Our corporate plan to 2030: nature and people thriving together

The challenge

Wales has always been a place shaped as much by its people as its landscapes.

Mountains, rivers and coastlines may give this nation its character - but it is the spirit of those who care for them that gives Wales its resilience.

Wherever I travel, I feel a shared understanding that our natural world is not something separate from us. It is the ground beneath our feet, the air we breathe, the places we cherish, and the legacy we leave behind.

Coming into Natural Resources Wales a few years into the life of this Corporate Plan, I found an organisation already woven deeply into that story - already carrying the responsibility of responding to the climate and nature emergencies with determination and care.

I found a team of people whose commitment is not abstract or distant but lived each day in the work they do. Their pride in serving Wales is unmistakable, and it has been one of the most inspiring parts of joining this organisation.

The climate and nature emergencies remain the defining challenge of our time. Their effects are visible across Wales - in altered coastlines, changing weather patterns, pressures on species and landscapes, and on the everyday lives of people and businesses.

Since this Plan was first published, our collective understanding of these challenges, as well as the opportunities ahead, has continued to grow. New evidence and assessments - including the latest State of Natural Resources Report 2025 (SoNaRR) - help us see more clearly the pressures on our environment, and where our actions can have the greatest effect.

For the first time, SoNaRR goes further - working with the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner to co-produce Bridges to the Future, a new chapter that turns evidence into a practical roadmap for change.

This growing evidence base gives us direction. It deepens our insight. It helps us and our partners across Wales make decisions rooted not only in urgency, but in understanding and possibility.

And Wales has set ambitious goals: to put nature on the pathway to recovery by 2030, to play its full part in meeting global environmental targets, and to accelerate action on emissions across the public sector. These commitments reflect not only the scale of the challenge, but our national willingness to lead.

Still, the scale and complexity of the climate and nature emergencies go far beyond the remit of any single body. That is why partnership is not just an approach for this Corporate Plan - it is the foundation on which real progress depends.

The creation of NRW was a bold decision - one that brought three bodies together with a shared purpose, recognising that the challenges we face cannot be solved in silos.

The transition ahead must be shaped by many hands - by the decisions of land managers and planners, by the innovation of businesses, by the commitment of communities, and by the leadership of government at every level.

Our role is to contribute what we know through our evidence and our expertise, to support others in what they do, and to work openly, respectfully and purposefully alongside everyone who shares this responsibility, to bring about a change that is fair, just and ensures nobody gets left behind.

To strengthen this role, we have introduced a new well-being objective: ‘How we work.’ This objective recognises that delivering for Wales requires an organisation that is equipped, confident and enabling. It is about shaping NRW so that we can better support partners, customers, and communities – investing in our people, our systems, and our ways of working so that we make better decisions and deliver better outcomes for nature, for climate, and for the minimisation of pollution.

Central to this is the experience we create for the people we serve: listening carefully, responding fairly, and ensuring that our advice and decisions bring clarity and confidence. We want people to feel heard, valued and supported in every interaction with us, because respect, empathy and professionalism must underpin everything we do.

Strengthening our organisation is not separate from delivering our other objectives; it is what makes them achievable, now and into the next decade.

We will not always have all the answers, and the challenges we face are significant. But they do not define us. What defines us is how we choose to respond.

Wales has already shown what is possible when we work together. And as we carry this Corporate Plan through to 2030, I believe we can go further still: restoring the health of our natural world, strengthening the resilience of our communities, and building a future where nature and people genuinely thrive together.

The challenge ahead is shared - and so is the opportunity. Together, we can shape a Wales that is not only prepared for the future, but confident in it.

Neil Sachdev, Chair

 

Our Wales – Our plan

In Wales, our relationship with the natural world is deeply rooted in our history and culture. From our landscapes and seascapes to the rich mineral deposits and soils beneath our feet, nature has long shaped our sense of community and identity, and critically, our economy.

Wales’ rich mineral wealth fuelled the industries of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leaving behind a proud legacy of innovation and community.

In the twenty-first century Wales can once again turn to its natural resources of wind and tide, rich soils, and a temperate climate, to lead the charge to decarbonise our economy and regenerate our land.

Wales’ long-standing interdependency with nature was given new focus during the global pandemic, as people turned to green and blue spaces for solace, and became more sensitised to the connection between clean air and health. In its wake, governments and others have set ambitions to ensure a green recovery that includes everyone, across all parts of society.

The evidence shows just how urgent and necessary this commitment to a green recovery is. Landmark assessments such as our own State of Natural Resources Report (SoNaRR2025), the Future Generations Report 2025 and the State of Nature Wales Report 2023 consistently underline how natural resources and biodiversity in Wales are in steep decline.

The Climate Change Risk Assessment for Wales also identifies 53 key risks impacting on all aspects of society - from health and nature to infrastructure and business.

It is this evidence base that is driving this small nation to think big in how we respond, how we adapt and how we mitigate.

The climate and nature emergencies have been placed at the heart of the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government, with Ministers convening a range of expert-led task forces to lead on deep dives on trees and timber, renewable energy and biodiversity. The tools defined in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act and Environment (Wales) Act are also pushing all parts of the public sector to work together to tackle the crises.

And we are already seeing progress. Over the last five years, greenhouse gas emissions have reduced, and Wales has met its first carbon budget (2016-2020) with a reduction of 28% in emissions.

A wide range of initiatives within specific communities or sites are also moving into delivery.

We have been scaling up efforts to keep carbon locked up in peatlands, restoring and improving habitats for our native and most threatened species through the Natur am Byth and Nature Networks schemes, and taking a catchment-scale approach to the restoration of our rivers.

How successful we will be in the future will not only be determined by how we lead the way, but how well we, and the people of Wales, collaborate on our shared ambitions across the public, private and third sectors.

Working in partnership will not only bring benefits for our depleted environment, but it can also create employment through green jobs and skills, secure our food and water supplies, and support public health. It can also build the well-being and resilience of communities, reduce the risk of the perpetuation of existing inequalities and social exclusion, and propel the Welsh economy to become a green and just economy.

To achieve all of this, we need to listen to a range of voices, knowing that more inclusive decision-making that is representative of the communities we live and work in, leads to better outcomes for all.

This has already started through our Nature and Us campaign, as we involved the people of Wales in a national conversation about the future of our natural environment.

While some of the conversations will be difficult, the aim is to develop a shared vision for the year 2050 and consider the changes we all need to make leading up to 2030 and 2050, as individuals and as a country for the benefit of current and future generations.

The first phase of the conversation identified climate change, the decline or extinction of animal and plant life, and the pollution of rivers, lakes and groundwaters as three of the greatest concerns.

People also recognise the need for lifestyle changes to minimise impacts on nature, and the need to foster people’s connections with nature, ensuring that we also take these opportunities to tackle inequalities.

Everything we have learned from this conversation has helped shape our corporate plan and informed how we will deliver our work over the remainder of this decisive decade.

The challenge for us now is to harness our collective energies and skills for innovation and convert it into action on the ground.

The difference we can make

We work for the people of Wales, and it is our duty to pursue the sustainable management of natural resources (SMNR). These guiding principles underpin everything we do, including how we use our connections and bring people together to create and deliver shared outcomes for nature.

They inform how our colleagues flex and respond to the diverse needs of our communities and the environment, taking a place-focussed approach to our work, applying the sustainable development principle, and contributing to the seven well-being goals set out in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

We share with many other organisations and individuals a love and passion for nature, detailed knowledge, and expertise, as well as pride in supporting communities across Wales to take action.

We also share a pride in supporting the Welsh language, recognising how it defines us as people and as a nation, and connects us with our natural resources and our communities.

This pride and confidence in using Welsh in our work has been at the forefront of our minds as this corporate plan has evolved, ensuring our vision, mission and values are written in a way that resonate in the Welsh and English languages.

