Madam President, I rise to seek the support of Parliament for the urgency motion concerning the threat to the survival of the African elephant.

As many Members know, we were successful in forestalling some of the worst of the threat by getting the African elephant included in the endangered species CITES list in Appendix I. But there is now a proposal which will be put forward in the very near future by South Africa to downgrade the elephant from Appendix I to Appendix II of CITES. This will enable them to sell not ivory but other elephant products - meat and so forth. Many of us feel that this is a serious threat to the survival of the elephant because it will encourage further killing, which has already massively reduced the elephant population in Africa.

So I call for support for this motion for a resolution as part of our commitment to preserving the natural species on this planet.