Introduction:
I intend to use my website as a repository for information linked to the book, so hopefully it will become a resource to campaigners and activists as well as policy professionals and parliamentarians. The book itself contains the links to documentary resources covering the journey from the start of the National Assembly in 1999 to the passing of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act in 2015 and its subsequent implementation. Each of my blogs will put full quotations from contributors into the public domain. I will notify the specific contributors when this happens and feed back to you directly if I receive any comments linked to your contributions.
So far, on my site, we have had inspirational essays in advance of the book from Satish Kumar – ‘Forewarned’ - and Lord John Bird – ‘The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act - and Future Generations Commissioner - and why we need it worldwide’.
In my second blog, ‘Let the Contributions Begin’, we heard from the key Welsh Ministers who had a direct responsibility role between 1999 and 2015 in developing the sustainability journey and/or components of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act.
The contributors to today’s blog are those with the longest memories of the journey and who have played a huge role in taking forward the agenda in Wales. They have seen the transition of the National Assembly from a corporate body with very few powers in 1999 – but with the unique duty ‘to promote sustainable development’ in all the Assembly’s activities - to the Senedd, the Welsh Parliament in 2020. They have influenced the direction of travel, either as government officials, government appointments or advisers. Sir Jonathan Porritt chaired the Sustainable Development Commission when it was created in the year 2000, of which Peter Davies, now Chair of WCVA in Wales, was a member. Simon Bilsborough, the civil servant who led the work on the inspirational ‘One Wales One Planet’ in 2009, did so under the leadership of Matthew Quinn as Director of Environment and Clive Bates, the then incoming Director General of Sustainable Futures. I owe them all a huge debt.
Sir Jonathan Porritt, British environmentalist and writer, Co-founder of the Forum for the Future, first Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission
To be young today and to be suddenly aware of the now-inevitable impact of accelerating climate change on every young person’s life, for the rest of their life, until the day they die, is a shocking burden to have to bear. There has never been such a deeply immoral, intergenerational betrayal in the history of humankind, turning on its head the promise embedded in the concept of sustainable economic development spread equitably over generations. Young people in Wales are no more immune from that psychological burden than young people around the world, but at least they have some reassurance, through the Well-being of Future Generations Act, that elected politicians in Wales will have their interests in mind in all the decisions they take. And I’m sure that young people in Wales will take it upon themselves to ensure that this duty is interpreted consistently and generously by holding their legislators properly to account.’
Peter Davies, previously Sustainable Futures and Climate Change Commissioner, now Chair of Wales Council for Voluntary Action
The WFGA – next steps to the ‘Wales We Want’
The Act is a huge step in the Welsh sustainable development journey, but it is not the destination. We need to be committed to review and continual improvement, which has been a feature of the last 20 years but, above all, be focused on outcomes for future generations. The goals, milestones and indicators must become established in the national consciousness as our measures of progress towards the ‘Wales We Want’. Critically we still need to build ownership beyond the Welsh public sector, across business and wider civil society, to demonstrate their wider contribution to achieving our national goals. We need the new school curriculum for Wales to contribute to this common purpose.
Our national goals give us common cause, but the framing of the resilience goal may need adjustment reflecting the current climate and biodiversity challenges. The resilience goal should be reframed as our Nature goal, making it clear our commitment to securing the future of our natural environment.
Building the resilience and cohesion of our communities will enable them to take control of their future and respond to future challenges. This can only happen if the Act’s principle of involvement delivers greater empowerment. There needs to be space for communities to use the Act to define and promote their own future. This will require a significant shift of culture within public bodies and we stand ready to work with them to achieve this.
Simon Bilsborough, civil servant, co-author of One Wales One Planet, 2009
The WFGA is both a clear statement of intent and a clarion call to the organisations in Wales whose decisions help shape our lives. But, if we think about what the successful delivery of the Act will look like, we need to raise our sights away from the dry issues concerning how well these organisations make different decisions, critical though this is. We need to get back to the personal.
The golden thread within sustainability is treading lightly upon the earth; losing everyday contact with nature means that we tread too heavily.
John Clare, in his poem The Nightingale’s Nest, reminds us that ‘nature is the builder, and contrives Homes for her children’s comfort.’ The comfort of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren is dependent on our respect for nature as the builder. We might have forgotten this, but it is important that children (and the adults they become) do not.
Will their understanding of nature be better than ours? Their use of language will tell us. Will children in the future once again be using the everyday words about nature and the countryside, described in Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’ magical book, The Lost Words?
So, my take is as follows: successful delivery of the WFGA will mean that the words of nature – words like Dandelion, Otter, Bramble, Acorn, and Conker – will once again be part of the everyday language of children and be reflected in the way they live their lives as adults.
Matthew Quinn, Director of Environment, Welsh Government, 2007–2017, now Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University
The Brundtland Commission report spoke in 1987 of the need for a new worldwide ethic of sustainable development to form the basis of future politics and institutional organisation. This hoped-for ethic has largely been subverted by ‘business as usual’ approaches to politics and the market, and now faces the critical challenge of right-wing populist rejection both of international solidarity and of the complex interrelations of economy and environment.
My hope is that the Welsh Well-being legislation can set an example at home and internationally of how it may be possible to give force to a new form of politics and new governmental metrics that will make the Brundtland ethic a reality.
Reflecting the goals of the Well-being Act, the new ethic would replace the fixation on economic growth based on consumption, competition and profit maximisation with a systemic view that promotes planetary health, solidarity, social justice and well-being.
Taking the sustainable development behaviours of the Act, the ethic could revive democratic engagement by co-producing decisions with local communities, giving voice to the people and engaging with their knowledge and values. It would offer a refreshed role for elected representatives as agents and intermediaries, and a creative role for the public services as societal enablers working with communities to facilitate collective action.
Clive Bates, Director General Sustainable Futures, Welsh Government, 2009–2012
The problem with sustainable development is that it can be all warm glow and no fire. When we ask, ‘what does success looks like?’, we mean ‘what is now being done differently compared to not having sustainable development as the central organising principle?’. This cannot only mean compliance paperwork such as schemes, reports and audits. It has to reflect material changes in policymaking, cross-government working and investment priorities – a focus on developing natural and human capital, and productive infrastructure, rather than unsustainably exploiting it. But a true sustainability programme has to also be politically sustainable, especially in a democracy. There is no point in an ambitious government doing what it believes will meet long-term well-being objectives if it neglects the shorter-term concerns of voters only to be ejected at the next election. There has to be an effort to win popular consent and that involves three main ingredients:
(1) remain aware of and responsive to voters’ immediate concerns;
(2) do not attempt measures that push voters too hard too fast – sustainable development is not about quick wins, but slow, big wins;
(3) build a compelling, broadly supported coalition of the willing – it needs political leadership and a compelling, consistent narrative.
If you have any comments on this blog, or would like to get in touch, please use the contact form. The form also works for the growing number of followers of my husband Guy for his weekly reflections on growing and wildlife in his blog, PatchWork which will also be updated weekly – unless the slugs get the better of him!
#futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/futuregenerations-lessons-from-a-small-country/
Jane Davidson
16th June 2020