This corporate plan has been crafted with our colleagues in mind, building on our experience and learning over the last decade, and setting out our priorities to 2030.

We have set our sights on where we can and are best placed to lead and make a difference, using our tools, powers, and our resources to drive action to meet the 2030 targets, while at the same time working with others to harness their own power to effect change.

Beyond 2030, society will face tougher choices on how Wales can reach the 2050 commitments for climate and nature. We are starting that work now - identifying, testing, and making the case for change to set us on the right pathway collectively.

Our well-being objectives take us to 2030 and encompass what we will be able to achieve ourselves, but also how we will work with others to ensure Wales meets these more immediate international targets.

Our vision

Nature and people thriving together.

Our mission

Focussing our passion and collective action towards:

• nature’s recovery
• resilience to climate change
• minimising pollution
  

through the sustainable management of our natural resources.

Our values

We are proud to serve the people of Wales by being:

• Connected: we value our deep-rooted attachment to the land and water, nature and communities of Wales and build meaningful partnerships
• Bold: we use our voice, take action to make a difference and lead by example
• Caring: we listen to understand, care for each other and the communities we serve, and the environment we all depend on
• Resourceful: we explore new ways of doing things, innovate to accelerate change and use our resources effectively.

These values reflect, in part, where we are now as well as our aspirations for the future. They are intrinsic to the successful delivery of our vision and mission. The values will be front and centre of everything we do to deliver this corporate plan; they will be embedded in our brand, our storytelling, our learning and development, leadership and management. All our work conversations and behaviours will be rooted in these values.

A shared journey

Every journey starts with a destination. Ours is clear: a future where nature and people thrive together. It is the destination that guides us, and our values are the compass that keeps us on course. They shape how we work, how we make decisions, and how we support one another to be as impactful as we can be. They remind us why we do what we do - for Wales, for our environment, and for our communities.

This journey is firmly rooted in Wales’s commitment to sustainable development. The Well‑being of Future Generations (Wales) Act places a shared responsibility on public bodies to improve the well‑being of Wales now, and for future generations.

To embed these values and ways of working, we have taken time to listen and learn. Through our Colleague Engagement Group and teams across the organisation, we have uncovered the strengths that define us at our best.

Rooted in SMNR - the foundation of our statutory purpose -and informed by the UN Inner Development Goals, these strengths reflect the human capabilities and qualities needed to deliver sustainable development in practice - such as empathy, creativity, integrity and collaboration.

Together, they help us make better decisions - thinking long term, recognising multiple benefits, and balancing environmental, social and economic outcomes. They are already part of our learning journey, supporting how we grow and work - individually and together.

By trying different approaches, reflecting on what happens and learning together, we change habits, strengthen relationships and gradually reshape our organisational culture. This continuous learning process deepens our ability to apply the Sustainable Development Principle: strengthening collaboration with partners and communities, integrating evidence and perspectives, involving others meaningfully in decision‑making, and preventing future harm by addressing root causes rather than symptoms. In this way, sustainable development becomes something we do, not just something we aim for.

This is not a fixed point; it is a path we walk every day. Our vision and values provide clarity and stability, even as the context around us changes. Our strengths will continue to evolve as we adapt, learn and respond to change. By building the right skills, tools, and mindset, we can face uncertainty with confidence, act with agility, and lead positive change - for nature, climate and pollution, and for the people of Wales.

Our well-being objectives to 2030

By 2030 in Wales:

• nature is recovering
• communities are resilient to climate change
• pollution is minimised

By focussing on the three well-being objectives together, we will protect and enhance the well-being of future generations.

• Nature is the foundation stone of Wales’ well-being - supporting community cohesion and resilience, strong local economies, employment, learning, and mental and physical health.
  
• Nature underpins vibrant rural communities, with a direct relationship between nature and sustainable agriculture, woodlands and those that manage the land. This relationship must be nurtured if Wales is to maintain clean water, productive soils, food supplies and fibre.
• Without nature, we have no shield against climate impacts. Thriving nature stores carbon and reduces the risks and impacts of a warming world. Many actions to support the recovery of nature also provide solutions that will help us adapt to and mitigate against climate change.
  
• Minimising pollution and waste has a direct benefit to the health and resilience of nature and people. It can also benefit industry and business, helping them to become more responsible, improving their efficiency, effectiveness, helping to reduce costs and protect jobs and livelihoods.
  

The evidence tells us that by targeting action on these three well-being objectives, wider opportunities and benefits will flow for:

• mental and physical well-being
• lifelong learning and creativity
• job creation and skills

In turn, these will also contribute to the seven well-being goals for Wales which we have outlined in our well-being statement.

A healthy, happy and affluent society is one that is more likely to care for nature and take positive action for its future. We believe that helping people live better lives will also help us address our well-being objectives.

But we cannot do it alone.

We will work collaboratively across our teams, with sector representatives and through the Public Services Boards (PSBs) to optimise these opportunities and build meaningful partnerships to drive the transformational change we need.

To deliver our vision of Nature and People Thriving Together, we need to empower our people and evolve how we work across every part of the organisation. We are united by a simple truth: we care deeply about Wales - its environment, its communities, and its future. We care about our organisation too. We want to be an organisation we are proud to belong to, and one that partners and customers recognise as effective, collaborative, fair, and easy to work with. A place where colleagues feel valued, supported, and able to do their best work.

This is why we have developed a fourth well-being objective – How we work for nature and people. To turn our ambitions for nature, climate and pollution into action, the organisation needs to strengthen its culture rooted in our values, grow capability, strengthen motivation, and simplify decision-making. When we do this well, we will create clarity and focus at every level, enabling colleagues to act with trust and confidence, and to work at the pace and urgency that the environmental challenges we face demand.

In developing our well-being objectives and the steps that we will take to achieve them, we have applied our purpose to pursue the sustainable management of natural resources (SMNR) and applied the sustainable development principle.

As each step is implemented, we will continue to apply our purpose but will also acknowledge the value, insight and input our communities and other parts of the public, private and third sectors can contribute along the way.

The ambition running through all our efforts will be to ensure that nobody gets left behind as Wales pursues action for nature and climate. To exacerbate or to widen existing inequalities in our communities would be at odds with the commitments made within the Programme for Government.

For the lifetime of this plan, and through applying our purpose, we will sharpen our focus on social and environmental justice, on equity and inclusion, making sure delivering for rural and urban communities across Wales is at the heart of everything we do.

Well-being objective 1: Nature is recovering

This means taking urgent action to halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity, and to build the resilience of ecosystems so that nature can adapt to a changing climate and continue to provide the basis of all life – clean air, clean water, food and a stable climate. Wales needs to act now to avoid catastrophic ecosystem collapse.

Nature’s recovery is at the heart of Welsh Government’s policy agenda. We agree with Ministers who are demanding that all parts of society and the public, private and third sectors work collaboratively to drive sustained action for nature.

In the run-up to COP 15 in Montreal in December 2022, the Welsh Government led the Biodiversity Deep Dive, developing a series of collective actions to protect and effectively manage 30% of our land, freshwater and sea for nature by 2030. Welsh Government has also committed in the longer-term to develop statutory nature recovery targets.

The Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed in December 2022, sets out four long-term goals for 2050 and 23 targets to be achieved by 2030 to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030. We have mapped our steps to take against these Welsh and global commitments.

As the environment body for Wales, we provide the single, integrated voice on nature and natural resources. We will lead the drive for action by sharing our knowledge and expertise, drawing on the insights and experience of others, leading by example as we manage the land in our care.

We will harness the power of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 and Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and use our convening power to bring different people and organisations together, identifying opportunities for action and monitoring and assessing the impact.

