodies achieve good ecological status, and ecosystem resilience remains low across much of the country.

It also finds that Wales continues to use more than its fair share of global natural resources, raising questions about the long-term sustainability of current production and consumption patterns.

For farmers, the report reinforces that land management and food production are being positioned at the heart of nature recovery policy.

NRW’s assessment suggests future approaches will increasingly link farm support, environmental outcomes and long-term resilience, rather than treating agriculture and nature as separate policy areas.

NRW highlights several targeted interventions already under way, including peatland restoration, air quality legislation, the Wales Metal Mines Programme and the Sustainable Farming Scheme.

These measures, it says, are beginning to address long-standing environmental challenges linked to land use and pollution.

However, the report warns that these gains are being outweighed by wider pressures, with natural resources still being degraded faster than they can be restored.

According to NRW, the most significant pressures are embedded in how land is used, how food is produced and consumed, and how investment decisions shape both rural and urban areas — not solely in environmental regulation.

At a launch event in Cardiff, NRW joined the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner in urging policymakers to use the report’s findings to drive reform across food production, land use, energy and transport.

They said the evidence should be used to shape future policy that restores nature while strengthening resilience and supporting a fair, regenerative economy, with farming and land management recognised as central to delivery.

A key section of the report, the co-produced Bridges to the Future chapter, sets out a framework for long-term change across agriculture, energy, travel and the built environment.

Built around a “Five Bridges” model, it focuses on redesigning everyday systems, restoring nature as essential infrastructure, building a regenerative economy, realigning governance for the long term and delivering a fair transition.

Speaking at the launch, Sachdev said: “SoNaRR has shown us that the most damaging pressures on nature are not confined to environmental policy.

"They are built into how we heat our homes, how we travel, how we grow and consume food, how we use land, and how we invest in places.”

He added: “If Wales is to remain a place where people and nature thrive, we must change the systems themselves – not just manage their impacts.”

Describing the challenge as shared across society, including agriculture, Sachdev said: “SoNaRR is the diagnosis, but Bridges to the Future is our shared response.

"At this pivotal moment, and ahead of the Senedd elections, we are asking leaders across all sectors to step forward, share responsibility and work in partnership with us to deliver the scale of change that Wales needs.”

The event, held at Cardiff University’s Spark Innovation Campus, brought together senior figures including Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies MS, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales Derek Walker, and Elspeth Jones, Nature Guardian for the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales.

Walker said nature played a critical role in protecting communities, supporting public health and reducing flood risk, warning that failure to act on the report’s findings would put people at risk unnecessarily.

“Nature solutions are all around us,” he said, pointing to projects such as green roofs in Swansea and seagrass restoration across Wales. He added that action was needed across public services, from land management to infrastructure maintenance.

He also warned that environmental decline would fall hardest on disadvantaged communities and place an “unimaginable burden” on future generations.

Irranca-Davies welcomed the report as a “robust assessment” of the challenges facing Wales’ natural environment and said it would inform future natural resources policy.

“Protecting and enhancing nature is essential for people today, and for future generations,” he said, adding: “We need to go further again.”

As Wales looks towards the next Senedd term, NRW said the report underlines that decisions on farming, land use and rural investment will be central to whether environmental targets can be met without undermining food production.

Sachdev concluded: “This is not just a warning about our future; it is a reckoning with our present. If we act now, with urgency and shared ownership, Wales can lead – not just in ambition – but by delivering the scale of transformation the nation needs.

"If we don’t, the next SoNaRR will simply document deeper loss, higher costs and narrower choices.”