Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am pleased to open this debate and that so many Assembly Members are interested in the debate on the report. The purpose of the report is to put before the Assembly this particular report produced by some 56 different organisations—conservation organisations, environmental organisations and animal protection organisations also—on the state of nature in Wales. The report is very accessible but difficult to accept, because what it has to say about the state of our climate and our habitats is disappointing, to say the least, and says a lot about the lack of care that has been taken over the years, not by Government—I’m not blaming Government here—but by us all, as a society, in not taking this issue seriously.

The report makes for some frightening reading, in a way, for those of us who recall habitats as they were in the past or recall seeing wild animals, or who just wish for our children and grandchildren to be able to have those same experiences. One in 14 species in Wales is now on the way towards extinction. Many of them are recognised in Welsh legislation, under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, as species that are a priority for conservation, but yet the decline is quite staggering. Since 1970 something in the region of 57 wild plants and 60 per cent of butterflies and 40 per cent of bird species have seen decline in our rural areas and habitats. And of those that we recognise in our legislation as priority species, only some 40 per cent of those are classed as being stable. So, there is real risk that we will lose some of these creatures that are in Welsh habitats and have developed in a Welsh context, and that we then lose something that makes a contribution on a global level and that makes us distinct as a nation.

In that context, therefore, everyone will accept that we now live in a world where human activity is having more of an impact, perhaps, on the world and nature and wildlife than natural issues. Some people would call that anthropocene—a new era where humans are more important than natural forces. It is seen, perhaps, in the fact that an index of biodiversity is being published, not just for Wales but for the whole of the UK, as part of this report, and the presumption is that we need something like 90 per cent, according to this index, to show that the ecosystems that we have are robust enough to maintain wildlife into the future, and, as a result of that, of course, to maintain prosperous habitats for humans too. According to that index, Wales scores 82.8 per cent. Now, that is higher than the other nations of the UK, which is positive, but it is short of that 90 per cent that is seen as the threshold for robust ecosystems, and it also means that we are in the bottom 20 per cent of the 218 nations that participate in these surveys. So, clearly, we have to do something differently. We have to respond positively to the challenge and ensure that more is done in terms of biodiversity and of preserving and enhancing some of the natural species that we have in Wales.

I want to be positive in this debate, even though the picture is perhaps quite bleak in the report. The fact that we are now having more of an impact on wildlife and habitats means that we do have the tools here to do something about that, because, clearly, if we use technology in a smarter way, if we live more smartly and use our understanding of biodiversity better, then we can take action in order to protect and enhance these areas. In recognition of this, we have two pieces of legislation passed by this Assembly—the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the Environment (Wales) Act 2016—which set out a number of objectives that add to the positive possibilities that we have in overturning this unfortunate current situation.

We need leadership from Government in this area. We need to see clear leadership under the well-being of future generations Act in particular, I think. Objectives or goals, I should say—because there are different words in English and Welsh—or well-being goals, as they’re identified in the Act, were published last Friday. One of those goals, No. 12, is to use and improve natural resources in Wales in order to improve long-term well-being. What is important about that goal is that it recognises that maintaining a strong natural environment, with biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, helps people, contributes to health, boosts a sustainable economy and creates ecological robustness and a possibility to adjust to change. In other words, looking after wildlife looks after humanity too, and we need to progress on that basis.

I want to conclude, before hearing from other Members in terms of their comments in this debate, with a bad example and a good example of how we’ve gone about things in this area recently. Unfortunately, the decision to allow the dredging of scallops in Cardigan bay is, in my opinion, a mistake. Although we are looking for a sustainable fishery in terms of scallops in Cardigan bay, I’m not sure that we have the information yet about the marine habitats and how they could be improved if dredging were to take place. I do hope that, at the very least, the Government will very carefully monitor the impact of that on our marine habitats, not only in terms of the scallops themselves, which are eaten, of course, but the impact on those rare species that are protected in Welsh seas, particularly the porpoise.

On the positives, last Friday, I was very lucky to go to Devil’s Bridge—a wonderful place, particularly in the autumn, and, of course, the setting for the filming of ‘Y Gwyll/Hinterland’, to those of you who watch it. I was there to see the experiment of reintroducing the pine marten to Wales. This is a creature that had become extinct, to all intents and purposes, in Wales, but 40 of these creatures have by now been released back into the wilds of Ceredigion. They are from Scotland, and they are warmly welcomed, of course, because they are reintroducing something that had been lost from our natural ecosystem. In light of the release of these creatures into Wales, a number of interesting things have emerged, the first of which is that they travel long distances—one went as far as Abergele. Secondly, they keep the number of grey squirrels down. So, we see that, in culling something that was a predator in the ecosystem, we allowed the grey squirrel to take over our woodlands. So, this is a positive example—something that we want to see more of.

So, there is an almost pessimistic message in the report itself, but by undertaking this work ourselves, we can be positive in restoring our wildlife and ensuring that biodiversity does prosper again.