Diolch, Llywydd. I'm pleased to lead today's short debate and delighted to give time to my colleagues John Griffiths and Llyr Gruffydd. I look forward to their contributions, and, of course, to the Minister's response. Today is World Environment Day, and this year especially it feels like it comes at an important moment. We've seen the Extinction Rebellion protest and school strikes inspired by Greta Thunberg. Hundreds of young people demonstrated outside this Assembly in February as part of the global youth strike for climate movement. At the same time, people have been watching David Attenborough's new BBC series on climate change and demanding political action across Europe. Something momentous seems to be happening. The Welsh Government is at the vanguard. It has declared a climate emergency. The Minister said that she hopes the declaration will trigger a wave of action. Yesterday we saw that when the First Minister announced the M4 relief road will not go ahead because we have to give more weight to the environmental argument. John Prescott famously said:

'The green belt is a Labour achievement, and we mean to build on it.

Well, declaring a climate emergency is a great Welsh Labour policy, and today I want to build on it by talking about rewilding. 

Rewilding is a hot topic, and a controversial one. Broadly speaking, it's about restoring landscapes to their natural state, thereby creating wilder and more biodiverse habitats. It tends to grab headlines when carnivores are reintroduced, like bears and wolves. Here in Wales, the Wildlife Trusts are leading the Welsh beaver project, which is investigating the feasibility of bringing back wild beavers. Scotland has already recognised beavers as a native species, and established a management programme and legal protections. The plan for Wales, submitted to Natural Resources Wales by the Bevis Trust in 2015, is to establish 10 pairs along the River Cowyn and Nant Cennin in Carmarthenshire. So far, 50 farmers and landowners along the length of the river have signed off to support releases or to permit monitoring. But, of course, giving up more land to nature, rather than using it to grow crops or rear livestock, can be as equally contentious as reintroducing animals.