Dr. Deirdre Lynn:

This is an interesting question. I have seen, possibly since about 2019, biodiversity creeping up the agenda in other Departments. They are really starting to listen. We are having many more cross-departmental meetings. There is much more respect for the biodiversity agenda. Interestingly, it may be the climate agenda that has spearheaded the way in respect of this agenda infiltrating awareness and achieving a whole-of-government approach to an issue. We are coming along on the tails of that development and pointing out that we are here too and that we are all part of this climate agenda.

Therefore, when we consider that we have more resources and that other Departments are listening, and when we also identify the capacity needs across other Departments and, hopefully, try to encourage upskilling in those Departments in respect of biodiversity, I think we will all then be part of the same conversation. It will, however, take time. Possibly, we need a little more buy-in from some Departments. The Department of Health, for example, has had a massive agenda of its own to deal with in recent years in the context of Covid-19, but there are also important crossovers between a healthy environment and health issues and, therefore, trying to build up expertise in health and education will also be important for us.