Resources

15 December 2025

Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystems Report 2025

This report summarises the work undertaken by Public Health Wales (PHW) to support biodiversity over the last three years. Section 6 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 requires public authorities to ‘seek to maintain and enhance biodiversity and promote the resilience of ecosystems’ ensuring biodiversity is considered in business planning, policies, plans and projects.

Authorities are required to report on progress every three years. PHW has published reports in 2019 and 2022, and this report highlights progress made between 2023 and 2025.

6 December 2024

Championing Nature for a Healthy Future – Public Health Wales’ Biodiversity Action Plan 2024-2027

The report sets out how Public Health Wales is taking action to maintain and enhance biodiversity and promote the resilience of ecosystems. As part of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, section 6, we have a duty to publish a plan and report on our progress. Our work to support biodiversity contributes to the well-being goal of a ‘resilient Wales’ as well as our other strategic priorities. Whilst the plan is focused on what Public Health Wales will do, it also recognises the need to work in partnership across the wider public health system in Wales and with colleagues in other sectors.

The report covers:
• The importance of biodiversity to health and wellbeing and the challenges presented by the current nature crisis
• A summary of what has been achieved since the last Biodiversity Action Plan was published in 2019
• An outline of how the new plan has been developed
• The actions planned for the next 3 years and how we will report our progress

5 October 2023

Tackling the public health effects of climate change – find out how you and your team can take action

Public Health Wales has a new strategic priority: tackling the public health effects of climate change, in recognition of the climate emergency being the greatest health threat facing humanity.

This webinar introduced a free online resource that helps individuals and teams to take action to reduce their environmental impact.

24 January 2023

Be the Change – Procurement that doesn’t cost the earth

Procurement is costly. Welsh public sector spends £7 billion on procurement. A huge 62% of the 2018/19 carbon footprint for NHS Wales was from procurement.
Sustainable procurement can mean considering not buying things at all, buying energy and resource efficient goods, ethical goods such as Fairtrade coffee, or locally sourced products and services which support local businesses. It can also support the delivery of organisational priorities and well-being objectives, and ultimately improve the economic, environmental, social, and cultural well-being of Wales.
The e-guide gives advice for anyone buying goods and services on ways we can take action by thinking about what we need, where it comes from, how long it will last and the impact it has on people, nature and planet.

19 January 2023

Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystems Duty Report 2022

The first Public Health Wales’ ‘Biodiversity Duty report’ was published in 2019, in response to the enhanced biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems duty under Section 6 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016. The duty requires public authorities to “maintain and enhance biodiversity (so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of their functions) and in doing so promote the resilience of ecosystems”.
In 2023 we have published an updated Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystems Duty Report outlining the steps Public Health Wales is taking to promote biodiversity, highlighting progress made between 2019 and 2022 including against actions identified in our Biodiversity Action Plan, Making Space for Nature.

28 July 2022

Green Opportunities Spring/ Summer 2022

Green Opportunities is a new e-briefing from the Health and Sustainability Hub. The quarterly updates capture learning to aid Wales’ green recovery from COVID-19, identifying sustainable opportunities to support population health.