We will prioritise action so that by 2030, nature’s recovery will be secure by:

• nature being protected
• nature being restored
• nature being respected and valued in decision-making
• nature, people and communities being reconnected
• NRW being an exemplar nature positive organisation

Image taken from the Nature Positive 2030 report, published by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, NatureScot and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

We will be protecting nature by:

• improving the condition of features at protected terrestrial, marine and freshwater sites through using our advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness.
• effectively managing and conserving at least 30% of land, freshwater and sea for nature through enhancing the extent, condition and connectivity of SSSI and Naturfa sites across Wales;
• understanding how ecosystems respond and adapt to climate change, through developing our evidence to inform our approach and identifying reforms to our regulatory approaches, tools and delivery mechanisms.
• building ecosystem resilience into the strategic planning system for land and sea, including Future Wales and other development plans, Planning Policy Wales and the Welsh National Marine Plan, through strengthening our provision of advice and guidance.
• influencing the right development in the right place to secure the protection and resilience of priority habitats and species across land and sea, through making the case for changes to development plans at local and regional scale and individual planning applications.
• protecting species at the greatest risk of extinction through using our advisory and regulatory tools, working in partnership and monitoring to evaluate effectiveness
• preventing the introduction and spread of invasive non-native species, pests and diseases through coordinated action with strategic partners.
• reducing the risks to nature from incidents such as bird flu, or those impacting protected sites or species, through preparing for and responding as a Category 1 responder; and
• preventing air and water pollution from impacting protected sites through identifying and evaluating the key contributors, such as ammonia and working with key sectors to take action.

We will be restoring nature by:

• accelerating improvements to the condition of the Marine Protected Area Network through robust monitoring and investigations, evidence, advice and working with others on project delivery.
• building the resilience of terrestrial, freshwater and marine protected sites transforming them into bigger, better and more effectively connected networks, using our advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness.
• accelerating action for nature’s recovery at a landscape-scale through sharing our evidence and expertise with National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other partners.
• scaling up nature-based solutions in urban and rural areas to build connectivity between habitats, securing multiple benefits for nature and people through working with planners and developers to embed in developments; and
• evaluating the effectiveness of what we do to restore and connect nature through monitoring and sharing the data with others, establishing a series of demonstration platforms.

We will be ensuring nature is respected and valued in decision-making by:

• optimising opportunities for nature’s recovery by embedding it in all NRW policies, strategies, plans, programmes and projects.
• mainstreaming nature recovery in all public bodies by collaborating to define the guidelines and opportunities to drive action.
• delivering multiple benefits and opportunities for nature, people and the rural economy through supporting Welsh Government in the development and implementation of the Sustainable Farming Scheme, providing evidence and expertise.
• stimulating action for scalable nature positive management of land and water, through collaborative working with key sectors to define effective solutions.

We will be re-connecting nature and people by:

• ensuring local communities benefit from equitable access to green and blue spaces and act responsibly, through providing guidance and support, working collaboratively with strategic partners such as Visit Wales and local authorities.
• ensuring social and environmental justice, equity and inclusion inform and strengthen our decision-making for nature’s recovery through the review of current mechanisms and development of guidance.
• involving different communities and sectors in our work, through applying behavioural insights to inform our approaches.
• ensuring a diverse range of people are taking action for nature, through sharing the vision and outcomes from Nature and Us to expand our networks and increase involvement.
• building the capability and capacity of the Welsh workforce to support nature’s recovery through working with others to advocate for green skills and jobs.
• delivering landscape-scale nature recovery through developing collaborative partnerships, building on the learning from the Upper Conwy Catchment Project and Natur am Byth.

We will be an exemplar nature positive organisation by:

• building the resilience of high nature-value sites on the land in our care, especially our National Nature Reserves and other protected sites, and contributing to the 30by30 target, through managing soil, water, vegetation, and other aspects to create ecological processes that sustain the high nature value.
• ensuring nature’s protection and recovery is integrated into NRW's financial and business decisions through applying the lessons learnt from others on effective tools and frameworks.
• ensuring nature’s recovery is driven throughout our supply chains, grant programmes, and land management agreements through inclusion in our procurement and funding frameworks.
• ensuring partners are delivering against our strategic commercial approach through nature positive certification in commercial products and services.
• investing in the skills and capability of our colleagues to be ambassadors through providing a training programme for nature and climate literacy.

How we will recover nature in our communities

To support nature’s recovery, we will build on our network of partnerships across Wales, reflecting the diversity of Wales’ communities and natural resources.

In our seven places we have made commitments through our active engagement with PSBs in the development of their well-being plans, and through involving communities in the development of our Area Statements.

Find out more about how we are tailoring our work to recover nature in our place-focussed areas.

South East Wales

In South East Wales, partnership working will be key to achieving the ambition to halt and reverse biodiversity decline across the extraordinary Gwent landscape. In support of the 10-year Greater Gwent Nature Recovery Action plan, we will empower partners to work together to tackle the main drivers of biodiversity loss, build ecosystem resilience at a landscape and local level and increase the diversity of the species and habitats we find here.

Building on the legacy of our work as part of the Living Levels Landscape Partnership, we will also invest in the relationships we have cultivated with the local community and our partners in this area, and work together to protect, enhance and reconnect people with the natural environment in this special place.

South Wales Central

Across the South Wales Central area, we will manage our woodlands sustainably and with our local communities in mind. One third of Wales’ population borders urban woodland, providing places to explore and connect with nature, as well as trees absorbing noise and greenhouse gas emissions. We will work with local communities to maximise the benefits the Welsh Government Woodland Estate can bring. In areas like the North Cardiff Woodlands, we will take a landscape approach to how we manage the Estate and our wider recreation offer to ensure we can enhance ecosystem resilience and manage visitor pressures, whilst also bringing multiple health and well-being benefits to Cardiff’s communities.

Maximising the delivery of the sustainable management of natural resources through landscape partnerships will also be a key focus in this part of Wales. We will use our convening powers and leverage our Area Statement evidence to support new ways of working that support the development of multiple Resilient Ecological Networks (RENs), such as the Bridgend landscape partnership, to achieve multiple environmental and socio-economic benefits. This evidence will be used to connect, protect and enhance the green infrastructure that make up the urban areas across South Wales Central.

South West Wales

From Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) to our National Nature Reserves, improving the condition of our protected areas to underpin nature recovery will be a key focus for our teams in South West Wales. Working with landowners and partners, we will pursue opportunities to develop a wider network of resilient ecosystems, concentrating on semi-natural grasslands in the area. Our work to restore ancient woodland sites and precious peatlands on the Welsh Government Woodland Estate will continue, and we will ensure land we lease to others is managed sensitively and responsibly.

Mid Wales

Work to recover nature in Mid Wales will focus on fostering the resilience of ecosystems and improving habitats across protected and designated sites. Working in partnership with the Canal and River Trust, we will protect designated plants and invertebrates within the Montgomeryshire Canal Special Area of Conservation. We will also work alongside Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and other partners to review visitor safety management responsibilities in Waterfall Country, whilst also ensuring the protection of the special characteristics of the National Park.

North East Wales

Our work with PSBs will be instrumental in how we deliver our ambitions to make communities in North East Wales more resilient to the challenges they face. Conwy and Denbighshire PSB will operate at a strategic level to influence the agendas of partners and others and will focus on a single well-being objective: a more equal place with less deprivation. The plan will seek to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of the area by making communities more resilient to the climate and nature emergencies and the rising costs of living.

Action plans designed to deliver more equal access to the countryside and coast and to enhance biodiversity and natural habitats in Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham will further benefit the health and well-being of those who live and work in North East Wales.

Our successful partnerships will be the foundation stone of nature recovery focussed projects, such as the development of integrated catchment management in the Vale of Clwyd, where a volunteer forum and partners will come together to work on upland management. We will also work with regional partners, such as the North Wales Research and Insight Group to increase understanding of the nature and climate emergency through collaborative engagement and the sharing of knowledge and research to inform our decision-making and improve our ways of working.

