Don’t forget the next consultation on the Natural Environment Framework closes on the 31st May. This is also important and we’ll get back to you later on this.

Community woodlands are those which are used by group of people with a common purpose and can be public, leased, used with the consent of the owners or owned by the groups themselves. There is great potential for greater community involvement in woodland as the people of Wales, through the Welsh Government, own almost 40% of Welsh woodlands which cover 6% of the land area of Wales.

There are an increasing number of community woodlands in Wales using woodland resources as a key to sustainable local development. This manifesto has been produced by representatives from many such groups who make up the members and board of Llais y Goedwig.

Woodlands sit at the heart of Welsh culture and society and this Manifesto will help us to better realise the potential of these woodlands for community benefit and a stronger Wales. This starts with greater public and community participation in how woodland resources are managed and used.

Living Wales presentation – LYG

Our thanks to all presenters and participants at the AGM.

In effect the First Minister’s Office would adopt SD as a guiding principle and be accountable for its implementation. Sitting above all Ministerial Teams as it does, it would be required to approve all related policy development and funding. Every policy should contain specific references to sustainable development. Nothing the Welsh Government does can sit in isolation from this issue, so policy will need to be explicit. The government should then propose realistic targets and outcome measures for SD over a planning period, and make all Ministers accountable for implementation and action within their portfolio. This should become an election issue so the government can be held accountable by the people ofWaleson progress with SD actions and achievements by voting in, or out, those who govern.

This proposal will ensure that SD is embedded within government policy as a central feature and not a poorly defined and measured ‘add-on’. Why be so bold with SD? The answer should be obvious: an economy in decline, a crisis in banking, increasing unemployment, reducing health and wellbeing, and climate change.

It’s time to test our commitment to both SD and the Natural Environment Framework (NEF) at a stage where both policies are in development and consultations planned. The Welsh Government approach to both has, as a central guiding principle, the development of social, environmental and economic aspirations, over a longer time period than the electoral cycle. This is needed to bring some stability and avert flip-flopping of policy the premature abandonment of initiatives and the waste of funding in the past. So if Welsh Government is committed, let us all see how this is reflected in the structure of government and within Ministerial targets. In addition a specific triple bottom line approach (social, environmental and economic), the adoption of well-being rather than economic growth as a measure of success, and a requirement for scenario testing in real contexts, will help us judge the efficiency of government, the private sector, and, of course, the third sector in relation to SD actions and achievements.

With such a restructuring within Welsh Government there is nothing to lose, but much to gain. A chance to see both SD and NEF not as just rhetoric, passed down to local authorities, the private and third sectors through funding controls and procurement, but as key structural principles of Welsh Government. Principles that are explicit, measurable and subject to electoral judgement at the ballot box. Only then can Wales proclaim itself as a leader in SD across Europe and show how this is serving the people of Wales, its economy and the environment.