Huge turn out for the bioregion

Over 85 people came to the Mynydd i’r Menai launch

Mynydd i’r Menai has launched as a new Bioregion for Wales. A place where we can stop talking about what needs to change and start testing what change could actually look like.

A place to try things.

To ask different questions.

To experiment, learn, fail, adapt and try again.

Because the challenges facing our land, rivers, seas and communities aren’t getting any smaller. We need new ideas, but we also need somewhere to put those ideas into practice.

That’s where Mynydd i’r Menai comes in.

We have an opportunity to create a living testbed for Wales. A place where science, local knowledge, nature and community action can come together.

We want to pilot new approaches to land management. Test innovative ways of using and managing water. Explore new ways of monitoring and testing water quality. Run scientific trials. Try different approaches to restoring nature. And look at how we can manage our landscapes in ways that work with nature, rather than constantly working against it.

This isn't about creating another report that sits on a shelf.

It’s about getting out there and trying things.

Seeing what works.

Learning from what doesn’t.

And sharing those lessons so that others across Wales can build on them.

But there’s something really important about how we do this.

Capturing feedback at the Forum

Mynydd i’r Môr should be led by the people who live here.

The people who farm the land, work on the water, care for our rivers, run local businesses, raise families, volunteer in their communities and spend their lives connected to this place.

There is enormous knowledge already here. We need to bring that knowledge together with science, research and new ideas.

That means working across boundaries that too often keep people and organisations apart.

Land and sea.

Mountain and coast.

Science and lived experience.

Communities and institutions.

Nature and people.

And perhaps that is the biggest opportunity of all.

To demonstrate that another way of doing things is possible.

Hearing direct from the community

Mynydd i’r Môr can be a demonstrator for Wales, a place where we can test new approaches on the ground and show what happens when we put nature first and work alongside the systems that already sustain us.

How do we look after our water while making sure communities have what they need?

How do we manage land for farming, wildlife, carbon, water and people?

How do we restore nature while creating opportunities for local communities?

How do we collect better evidence and use it to make better decisions?

And how do we make sure the people who live in these places have a real say in what happens to them?

We won’t have all the answers.

And that’s okay.

The point of a Bioregion is to create the space to explore those questions together.

Mynydd i’r Môr is bringing people and organisations together around a shared vision for the future of this incredible place.

The launch is just the beginning.

Now comes the really interesting bit: trying things out.

New ideas. New science. New partnerships. New ways of managing our land and water. New ways of putting nature at the heart of what we do.

And if we can show that these things work here, there’s an opportunity to take those lessons much further.

From Mynydd i’r Môr, to communities across Wales.

Let’s make this a place where Wales can test the future together.