North West Wales

In North West Wales, we will continue our multi-theme ‘Llifo’ approach to project development on Anglesey and the Conwy Valley, where we will work with partners to focus on commonalities between the PSB well-being objectives, the opportunity catchment priorities, and our North West Area Statement. We will build on the opportunities this approach brings to enable us to collaborate more effectively, to think innovatively, to do things differently and to effect change.

We will continue to develop our understanding of what ecosystem resilience in the face of the nature emergency means for the area, using the habitat maps we have developed as a foundation for engagement with our partners as we look to continue our work to restore ecosystems in North West Wales. Wherever possible, we will initiate multi-partner projects across the area, focussing on locations which will support our aspirations to support nature’s recovery, whilst also delivering on the priorities of our partners, our Area Statement themes and PSB priorities.

Marine

Through our membership of the Wales Coasts and Seas Partnership (CaSP Cymru), we will work with a range of partners on our shared priorities to improve marine resilience in Wales. This will include improving people’s understanding of how collective and individual actions impact the sea’s health, and how the sea’s health impacts our own lives through the implementation of an Ocean Literacy Strategy.

We will work alongside our coastal communities to build capacity to address the impacts of the climate and nature emergencies and explore innovative funding mechanisms that can support nature’s recovery and build the resilience of our seas and coastlines.

We will build on our work to improve the condition of the Marine Protected Area network in Wales which supports some of the most diverse wildlife and habitats in Europe. To reduce the pressures of the climate and nature emergencies on these areas, we will deliver a diverse programme of activity which will include locating and managing, wherever possible, the removal of derelict vessels. We will also look to strengthen our understanding of the reasons why some key coastal habitats, such as maerl and sandbanks are in poor condition. Doing so will enable us to put plans in place to manage the restoration of these important features. We will also develop robust biosecurity plans for marine sites that will help prevent the spread of invasive non-native species around our coasts and deliver saltmarsh restoration work at Rhymney Wharf in Cardiff.

Well-being objective 2: Communities are resilient to climate change

This means taking urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate action to adapt to climate change, reducing the risks and impacts to all sectors of the economy whilst contributing to the Welsh Government ambition for a carbon neutral public sector by 2030, and a net zero Wales by 2050.

Welsh Government has defined the strategic direction in Net Zero Wales to 2025, setting out how Wales will reduce its emissions as a country, with 120 policies and proposals identified across all Ministerial portfolios and sectors.

In December 2022, Welsh Government published the final statement for the first carbon budget, including a suite of 100 Wales-specific indicators for the monitoring, reporting and verification of the carbon budget, including some related to NRW’s remit. The national adaptation plan for Wales sets out the priority risks and actions to manage the impacts of climate change, with a new plan including indicators proposed for 2024. Taken together, these provide real clarity for all parts of the public, private and third sectors on the actions needed.

Nature that is thriving stores carbon and provides protection from the impacts of a warming world. Action to support the recovery of nature strengthens our collective response to climate change.

We will prioritise action so that, by 2030, community resilience to climate change will be secure by:

• nature-based solutions being widely adopted
• the risks of climate change being managed and adapted
• climate emissions being reduced
• sustained action on climate change being taken by people, communities and businesses
• NRW being an exemplar organisation for a net zero Welsh public sector.

We will be scaling up delivery of nature-based solutions by:

• restoring peatland through the National Peatland Action Programme (NPAP) working with delivery partners, including on the land in our care, using a range of advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness;
• creating new woodlands and restoring ancient woodlands through working with delivery partners, using a range of advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness;
• creating new woodlands and restoring ancient woodlands on the land in our care, through only acquiring land for woodland creation to compensate for woodland permanently converted to other land-uses, and gradually changing the trees on planted ancient woodland sites to species that better reflect their nature conservation and cultural value;
• stimulating restoration of marine and coastal habitats such as saltmarsh, sand dunes, seagrass and native oyster reef through working with delivery partners, using a range of advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness;
• maintaining, improving and restoring terrestrial and freshwater habitats to build ecosystem resilience and deliver societal benefits, through using our advisory and regulatory tools, financial incentives and undertaking monitoring to evaluate effectiveness;
• mitigating the impacts of floods and droughts and improving water quality through identifying opportunities for integrated management of land and water at the catchment scale;
• enhancing the resilience of urban and rural communities and their connection with nature through strengthening the design and accessibility of urban green and blue infrastructure, working with planners and developers to embed in developments.

We will be adapting to the risks and impacts of climate change by:

• building climate resilience into the strategic planning system for land and sea including Future Wales and other development plans, Planning Policy Wales, and the Welsh National Marine Plan, through strengthening our provision of advice and guidance;
• ensuring all future developments are resilient to climate change through making the case for changes to local and regional development plans and advising on planning applications;
• reducing the risk to life from flooding through managing our flood assets and infrastructure for current and future flood risk, and planning for change through maintaining and adapting the flood assets and infrastructure we are accountable for;
• reducing the risk to life from flooding to people and communities from main rivers, reservoirs and the sea, through the delivery of flood alleviation schemes;
• reducing the risk to life from flooding through issuing flood warnings that meet the changing needs of communities, and maintaining and improving the 24/7 Flood Warning Service;
• reducing the risks to nature and people from floods and droughts through preparing for and responding to incidents as a Category 1 responder;
• building the resilience of communities, local authorities and businesses to current and future flood risk through improving and sharing our evidence to stimulate action;
• reducing the risk to life from reservoir failure through regulating reservoir safety;
• ensuring water companies maintain security of water supply to customers through scrutinising and reporting to Ministers on their water resource management plans, drought plans and infrastructure investment plans;
• reducing the risks to the natural resources on the land in our care from drought, disease and pests, wildfires and storm damage through diversifying tree species, restructuring woodland and other habitats, and greater tree thinning;
• reducing the risks to the assets we manage on the land in our care such as spoil tips, reservoirs, major culverts and bridges through maintaining and upgrading infrastructure;
• ensuring that regulated facilities and activities are resilient through providing evidence and advice to inform assessments of climate risks, impacts and adaptation actions.

We will be contributing to the reduction in carbon emissions by:

• stimulating adoption of alternative low carbon and carbon capture technologies in industry, through providing specialist advice and guidance to inform either planning permission or permit applications;
• strengthening emission standards through making the case for change to Welsh Government through providing evidence;
• stimulating development of sustainable renewable energy schemes on the land in our care through applying our strategic commercial approach;
• supporting the development of sustainable offshore and onshore renewable energy through our evidence, advice and regulation, building a common understanding of the standards required in the statutory planning and permitting processes;
• securing the timber producing potential of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate through providing harvestable timber, meeting global standards of sustainable forest management;
• protecting carbon stocks and optimising opportunities for sequestration through sustainably managing the land in our care;
• stimulating action for carbon neutral management of land and water through collaborative working with key sectors to define effective solutions.

We will be enabling people, communities and businesses to take sustained action on climate change by:

• ensuring social and environmental justice, equity and inclusion inform and strengthen our decision-making for climate change through the review of current mechanisms and development of guidance;
• involving different communities and sectors in our work, through applying behavioural insights to inform our approaches;
• ensuring a diverse range of people are taking action for climate through sharing the vision and outcomes from Nature and Us to expand our networks and increase involvement;
• building the capability and capacity of the Welsh workforce to support climate action through working with others to advocate for green skills and jobs; and

We will be an exemplar organisation for a net zero Welsh public sector by:

• strengthening our strategic approach to decarbonisation through developing and delivering an organisation-wide net zero plan, building on the lessons learnt from partners;
• changing our ways of working through completing climate change risk and vulnerability assessments to inform an integrated adaptation action plan, sharing our learning with others;
• censuring NRW's financial and business decisions integrate climate change, through applying the lessons learnt from others on effective governance, tools and frameworks;
• increasing energy efficiency and deployment of renewables in all our buildings and assets, through reviewing current systems and taking action;
• reducing our carbon footprint through monitoring our usage and taking action as we transition to a hybrid working model;
• reducing vehicle emissions through the use of ultra-low emission vehicles wherever possible, using biodiesel and fuel efficiency measures in the interim;
• investing in the skills and capability of our colleagues to be ambassadors through providing a training programme for climate and nature literacy;
• ensuring actions for climate are driven throughout our supply chains, grant programmes and land management agreements through inclusion in our procurement and funding frameworks.

