Sam Ward (seen on the right with former Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford) is head of Climate Cymru

Mr Ward owns Kayak the Nile, a whitewater kayaking company based in Uganda, which he founded after coaching Team GB’s freestyle team

The eco campaign boss previously hosted his own podcast about climate change, Climate Change Unfolding, but this appears to have been discontinued.

Despite the Welsh government funding the report by Climate Cymru BAME, it today rejected its proposal for dog-free areas, with a spokesman saying dogs ‘would continue to be welcomed in the hills of Wales’.

Others proposals include creating more urban allotments where people can grow their own food and handing out grants and subsidies to students, members of ethnic minorities and asylum seekers to help them ‘commit more to environment and climate change issues’.

The taxpayer-funded report has been widely slated online and was described by Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies as ‘virtual signalling nonsense’.

‘This kind of outdated virtue signalling nonsense is completely out of touch with the needs of the people of Wales,’ he told the Telegraph.

‘Labour is stuck on yesterday’s thinking, the kind that is being roundly rejected globally. Time to turf them out.’

On the basis of reports provided to date, the Welsh Government has concluded that ethnic minorities face ‘barriers’ to the outdoors created by ‘exclusions and racism’.

The reason why dog-free areas would help tackle racism is not explained in the report, which will be used by the government to ‘support policy teams’ that are ‘developing and implementing’ Wales’ anti-racist plans.

Climate Cymru BAME consists of around 20 members made up of students and professionals who have interest in environmental preservation and protection, who work with North Wales Africa Society (NWAS), Sub Sahara Advisory Board (SSAP) and the Northwest Wales Climate Action Group.

A separate set of recommendations submitted by the NWAS also called for ‘dog-free areas’.

It said that during one of its focus groups, ‘one black African female stated that she feels unsafe with the presence of dogs’.

Others also kept ‘seeing dog fouling on the floor’, the report added.

The Welsh Conservatives have condemned the report as ‘outdated virtue signalling nonsense’. (File image)

The NWAS report said that barriers to outdoor activities include the perception that growing food in gardens or allotments is ‘dominated by middle-aged white women’.

Its authors also informed the Welsh government that people from ethnic minorities were upset about the ‘low quality’ of local green spaces.

One person complained that ‘the green spaces are not respected in areas where there is a bigger population of ethnic minority people’.

Other problems flagged included lack of public transport to non-urban green spaces and poor air quality in towns and cities.

The report also found that some BAME who provided evidence had ‘concerns of the lack of understanding and relationships by the wider white population particularly in rural areas’.

It added there were  ‘concerns of the lack of understanding and relationships by the wider white population particularly in rural areas, from personal experiences’.

A Welsh Government spokesman said in response to a previous report: ‘These comments are feedback from people who were asked their views and NOT proposals.

‘There are NO plans to ban dogs from the countryside and any suggestion otherwise is inaccurate and a complete misrepresentation of the report.’

MailOnline has contacted Sam Ward for comment.