Monthly Archives: March 2022

PLANTING WOODLAND ON AGRICULTURAL LAND – PROTECTING THE PLANET AND ITS COMMUNITIES IN RURAL WALES

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Dyfodol i’r Iaith has written to the Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters, regarding the need to plant woodland for carbon capture within the context of protecting rural communities that support Welsh as a community language.

The organisation was pleased to learn the Welsh Government accepts the principle that it is local farmers, rather than outside companies, who should be central to responding to the challenge of carbon capture through increasing the plantation of trees.

Dyfodol believes, however, that specific and robust commitments are needed in relation to this critical challenge, and calls upon the Government to:

  • Fund farmers who live on the land where the woodlands are to be planted and prohibit large companies from benefiting from such a serious situation to the detriment of local communities.
  • In accordance with the recommendations of Professor Gareth Wyn Jones’s Land Use Climate Change Report, presented to the Welsh Assembly Government in March 2010, that planting mainly takes place on low-fertility acid upland soils, including bracken dominated slopes.

Heini Gruffudd, the organisation’s Chair said:

“This is clearly a matter that emphasises the need for Government to tackle two elements of sustainability that are central to its vision: ensuring a future for the planet and those communities in rural Wales who live on it.”

Dyfodol i’r Iaith’s view on the Welsh Government’s Budget – a golden opportunity lost

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Loss of golden opportunity – that is the view of Dyfodol i’r Iaith on the Welsh Government’s Budget. With the Government responsible for spending £18 billion in the coming year, spending on projects to regenerate the Welsh language seems disastrously short of the need.

Dyfodol i’r Iaith has already called for capital expenditure of £200 million to be shared between five Welsh counties to solve the crisis of residential and second homes. The Government’s current proposals to the Arfor fund and to build social housing do not come close to need.

Dyfodol i’r Iaith has also asked for priority to be given to teacher training and to teaching the language to teachers.  There is no indication, says Dyfodol i’r iaith, that the new budget is going to give the necessary boost in this area.

Heini Gruffudd, Chair of Dyfodol i’r Iaith, said, “The need to transform the housing market in our more Welsh-speaking communities has long been clear, and the Government has accepted this.  This budget will unfortunately continue the crisis.”

“The Government also knows that there is a crisis in the provision of staff with adequate language skills in primary and secondary schools.  IRALE in the Basque Country received a budget of £25 million a year to teach the language to teachers, and some 1,000 teachers a year were taught the language in full-time courses over a quarter of a century.

“If we are serious about transforming the language into Welsh schools, there must be an equivalent programme to that of the Basque Country.”