We’re aware that there are good organisations outside who have made their own assessments, and we are interested in the assessments that they’ve made. Some of them run into the multibillion pounds shortfall, and we note and acknowledge there’s a degree of expertise within these organisations. What I will say to you is that I’ve been very frank since I’ve come into this post. We recognise that there is a significant shortfall in the quantum of funding that’s needed to go into nature restoration in Wales. By the way, the same applies, I would argue, across the UK, across western Europe, probably across the world as well.
However, there are ways in which we can actually fill that gap as well, and some of it is on public funding. There will always be—and I repeat this—a role for the public realm in stepping into the space and driving the change. I mentioned earlier on the curlew project. It's a £1 million investment in the project through the Nature Networks fund, based on the recovery of curlew. It's what we do in the sustainable farming scheme, in terms of how we align that to make thriving farm businesses, ones that produce good, affordable, sustainable, high-animal-welfare food, but also deal with the nature and climate emergency. It's the £17 million we're putting in the nature and climate emergency capital programme to deliver, for example, on the Teifi catchment, what we're doing there with metal mines restoration and the impact on stretches of those rivers. So, there are many ways in which we're already ramping up the investment from the public sphere, but as well it's how do we fill that gap, whatever that gap may be.
You're probably aware that we're consulting at the moment on sustainable investment principles, and the basis of that would be—. And we're working, by the way, with environmental non-governmental organisations on this, drawing on their best practice; we've had people like the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts Wales, WWF, the Marine Conservation Society, Dŵr Cymru, Natural Resources Wales, who have got experience in driving this forward. But it's based on can we get to a way in which we can identify additional funding that could come in that would support integrated land use and an equitable sharing of the benefits, deliver public, private community and cultural well-being benefits, demonstrate best practice engagement and collaboration, but also demonstrate values-led high integrity investment. So, how do we fill that gap? I think it's by the Welsh Government being in that space, with taxpayers' money. It's through the wide read-across across Government, including SFS and so on, but it's also working with groups out there, including the ENGOs, who want to say, 'Let's get into the space where we can have more ethical, community-based funding coming into the space', recognising that there is a shortfall. I can't tell you exactly what that shortfall is, but you'll be aware that some have painted a picture of a £5 billion, £6 billion, £7 billion shortfall.