Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

Who can resist that trailer? I strongly endorse what the noble Baroness just said about the importance of the marine dimension. While I applaud the intention behind the amendment, I am not so sure that it is a strong amendment. It seems to me that it is too generalised. If we are really concerned about the root causes of the challenge to what is happening to biodiversity—we have heard climate change mentioned several times—the duty on all public authorities should be to combat global warming. Then we would be dealing with the origins of the problem rather than the symptoms. I am rather sad that the amendment deals with the consequences rather than the origins. I urge those who put it forward to go away and think about it and see whether they can bring back a stronger amendment at a later stage.