How we will make nature and communities resilient to climate change

To support the resilience of communities to climate change, we will build on our network of partnerships across Wales, reflecting the diversity of our communities and natural resources.

In our seven places we have made commitments through our active engagement with PSBs in the development of their well-being plans, and through involving communities in the development of our Area Statements.

Find out more about how we are tailoring our work to make nature and communities in our place-focussed areas more resilient to climate change.

South East Wales

In South East Wales, we recognise the important role the area’s network of open green and blue spaces can have on enhancing people’s well-being and quality of life. As a partner of the Gwent Green Grid regional partnership, we will develop a Green Infrastructure Strategy for the area, putting in place the mechanisms to deliver a regional network made up of the natural and semi-natural features and green and blue spaces that connect Gwent’s villages, towns and cities. The ambition will be to provide more green jobs, skills development and volunteering opportunities within the region. It will also stimulate community cohesion that will bring benefits for nature and people alike and help tackle the climate emergency.

We will also continue to work with partners, including the Woodland Trust and the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, to restore ancient woodland sites in the Wye Valley and deliver nature-based solutions that will increase our forests’ resilience to climate impacts and deliver health and well-being benefits for those who live and work in the community.

South Wales Central

The steep-sided valleys and urban locations that make up the landscape in South Wales Central make this area vulnerable to surface water and river flooding. In consideration of the accelerating climate impacts, we will deliver a Strategic Flood Masterplan for the River Taff, taking a whole catchment approach to flood risk management in this area. As the leading flood risk management authority for this geographical area, we will lead and collaborate with other authorities to ensure multi-source flood risk, and how we manage those risks, is considered at every stage, and that we take every opportunity to maximise additional benefits for nature and communities in this area through developing a common vision.

We will also work across communities in South Wales Central to develop more sustainable landscapes and increase their resilience to the impacts of flooding, wildfires and pollution and ensure people have clean air to breathe, clean waters to swim in and equal access to green spaces.

South West Wales

South West Wales’ diverse and varied landscapes include farmlands and rugged uplands, extensive coastlines and industrial valleys which each bring opportunities, risks and priorities that we will address to build the resilience of nature and communities in this area.

Home to some of the largest CO₂emitters in Wales, we will work with regulated industry in South West Wales to help them to reduce their emissions and play their part in helping Wales to achieve its ambitions to transition to a low carbon economy.

We will also look to further harness Wales’ potential to deliver more green energy by unlocking the potential of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate to facilitate renewable energy schemes. This includes the proposed windfarm developments at Bryn and Margam Forest and third-party access to developments on adjacent land. We will also work to the Welsh Government's Renewable Energy Developer (RED) programme to identify future sites suitable for delivering the 250MW renewable energy generation targets by 2030.

Mid Wales

Our work to increase communities and nature’s resilience to climate change in Mid Wales will focus on the strength of our partnerships in this area. Taking a landscape-scale approach, we will work alongside our partners as part of the Welsh Water-led Brecon Beacons Mega Catchment (BBMC) project to explore new ways of working to support the development of flood mitigation opportunities.

We will also leverage our role as partners in both Powys and Ceredigion PSBs to collaborate in the delivery of the Well-being Plans 2023-28, sharing the lead on the implementation of decarbonisation projects in Ceredigion and taking a place-focussed approach to climate change adaptation across the area.

North West Wales

We will continue to work with strategic partners across North West and North East Wales through the North Wales Regional Leadership Board and the CEO group, where decarbonisation is one of our priority discussion areas. We are already having important conversations about how we work together to tackle the difficult issues at hand, and where changes might be needed in our approach to think differently and more creatively to meet the demands of both the climate and nature emergencies, and to ensure North Wales has a resilient future.

Sensitively managing the special landscapes at Newborough on Anglesey will be a key focus for our North West teams. Newborough’s location makes it more susceptible to climate change impacts on our coastline. Recognising the value local communities place on this area, we will work closely with them to plan our work around biodiversity and forestry. Through our work with Anglesey Council, we will put this area at the heart of joint planning to ensure it becomes more resilient as the climate changes. This work at a local level will help inform the wider regional approach to tackling climate change being addressed across North Wales’ PSBs.

North East Wales

Our work with PSBs will be instrumental in how we deliver our ambitions to make nature and communities in North East Wales more resilient to climate change. We will also commit to progressing a range of partnership projects in this area, including the creation of a community level resilience plan at Pengwern near Llangollen, leading the vision for the Wrexham Forests Partnerships, the development of integrated catchment management in the Vale of Clwyd, and support initiatives that connect people to nature through Green Social Prescribing and the North Wales Healthy Travel Charter.

Marine

Our Marine teams will work with partners to harness the power of our seas through our Offshore Renewable Energy Programme (OREP) and facilitate the sustainable deployment of offshore renewable energy development in Wales.

Through this programme we have been developing and testing new approaches, seeking to manage uncertainties around the potential environmental impacts of new technologies.

With climate change-related sea level rise and changing coastal protection levels in mind, we will also deliver a Coastal Adaptation Programme (CAP) to deliver the best outcomes for communities most at risk. This work addresses priorities identified across all our Area Statements. We have identified a range of sites where there are opportunities for strategic outcomes and sustainable flood risk management options. These sites, which currently include Dinas Dinlle and Tan Lan in North Wales, the South West Dyfi estuary in Mid Wales and Mwche in South Wales are under detailed review.

Well-being objective 3: Pollution is minimised

This means taking action to minimise those things that harm human health, biodiversity and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, while simultaneously driving down waste by ensuring the reuse and substitution of materials in key sectors of the Welsh economy.

We are the principal environmental regulator in Wales. We are accountable for controlling pollution through issuing permits and enforcing compliance. Our data shows an increase in the number of pollution incidents over the last five years, and in parallel, heightened public awareness and concern about the impact of pollution on the environment.

We are constantly striving to improve how we work with businesses and sectors to control and minimise pollution and waste using our existing statutory powers and duties.

Avoiding pollution and waste underpin the Welsh Government’s circular economy approach to net zero, with a suite of 14 indicators to track progress.

Encouraging businesses to improve their effectiveness and efficiency, thereby reducing their costs, is central to Welsh Government’s strategy “Beyond Recycling”. The wider public also need to recognise their role as consumers and demand more from the businesses and supply chains they purchase goods from, signalling their intolerance of pollution and waste.

We will prioritise action so that, by 2030, nature and people will be protected from the impacts of pollution by:

• effective use of regulatory tools and approaches
• incident response being risk-based
• resource efficiency and the use of alternative materials being widely adopted
• sustained action to minimise pollution being taken by people, communities and businesses
• NRW being an exemplar organisation for zero pollution and waste

We will be effectively using our regulatory tools and approaches by:

• ensuring the sectors we regulate, including illegal non-permitted activities, take effective action to control and minimise pollution and increase resource efficiency through the provision of advice and guidance that effectively sets out the standards required to ensure compliance;
• minimising pollution and waste through working collaboratively with industry and others to identify how legislation and Welsh Government policy need to change;
• avoiding pollution and waste through exploring innovative approaches using all our regulatory tools, including experimental powers;
• improving poor local environmental quality through working with local authorities to understand the issues and develop shared action plans;
• improving environmental performance of those we regulate through advising poor performers on prevention measures and identifying star performers to share lessons learnt and good practice;
• minimising the risks of pollution from chemicals through adapting our regulatory approach to chemicals in the environment;
• minimising pollution of land and water through collaborative working to stimulate positive action and build effective solutions;
• protecting the environment and improving environmental performance of water companies through effective challenge of their investment programmes to secure action to improve;
• minimising pollution in highly protected and designated waters through identifying the actions required of a range of sectors;
• restoring water quality in catchments affected by the legacy of abandoned metal mines, through using our evidence and working collaboratively to identify priorities for action;
• improving air quality for nature and people through reducing and eliminating emissions to air in our regulation of industry.

