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The Sustainable Development Scheme will see the Assembly Government using all its devolved powers to make every part of the public sector sustainable for the benefit of the environment and the people of Wales.

Sustainable Development is as defined improving people’s quality of life and wellbeing whilst using environmental resources sustainably, so that development now does not compromise the quality of life of future generations. The new plan calls for joined up decision making at all levels of government and the public sector to achieve this.

During a visit to the award winning Blaenymaes drop-in centre in Swansea, Environment, Sustainability & Housing Minister Jane Davidson said:

This plan is a new vision for Wales. It makes sustainable development the single organising principle for all parts of the public sector. The Assembly Government will use all its devolved powers – from health, transport to education – to lessen Wales’s environmental impact on the world and help protect our country for future generations.

One Wales: One Planet

Wales has become the first nation of the UK to use its ecological footprint to influence policy and measure progress. The Welsh Assembly is also one of only three administrations in the world that has a legal duty to promote sustainable development.

Ms Davidson added:

For the first time, we have committed ourselves to becoming a one planet nation – to only use our fair share of resources to sustain our lifestyles.

Wales’s ecological footprint is currently 5.16 global hectares per person, compared to a global availability of 1.88 global hectares. It tells us that within our small nation we are using 2.7 planets worth of resources to sustain our lifestyles.

Unchecked, this could rise by 20% by 2020, the equivalent of 3.3 planets worth of resources. We cannot go on like this.

Climate change is most obvious example of our unsustainable use of resources. Other examples are clear – the amount of waste that is still unrecycled, the amount we travel, the amount of energy we use.

I want Wales to only use its fair share. We have set a target of reducing our ecological footprint down to 1.88 global hectares per person. We will do this in a way that improve the lives of our less well-off communities, where issues like fuel poverty and insufficient access to fresh food are day-to-day experiences

Action

The plan sets out a number of targets and actions for Wales to take, including:

• The need to reduce our reliance on carbon based energy by 80 – 90%.
• A move towards becoming a zero waste nation, building on the Assembly Government’s target of achieving 70% recycling of municipal waste by 2025.
• We will extend the use of ecological footprinting by introducing a grant scheme from 2009/10.
• We will invest £190 million in public health to improve equity in health.
  Sustainable development will be made a core objective for the restructure of the NHS in all it does by giving clear duties to the new bodies to demonstrate best practice in planning and design, building, transport and waste management.
• We will give further support Sustainable Development education initiatives.

By law, the Welsh Assembly Government will report annually to the Assembly on its progress in implementing the scheme.

The Minister launched the plan at the Blaenymaes Centre because was the winner of the 2008 Sustainable Swansea Community Project Award. It runs a range of projects to help local people improve their health and wellbeing and reduce their use of scarce resources, including a Community clothing shop, Community furniture recycling and a Food Co-op and gardening project.

Ms Davidson added:

This is an excellent real-life example of a project that puts sustainable development into practice. It is an initiative that is run by local people to meet the needs of the local community – it helps people reduce their waste their own food, and provides training in basic skills

Related Link

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/climate_change/?lang=en

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/sustainabledevelopment/?lang=en