14:48 Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell) (Con)

We face a biodiversity crisis both here in the United Kingdom and across the world. Around the world, the World Wide Fund for Nature’s most recent “Living Planet” report shows a massive decline in wildlife populations—down by about 68% since 1970. Here in our country, many much-loved species, such as the hedgehog, are facing a catastrophic decline in their numbers. There are numerous reasons for this huge loss of plant and animal species. They range from the continuous erosion of habitats to ill-judged practices in food growing and manufacturing. None of this is news, but as we enter 2021—a year when the future of our environment will be top of the global agenda both in China, at the special conference looking at biodiversity issues, and later in the year here, with the COP 26 summit—surely the time has come for global action to halt this catastrophic decline.

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