We will be taking a risk-based response to incidents by:

• minimising harm from environmental pollution incidents through preparing for, and responding to priority incidents as a Category 1 responder;
• minimising the harm from specific sectors and within specific geographic areas through using evidence to take action to improve compliance;
• minimising the harm from serious environmental crime through investigating incidents and taking strong and decisive action;
• minimising the harm from illegal waste through taking action with local authorities and third sector partners to prevent fly-tipping.

We will be encouraging the adoption of resource efficiency and the use of alternative materials by:

• minimising waste through implementing new regulatory requirements such as extended producer responsibility and non-domestic and public sector recycling;
• ensuring the efficient use of resources, meeting sector-specific standards through the provision of advice and guidance to water companies and other industries;
• stimulating supply chains to use timber grown in Wales through using our position as the dominant supplier of sustainably harvested timber in Wales.

We will be enabling people, communities and businesses to take sustained action to minimise pollution by:

• scaling up nature-based solutions in urban and rural areas to support pollution minimisation, securing multiple benefits for nature and people through working with planners and developers to embed in developments;
• minimising illegal waste through development and implementation of a joint strategy for Landfill Disposal and Unauthorised Disposal with the Welsh Revenue Authority;
• ensuring social and environmental justice, equity and inclusion inform and strengthen our decision-making for minimising pollution through the review of current mechanisms and development of guidance;
• involving different communities and sectors in our work, through applying behavioural insights to inform our approaches;
• ensuring a diverse range of people are taking action to minimise pollution through sharing the vision and outcomes from Nature and Us to expand our networks and increase involvement;
• building the capability and capacity of the Welsh workforce to support pollution minimisation through working with others to advocate for green skills and jobs.

We will be an exemplar zero pollution and waste organisation by:

• ensuring that NRW's financial and business decisions integrate zero pollution and waste through applying the lessons learnt from others on effective tools and frameworks;
• maximising the reuse, recycling and recovery of materials through monitoring and taking action when replacing key items such as ICT equipment and PPE;
• ensuring action on pollution minimisation is driven throughout our supply chains, grant programmes and land management agreements through inclusion in our procurement and funding frameworks;
• reducing the risk of harm to the environment from pollution incidents on the land in our care through high standards of operational management, and dealing effectively with any incidents that do occur;
• investing in the skills and capability of our colleagues to be ambassadors, through providing a training programme for climate and nature literacy.

How we will work to minimise pollution in our communities

• Taking a place-focussed approach to minimise pollution will protect people and nature from harm.
• In our seven places we have made commitments through our active engagement with PSBs in the development of their well-being plans, and through involving communities in the development of our Area Statements to minimise pollution in our places.
• Find out more about how we are tailoring our work to minimise pollution in our place-focussed areas.

South East Wales

In South East Wales, we will focus on the health of our rivers by delivering pollution prevention actions in the Central Monmouthshire Opportunity catchment. This will include working with landowners and farmers to deploy nature-based solutions to improve water quality in the lower Usk and Wye catchment and undertake more compliance activity to help minimise the environmental impact of farming activities.

South Wales Central

We will also take a catchment-scale approach to improve the ecology and quality of our waters in the predominantly heavily modified urban rivers in South Wales Central. The river Ely opportunity catchment provides us with an opportunity to take a landscape approach in how we use our regulatory powers and to work with partners to take a more proactive, collaborative approach to tackling common issues such as water pollution from sources such as construction sites. We will also seek to restore catchment processes for the benefit of the environment and our communities.

As the Cardiff Capital Region continues to grow, we have an important role to play in preventing pollution from urban developments. We will use our regulatory powers to ensure industry compliance to improve air quality, and we will use our influence and statutory role in development planning to promote a regenerative economy that safeguards and restores the resilience of our ecosystems and the stocks of our natural resources. We will also advocate for transformation in the energy, transport and food sectors in our work with PSBs and the Cardiff Capital Region with the goal of supporting Welsh Government’s ambitions for a more prosperous Wales.

South West Wales

Working in partnership with the agricultural community and our regulated sites will also be a focus on how we minimise pollution to safeguard communities and protect the environment in South West Wales. In Pembrokeshire, we will continue to work with farmers, the processing, waste and water industries to improve the quality of our waters, our land and our air and enhance the habitats we find in the Cleddau Rivers Special Area of Conservation.

Our work to monitor and investigate the causes of pollution in South West Wales will also continue apace, using our evidence to drive asset improvements, inform how we take enforcement activity against polluters and to drive policy improvements related to land use in the area.

Mid Wales

In Mid Wales, we will take a catchment-scale approach to improving the ecology and quality of our rivers and coastal waters through the Upper Wye River Restoration Project and our work on the Wye, Usk and Teifi Nutrient Management Plan Boards. Using our evidence base, our advisory and regulatory powers, and the strength of our partnerships, we will work to restore catchments for the benefit of the environment and communities in this area.

North West Wales

In North West Wales, we will look to tackle issues around water quality and quantity, ecological restoration, and community well-being alongside the North Wales Wildlife Trust as part of a multi-partner collaborative group. Together, we will develop a landscape-scale National Lottery Heritage Fund project bid based around the catchment of the Anglesey Fens – an area famed for its wetland and fen habitat which supports a wide range of unique plants and species.

North East Wales

We will take a catchment-scale approach to reducing pollution in North East Wales, working with partners such as the Dee Nutrient Management Board and the voluntary Clwyd Forum and Dee catchment partnerships to sustainably manage the land in this area. We will also work with communities and permit holders to ensure the environmental impacts are minimised at the sites we regulate.

Marine

Enhancing the water quality of our coasts and seas will be the focus of our work with partners around Marine Opportunity Catchments. We will continue to build on our work with National Trust Wales, North Wales Wildlife Trust, and tenant farmers to invest in projects to minimise nutrient pollution in the Cemlyn Bay coastal lagoon on Anglesey. In South West Wales, we are also using the evidence gathered following poor water quality testing results in mussel fisheries in Swansea Bay to understand the failures and to inform more effective management procedures to prevent reoccurrence.

Well-being objective 4 - How we work for nature and people

Building a trusted, effective and collaborative organisation that enables lasting benefits for nature, climate and people across Wales.

Delivering our vision of Nature and People Thriving Together is not just about what we plan, but how we act. It is shaped by how we work together, how we learn and how we lead. The way we make decisions, use evidence and involve people builds trust, strengthens relationships and ultimately determines the outcomes we achieve for Wales.

At the heart of all four of our well-being objectives is our purpose: the sustainable management of natural resources. This means working in ways that ensure ecosystems remain resilient and able to continue providing multiple benefits for current and future generations. Our approach must reflect how natural systems function – recognising interconnections, working at the right scale, and considering the long-term and cumulative impacts of our decisions.

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act and the Environment (Wales) Act set both a duty and a powerful mandate to work differently. They call on us to think long term, prevent problems before they escalate, integrate our efforts, collaborate widely, and involve people meaningfully. These are not abstract concepts. They describe everyday ways of working that help us deal with complexity, balance legitimate and sometimes competing interests, and move beyond siloed approaches and towards common outcomes that are joined‑up, place‑based and focused on lasting change.

