The Opportunity of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act:

how do others – inside and outside Wales as well as globally – see the opportunities from Wales’ #futuregen legislation?

The Future Generations Act will be successful when we no longer need it - Professor Calvin Jones, Professor of Economics, Cardiff Business School
The most important thing any law for future generations could do is to require that the legacy of each generation to its successors be the positive one of a just, resilient and ecologically sustainable society that will enable humanity not just to continue to exist but to flourish. - Professor Karen Morrow, Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, Swansea University

Introduction

In researching #futuregen: lessons from a small country, I talked to a lot of people who are interested in how the Act has been taken forward in Wales - and what a wide group that is becoming! Each conversation led to my offering a chance for the conversant – nearly 140 of them - to contribute – in no more than 200 words. I had intended there being a chapter in the book within which all the contributions would sit, until we looked at the word count. There was so much interest, that my proposed chapter would have been some 30,000 words when the upper limit of the book was 60,000 words. Back to the drawing board.

Jointly with the publishers, we took a decision. Key ideas are reflected in the text of the book, but not all contributors made it through the publisher’s edits and those that did are mostly reduced to a sentence or two. Acknowledging the time and effort that people put into their contributions, with some going through meticulous rewrites prior to submission, I wanted to reflect in full the ideas submitted to me. The list below therefore reflects all those who have contributed to the book. If any contributor thinks they have not been included, please contact me here for instant remedy.

What I will be doing between now and the end of 2020 is including a few contributions in each blog I write and hyperlinking the blog content to the name of the contributor.

There are primarily two sets of voices: people who are expressing hope for the Act to succeed in its ambition in Wales, but who also feel that there are ways in which any other country looking for a piece of legislation like this at this time might be able to improve it, either by additional actions or legislation. In Wales, and from people associated with the journey to the Welsh legislation, I asked people to consider what successful delivery of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act might look like; I’ve called these ‘Voices of Hope for Wales’

The second set of voices are from people across the world who would love to see such legislation enacted in their own countries, who are either looking to Wales for an example of leadership or who are thinking about what this might mean in their own circumstances – I’ve called these ‘Voices of Hope for the World’, although they are primarily from the UK. Outside Wales I gave people permission to dream – what would be the primary purpose of an act that explicitly benefitted future generations, or what action in their view would keep future generations more safe and secure.

In both, I am delighted at the imagination, common sense and achievability of the proposals. This is after all about crafting a better future; one in which we live in harmony with nature and recognise our responsibilities and opportunities to be better stewards for this single planet of ours. Follow my blogs, check out the hyperlinks, see these ideas as experiments and use them to learn. Enjoy.

The Contributors: in their own words

FOREWORD WRITERS:

Satish Kumar: ‘Forewarned’

Lord John Bird: The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act - And Future Generation Commissioner - And Why We Need It Worldwide

SECTION 1: VOICES OF HOPE FOR WALES

1. Voices for Hope for Wales: Key Welsh Ministers with responsibility for Sustainability

Sue Essex AM, Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside 2000-2003

John Griffiths AM, Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development 2011-2013

Jeff Cuthbert AM, Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty 2013-2014

The Rt Hon Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister of Wales, 2009-2018

Carl Sargeant AM, Minister for Natural Resources, 2014-2015

Rt Hon Mark Drakeford AM, First Minister of Wales, 2018-present

5. Voices of hope for Wales: the dreamers / challengers / activists

Michael Sheen OBE, actor, activist and UNICEF ambassador

Owen Sheers, Welsh poet and author

Iolo Williams, Naturalist and TV wildlife presenter

Prof. Herbert Girardet, World Future Council and Club of Rome

Mark McKenna, co-founder/director, Down to Earth Project, Swansea

Prof Barbara Adam, Professor Emerita, Cardiff University, author of ‘Future Matters: action, Knowledge, Ethics’ and poet

Andy Fryers, Director of Sustainability, Hay Festival

Chris Blake, Founder, Skyline

Fern Smith, Director of Emergence, 2019. www.emergence-uk.org

Bill Hamblett, Co-Founder, Small World Theatre

James Moxey, Business Development Consultant, Woodknowledge Wales

Dr. Layla Jader MBChB, DA, MD (Wales), FMPHM, Consultant in Public Health Genomics

Nisha Rawindaran, Cyber Security Researcher, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Dr Justina Muhith, Senior Operations Manager, Pharmaceutical company

Prof Meena Upadhyaya, Distinguished Hon Professor, Division of Cancer and Genetics, Cardiff University

6. Voices of hope for Wales: young voices

Becky Ricketts, Trinity Saint David Students’ Union Group President/NUS Wales Women’s Officer 2019-2020’ and incoming NUS Wales President 2020-2021

Joe Stockley leads on Communications for Diverse Cymru, and is a trustee with WCVA and the British Youth Council

Evan Burgess, Welsh Youth Parliament Member for Aberconwy

Kian Agar, Welsh Youth Parliament member for Aberavon

Chris Roscoe: One Young World delegate (Wales)

Emily-Rose Jenkins One Young World delegate (Wales)

Dan Tram, One Young World delegate (Wales)

Mishan Wickremasinghe – President, Students’ Union -University of South Wales

Vashti Miller, Graduate Health Communications Consultant, MHP Communications

SECTION 2: VOICES OF HOPE FOR THE WORLD

Tony Juniper CBE, Environmentalist

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP, UK

Tim Jackson, ecological economist and playwright

Tim Smit, Founder, the ‘Eden Project’, Cornwall

Craig Bennett, Chief Executive, Friends of the Earth

Juliet Davenport, Founder and CEO, Good Energy

Leith Sharp, Director & Lead Faculty, Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Uffe Elbæk is a member of Danish Parliament, founder of the Danish Green Party The Alternative and a former Danish minister of culture

Catarina Tully, Director, School of International Futures

Solitaire Townsend, Co-founder, Futerra, author of ‘The Happy Hero’ 2017

Jonathan Boston, Professor of Public Policy, Wellington School of Business and Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Graham Smith, Chair of the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development

Prof Tim O’Riordan, Emeritus Professor at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia and Fellow of the British Academy

Julie Wilson, Institute for the Future of Learning, USA

Jane Gray worked for 16 years on sustainability policies for governments in Canada and internationally

Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of Sustain: The UK’s alliance for better food and farming

Giles Hutchins, Chair of The Future Fit Leadership Academy, and author of several papers and books including The Illusion of Separation and Regenerative Leadership.

Tessa Clarke, Co-Founder and CEO, Olio

Dr. Betsy McGregor, Canadian Author, ‘Women on the Ballot’; Recipient, Head of Public Service Award, Canada, Former Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School, Former Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Women’s Leadership Board

Laline Paull, author of the bestselling ‘The Bees’ (2015) and ‘The Ice’(2018)

49 global voices from the One Young World conference in London 2019