The one-sentence summary

The story of how Wales responded to global challenges by radically rethinking its duty to future generations can inspire other countries to do the same.

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WHAT THE BOOK SAYS

  • When the author was Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing in Wales, she proposed what became the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 – the first piece of legislation in history to place regenerative and sustainable practice at the heart of government. The act connects social, environmental, economic and cultural well-being, and looks to solve complex issues through better decision-making.
  • It is revolutionary because it enshrines into law that the well-being of the current and future people of Wales is explicitly the core purpose of the government. It created seven goals for living within our environmental limits in the areas of health, prosperity, resilience, communities, language and heritage, equality, and Wales’s role in the world. It then directs five ways of working to reach decisions: prevention, long-termism, collaboration, participation, and integrating activities to reach positive outcomes for as many of the goals as possible.
  • A series of epiphanies led to the development of the author’s views:
    1. Agenda 21. This was a commitment made by 178 countries at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 to create a global action plan for sustainable development into the 21st century, hence the name.
    2. Donella Meadows and systems thinking. In 1972 she and her colleagues published The Limits To Growth, after a Club of Rome study looked at the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet.
    3. We have only one planet. In 2007 a report entitled ‘One Planet Wales’ concluded that if everyone in the world consumed natural resources and generated carbon dioxide at the rate of Wales, they would need three planets to support themselves.
    4. Incrementalism doesn’t work. Things must be done at scale otherwise change is too slow.
  • The book has five sections, based on those set out by Donella Meadows:
    1. Visioning: taking off the constraints of feasibility, disbelief and past disappointments to consider more noble, uplifting dreams.
    2. Networking: finding shared values on equal terms and working together.
    3. Truth-telling: instead of unrelieved pessimism or sappy optimism, truth about successes and failures of the present and potential obstacles in the future.
    4. Learning: exploring a new path with rigour and courage, being open to others and being willing to switch if a better one comes up.
    5. Loving: using the best of human nature.

WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT

  • The definition of sustainable development as determined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 is ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’
  • However, there is significant confusion in most sectors about the term sustainable development. Many find it hard to disassociate the term from the more traditional ‘green’ agenda.
  • The author had several wake-up calls when working on this project:
    1. A report concluded that the Assembly Government had too many competing priorities because the culture of the organization inhibited integration.
    2. Another report showed that the ‘One Wales, One Planet’ initiative was not featuring in policy discourse, particularly in economic development, the public sector, transport and housing.
    3. Following a general election in 2010, the incoming government dispensed with the Sustainable Development Commission without any consultation.
  • There is a relationship between the words ecology and economy. They are derived from the same Greek word oikos, meaning home – a place of relationships among all forms of life. Logos means knowledge of and nomos means the management of that home. As knowledge should come before management, ecology should therefore come before economy.
  • The author was brought up in Zimbabwe when it was called Rhodesia. Her parents had strong notions of fairness and service. Various incidents made a distinct impression – when moving to a new bungalow, her parents were asked if they were happy living next door to a ‘coloured’ family, who were later moved because the area had since been designated a ‘whites only’ district; visiting a schoolfriend’s house to witness with horror her family’s verbal and physical abuse of their staff; and her nanny ushering her into a park but being unable to come in herself because the sign read ‘whites only.’
  • “The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are often described as ‘ambitious’ but surely that is not how they are best described. It is as if we were to describe the need for food, drink and sleep as ambitions of daily life. They are necessities and, if we are serious about the future of the planet, its people and prosperity, these goals are fundamental.” Professor Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales

WHAT YOU HAVE TO WATCH

  • This book is specifically about Wales, but much of the intent, experience and policy making has wider application around the world.