This shift is not optional, but neither is it instantaneous. As a Welsh public body, we are expected to lead by example by consistently demonstrating integrity, openness, transparency and care in how we work. This requires a clear and shared understanding of the ways of working we are seeking to embed, how these will be reflected in everyday decisions and behaviours, and how progress will be understood and measured. Ultimately, developing the mindset needed to apply these ways of working will take sustained leadership, capability-building and support. How we work shapes not only what we deliver, but the culture, behaviours and levels of trust that enable lasting change for current and future generations.

Through this well-being objective, we are focussed on building an organisation that is:

• Trusted – by colleagues, customers, partners and communities
• Effective – making clear, timely and well-judged decisions informed by the best available evidence
• Collaborative – working as one NRW and alongside others, recognising shared responsibility
• Fit for the future – resilient, inclusive and able to adapt and learn

We recognise that the complex challenges facing nature, climate and pollution cannot be solved by us alone. Collaboration, compromise and joint problem-solving are essential. By working with others at the scale at which ecosystems and communities operate, and by valuing lived experience alongside professional and scientific expertise, we enable better decisions and more durable outcomes.

Prevention is central to how we work. By acting early and addressing underlying pressures on ecosystems - not just symptoms - we support their long‑term ability to adapt and continue providing benefits for people, the economy and nature. This means understanding cumulative impacts, recognising trade‑offs, and focusing effort where it will have the greatest impact in building resilience.

This objective is rooted in the sustainable development principle and the principles of sustainable management of natural resources. These guide not only what we deliver, but how we behave every day – shaping our leadership, our use of evidence and our relationships with colleagues, customers, partners and communities. They remind us to consider the full range of social, environmental and economic benefits provided by ecosystems, and to reflect those values in decision‑making.

Through this well‑being objective, we are investing in the people, systems and relationships that enable us to be a confident, dependable and positive force within the Welsh public service. Our ambition is to create an organisation that:

• People trust
• Partners value
• Colleagues are proud to be part of

These changes are not just operational. They reflect the values that define us and the responsibility we hold - to the environment, to Wales, to future generations, and to each other. By working differently, together, we can maximise benefits for nature, climate and people – now and for generations to come.

This is how we build an organisation that is trusted, agile and future‑ready.

To bring this objective to life, we will focus our investment and effort on six priority areas that support colleagues across the organisation to lead, collaborate and deliver:

Across all six priorities, our focus extends beyond NRW. How we work shapes trust in public institutions, supports collaboration across the Welsh public sector, and enables communities, businesses and partners to contribute to shared outcomes for nature and people.

Taken together, these priorities will enable us to think long term, prevent problems, integrate our work, collaborate effectively, and involve people meaningfully – while delivering better outcomes for nature, climate, pollution, and people.

Our leadership and culture

Putting long‑term, prevention, and involvement into action

Leadership and culture shape how we show up every day – and how it feels to be part of the organisation. By investing in inclusive, supportive, and confident leadership at every level, we create the conditions where colleagues feel trusted to step forward, challenge constructively and learn from experience. We will give our people the time, space and resources to take the initiative, try new approaches and lead with confidence.

By investing in leadership capability, inclusion, health and well-being, and learning, we are building resilience for the long-term. This helps prevent problems before they arise - reducing risk, improving safety, and supporting people to stay well, engaged, and able to make their best contribution.

By strengthening inclusive leadership across the organisation, we contribute to a stronger, more connected Welsh public sector. A confident, supported workforce enables us to be a trusted partner, share learning with others, and contribute positively to system‑wide leadership for nature, climate and well‑being in Wales.

We want every colleague to feel involved, empowered, and confident to lead in their role, contribute ideas, and make decisions that reflect our purpose.

We will invest in:

• Enabling all colleagues to lead, individually and collectively through strengthening our learning and development offer, designing inclusive resources, feedback tools and events that reflect our values and strengths.
• Strengthening our culture of well-being, health and safety through using people-related data and insight to understand needs, prioritise actions and drive meaningful improvements.
• Attracting, nurturing, and retaining diverse talent that reflects the communities we serve through expanding our early career offer and creating broader opportunities for career development and progression across the organisation.
• Championing inclusion and anti-racism, embracing our place in the Welsh public sector through provision of training, support, and resources to embed inclusive and anti-racist practice across our workforce and reduce the gender and disability pay gap.
• Actively learning from others through building strong, purposeful networks with public sector and other organisations in Wales and beyond to share learning and best practice.
• Creating a skills-based, agile workforce through aligning progression to career pathways and more flexible ways of working.
• Celebrating individual and team achievements through recognition and storytelling - valuing each person’s contribution and encouraging more of what works.
• Building confident, credible advocates for nature and climate through training enhancing nature and climate literacy programmes.

Outcome: An organisation where colleagues feel valued, supported, and confident to lead change, strengthening NRW’s contribution to a capable, inclusive, and future-ready Welsh public sector.

Our customers

Embedding prevention, involvement, and integration

How we treat customers reflects who we are as a public body. By striving for an exceptional customer experience - listening carefully, responding clearly, and learning from feedback - we strengthen trust, reduce frustration and delays, and prevent problems escalating.

Involving customers early and learning from their experiences helps us design services that are fairer, more accessible, and more trusted. By integrating our internal processes, we can create a seamless experience, and ensure people experience NRW as one joined-up organisation, rather than a collection of separate services.

We build long‑term trust through transparency, consistency, and high professional standards, delivering services that are timely, inclusive and shaped by the needs of the communities we serve.

A consistent and fair customer experience builds confidence not only in NRW, but in the wider system of environmental regulation, advice and support in Wales. How we work with people shapes trust in public institutions and enables partners, communities, and businesses to play their part in delivering positive outcomes for nature and people.

We will invest in:

• Deepening our understanding of our customers’ needs through listening with compassion and humility, using insights, feedback and data to identify pain points, shape improvement, and inform decisions across the organisation.
• Strengthening how we respond to customers through equipping colleagues with the skills, tools and support they need to provide clear, timely and empathetic advice.
• Building a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging teams to learn from feedback, share best practice and reduce unnecessary complexity in customer journeys.
• Enhancing accessibility and inclusion, ensuring our services work for everyone by offering multiple channels, clear information, and support that reflects the diversity of Wales’ communities.
• Improving internal coordination behind the customer journey, aligning teams and processes so customers experience NRW as one joined-up organisation, not a collection of separate services.
• Increasing transparency and trust through clearer decisions, better updates and more visible information so customers understand what to expect and when.

Outcome: People feel heard, treated fairly and confident in their interactions with NRW, supporting wider trust in public services and environmental decision-making in Wales.

Our digital services

Supporting long‑term thinking, prevention, and integration

Digital services shape how people experience our organisation, and how effectively we work together behind the scenes. By designing them around what people need, and how we work, we make it easier to collaborate, share information and act with confidence.

Taking a “digital by design” approach helps us simplify processes, reduce risk, and work more consistently. It also builds our long-term capability, helps prevent avoidable issues, and makes it easier to engage openly with partners, communities, and businesses.

We will invest in:

• Modernising public‑facing services with inclusive digital platforms that enable easy self‑service, real‑time information and improved transparency.
• Designing services around user-needs using people-centred and digital by design principles, ensuring integrated, intuitive, inclusive, and responsive services.
• Improving efficiency and effectiveness through technology by redesigning processes, adopting digital tools, automation, and modern systems.
• Simplifying access to corporate information through digitalisation so that colleagues and customers can quickly find what they need.
• Creating the space for innovation by providing funding, mentoring and leadership support for teams to test and develop new ideas.

Outcome: Clearer, faster, and more accessible services that support better decisions and improve transparency and engagement beyond NRW.

Our governance

Enabling long‑term focus, prevention, and integration

Clear and proportionate governance makes it easier for colleagues to understand who makes decisions, how risks are handled and what matters most. By simplifying decision-making and linking it to our well-being objectives, we support decisions being made at the right level while keeping clear accountability.

