I’m very grateful to be able to take part in this individual Member debate today, and I would like to tender David Melding’s regrets at not being able to be here to speak in this debate. The state of nature report is a key piece of evidence in helping us to understand what action we can take to protect and preserve our precious nature and ecosystems, and it will be a key piece of evidence in helping us to scrutinise the work of the Welsh Government, of the Cabinet Secretary, and particularly in the implementation of the well-being of future generations Act and the reach and impact of the Environment (Wales) Act.

We’ve talked already—some of the other participants here—about the many statistics that the state of nature report highlights: the decline in our species, the priority species that have been lost, and the critically endangered species. When we talk about species, we often talk about animals, but of course all the plants, the butterflies and the insects on the ground are absolutely vital in maintaining our ecosystem. We did have a piece of good news from Vikki Howells, who mentioned the state of the grey seals, and of course the pine martens have increased and that has been very, very welcome. But my concern actually lies predominantly less with this state of nature report than with the global situation that we find ourselves in.

The number of wild animals living on Earth is set to fall by two thirds by 2020, and this is part of a mass extinction that is destroying the natural world upon which we all depend. Animal populations plummeted by over 58 per cent between 1970 and 2012. By 2020, we human beings and our lifestyle will have killed off 67 per cent of all of Earth’s animals. That is an appalling legacy for us to leave our children. We all know that tumbling animal numbers are down to farming, logging, the impact of humans—a mere 15 per cent is protected for nature—and unsustainable fishing and hunting. It goes on and on. Rivers and lakes are the hardest hit habitats, with animal populations down by 81 per cent since 1970. This is all due to us, to excessive water extraction, to our pollution, to the dams we build. All these pressures are magnified by global warming, which shifts the ranges in which these precious animals that help sustain our ecosystems are able to live.

There is some good news. There are not just our seals, not just our pine martens, but tiger numbers are thought to be increasing and the giant panda has recently been removed from the list of endangered species. I bring this up—I talk about the global situation—because I want to reinforce that, whatever we do here, Cabinet Secretary, in our small country, in our small way, will count. This is vitally important because we can’t celebrate our efforts just yet. In just a bit more bad news for the global environment we have a new President-elect who has said that,

‘The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.’

It is very concerning that the leader-elect of the free world takes this attitude towards such a serious issue. If he takes the United States of America out of the Paris agreement, it will threaten all of our efforts to stabilise temperature change and to start to resolve climate change. That is why we need to do our part. I feel very deeply for this, not just for us, not just for the animals on our planet—their planet, the big ‘our’ planet—but I’m concerned for the future of my children, for your children, and for all of our children. Will they have a planet left to live on? I really fear for their future.