This July the Welsh Government will publish its Future Generations Bill, with the aim of ensuring that we leave a sustainable world of life and hope to our children. The Bill, which will establish in law sustainable development as the ‘central organising principle’ for public sector bodies in Wales, including for the Government itself. The Minister responsible for the Bill, Jeff Cuthbert AM, has indicated his intention for the Bill to include six Goals, covering the economy, natural resources, society, health, community and the Welsh language.
However, we believe that there is one thing missing from the Bill - a Goal about the natural environment, which, of course, is fundamental to a sustainable Wales. So, we’d like to see the inclusion of a Goal along the following lines: Wales has a resilient and biodiverse natural environment.
We believe that a future of life and hope must include a world of vibrant, strong and healthy nature – wildlife is as much a part of a sustainable future as jobs and hospitals. The environment delivers resources such as cultivable soils, fresh water, minerals and forests – which provide the services upon which the economy and society ultimately depend.
Trees and soils store water and carbon, helping to reduce flooding, and cutting the release of climate-changing greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, these services in many instances are being put at risk, and urgent action is needed to ensure that sustainable land management practices are adopted across Wales.
Once familiar creatures – starlings and hedgehogs in back gardens, for example – are fast disappearing. Data on 3,148 UK species show they have declined by more than 60% over the last 50 years, with one in ten of assessed species thought to be at risk of extinction in the UK.
Lowland meadows, with their once abundant wildflowers and insects, have all but disappeared, whilst agricultural intensification has also damaged the wildlife of our Welsh uplands. Nature enriches our lives, providing physical and mental health benefits to individuals and developmental and educational benefits for children; it also, of course, provides direct employment opportunities through land management and tourism.
Thinking about achieving a positive, sustainable future for our children and grandchildren means ensuring they have access to a thriving and diverse wildlife. Otherwise, we risk a future of silent springs and desert summers. As internationally known US ecologist Edward Wilson has written: ‘It’s obvious that the key problem facing humanity in the coming century [ie the 21st] is how to bring a better quality of life...without wrecking the environment entirely in the attempt.’
Linked to the Future Generations Bill, the Welsh Government is undertaking a ‘National Conversation’ that seeks your views on the ‘Wales We Want’, and we would love you – our members and followers - to take part if you can, click on this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NationalConversation .
So, join us and ask the Government to include a Goal for the environment and wildlife in the Future Generations Bill. Together we can contribute towards a safe, meaningful and sustainable future for ourselves, for our children and for nature.
If you have any thoughts you’d like to share or any comments about what I've said above, I’d love to hear from you, feel free to leave your comments below