A balanced approach to risk with better-integrated planning allows us to focus effort where it matters most, preventing unnecessary burden and enabling delivery.

We will invest in:

• Embedding a new governance structure to prioritise delivery of the Corporate Plan and Well-being Objectives, through revising the terms of reference of the Executive Team and formalising the establishment of more effective governance mechanisms for the four well-being objectives.
• Embedding a balanced approach to risk management, through clarifying and simplifying the risk framework.
• Strengthening prioritisation of delivery of the well-being objectives, through greater integration of business, financial and resource planning
• Evolving our operating model through maintaining an affordable, sustainable permanent headcount and making greater use of short-term contracts, secondments, placements, grant-funding, partnerships, and out-sourcing to help us respond to changing priorities and scale our efforts more effectively.
• Strengthening connections between teams, departments, and directorates through creating an annual calendar of engagement opportunities for colleagues to connect with the Leadership Team, Executive Team, and the Board.

Outcome: Faster, clearer decisions aligned to purpose and outcomes, enabling partners and stakeholders to plan, collaborate and act with greater confidence.

Our communication, collaboration, and advocacy

Bringing collaboration and involvement to life

The challenges facing nature, climate and pollution in Wales cannot be met by any single organisation. By strengthening how we communicate, listen, and engage, we build trust, shared understanding, and momentum for change.

Through stronger communication and collaboration, we help create the conditions for collective action. By using our voice and convening power, we support shared understanding, influence system change, and help align effort across sectors to deliver benefits for nature, climate, and communities across Wales.

We will invest in:

• Influencing strategic policy direction and decision makers to accelerate action for nature, climate, and pollution through adopting a targeted advocacy approach using our evidence and insight.
• Accelerating joint action for nature, climate, and pollution through using our convening power bringing stakeholders together hosting regular roundtables, forums and thematic networks with partners, stakeholders, businesses, and communities.
• Strengthening how we engage with and involve the diverse communities we serve across Wales through holding local events, using community champions, and partnering with others to shape our work.
• Building connections and collaboration between teams and partners through encouraging volunteering, site visits, work shadowing, secondments, and charity events.
• Evolving our digital presence through testing new tools, channels, and formats to ensure we reach the right people, in the right way and at the right time.
• Increasing the number of Welsh speakers and the frequency of use of Welsh Language, through creating opportunities and building confidence in the use of Welsh across the organisation.
• Strengthening collective and individual leadership and collaboration through bringing colleagues together to share ideas, celebrate success and learn from experience.
• Involving different communities and sectors in our work, through engaging with professional bodies, trade associations, business membership organisations, and community groups to inform our approaches.
• Expanding cross-sector communications learning, strengthening our collective voice for change through working with other public bodies and third sector bodies to share best practice, trends, and innovations.

Outcome: Stronger partnerships, a clearer collective voice for nature and people, helping to amplify the voices of the under-represented and building deeper trust across communities, sectors, customers, and public bodies in Wales.

Our evidence, data, and insights

Driving long‑term, integrated and collaborative action

Good decisions depend on strong evidence. By improving how we collect, share, and use data and insight, we support transparency, better prioritisation, and more effective collaboration.

By combining scientific evidence, citizen science and lived experience, we deepen understanding of Wales’ natural resources and take action at the right scale, in the right places. Shared, accessible evidence enables collective action and helps unlock investment and accelerate progress towards shared well‑being goals.

We will invest in:

• Meeting the needs of specific audiences through collecting, synthesising, integrating, and communicating our own and others’ evidence to drive action for nature, climate, and pollution.
• Enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of evidence collection and synthesis through testing innovative tools, approaches and technologies - and scaling up what works in line with our ambition and resources.
• Evaluating our impact through assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of our delivery, using insights to expand what is working well for nature, climate and pollution.
• Facilitating investment by the public, private and third sectors through developing integrated platforms to share evidence at multiple scales.
• Enabling collective action through using SoNaRR, our Area Statements and other evidence to identify opportunities for collaboration with Public Services Boards.
• Improving decision-making and transparency through connecting and using data more effectively across our work.
• Building a common evidence base, through collaboration with partners, including citizen science groups, to share data, insight and innovations.

Outcome: Evidence‑led decisions that enable collaboration, unlock action and deliver real benefits for nature, climate, pollution minimisation and for people across Wales.

Across all six priority areas, the focus is consistent: changing how we work in order to maximise our impact. By encouraging ways of working that deepen trust, support learning and strengthen relationships, we build an organisation that:

• Colleagues are proud to work for
• Communities, partners and customers trust and are proud to work with
• Delivers efficiently and effectively while maximising opportunities for multiple benefits for nature and people

Performance framework

Our well-being objectives have been informed by a range of international and Wales-specific targets and indicators for 2030 and 2050, ranging from the:

• Wales well-being indicators
• Welsh Government targets for a carbon neutral public sector by 2030 and a net zero Wales by 2050
• Welsh Government suite of 100 Wales-specific indicators for the monitoring, reporting and verification of the carbon budget
• Welsh Government Beyond Recycling indicators
• Welsh Government commitment to protect and effectively manage 30% of land, freshwater and sea for nature by 2030, including the development of statutory nature recovery targets.
• Global Biodiversity Framework agreement to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2030, with nature thriving by 2050.
• assessment of biodiversity included in SoNaRR2025.

These indicators and targets set the context for where Wales is now and set out the trajectory that Wales will need to follow to meet the global targets for 2030 and 2050. While Welsh Government will be accountable for meeting these targets and indicators, it will require a collective effort across the public, private and third sectors.

We have documented how these indicators and targets align with our well-being objectives, but recognise we are one of many organisations who will contribute to achieving them.

In this corporate plan, we recognise we need to focus on measuring our own performance and impact in delivering our well-being objectives and steps to take, so we can be held to account by Ministers and the people of Wales.

We believe our indicators need to capture and represent the broader multiple benefits that are realised through our work for people, nature, climate and to minimise pollution.

For example, nature-based solutions, such as restoring peatland and creating woodland under the climate well-being objective, will bring wider benefits for nature and people. This includes cutting carbon emissions, providing climate adaptation benefits, as well as providing opportunities for people to engage in and with nature. This wider, integrated perspective must inform our choice of indicators.

Find out how nature-based solutions can bring wider benefits for nature, for climate and for people.

We know we need to challenge ourselves to select indicators that drive the change we want to see stemming from our well-being objectives. This means making a radical shift to our approach, moving away from areas where we readily have data, to reflect this broader perspective. There is a real risk that by applying single-issue indicators simply because we have the data, we will fail to highlight the areas that matter most, therefore undermining our focus on optimising the multiple benefits for nature, people, climate, and how we minimise pollution.

We believe the combination of quantitative and qualitative indicators, and supporting narrative, will provide an integrated perspective of the impact and benefits our work will have.

Our performance management approach and indicators, metrics and milestones will provide the line of sight from the corporate plan to the annual business plan and service level agreements (SLAs) and will be reported in the quarterly performance reports and annual report.

Annual planning

This corporate plan sets out our strategic direction to 2030 and aligns with the strategic objectives Welsh Government outlined in the term of government remit letter issued to us in December 2022.

In line with the Welsh Government Framework Document, we will receive an annual budget settlement, which will inform our annual budget and business plan.

To ensure alignment, and transparency of delivery against the well-being objectives, we are streamlining our annual planning and performance framework.

Building on our work with Welsh Government through the baseline exercise, we will continue to work with them to develop service level agreements (SLAs) to cover all areas of our work and use them to inform negotiations on budgets.

Our expectation is that once we receive confirmation of the annual budget from Welsh Government, we will use the SLAs to allocate the budget, the level of service we will deliver across our different services and inform the annual business plan, performance metrics, and milestones. We will apply this approach in the 2026-27 annual business planning cycle.