Wales banned any new road-building projects because they were deemed to have two high emissions. I intervened in that issue, and asked the government to explain to me how they'd applied the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. The plans were to go to a nature reserve, which would have been rapidly damaged. And even though it was considered that this road was being cut short, you know, probably not for a decade. They applied the Future Generations Act and the First Minister Pencils changed their mind. Since then I've intervelled with a few other kind of bits and bobs around setting up an active public transport commission so we can work on these issues together. It's really
What if a nation built policies for the future, not the election cycle?
Sophie Howe was the world’s first “commissioner for the unborn”, appointed to steer Welsh politics away from short-term electoral goals to long-term policies that protect the population and planet. During her seven year term she achieved incredible successes—including stopping all new road planning projects in the nation.
Sophie joins me to discuss the Future Generations Act, the progressive piece of legislation that led to her appointment and makes it statutory that the Welsh government keep seven long-term goals in mind: prosperity, resilience, health, equality, community, culture and global responsibility. She explains how the Act has transformed education, culture and political thinking in the modest nation in a short time—and why other governments around the world are putting their own Acts through parliament as we speak.
“You wouldn't think it was revolutionary for a country to have a set of long-term goals but it's completely revolutionary. There's no other country in the world that has that. It's all just short-term electoral cycles, so nobody really knows where we are, and therein lies the problem with the ageing population, with addressing issues around automation and AI, with addressing issues around climate.
“These things span way beyond, and so the political system doesn't account for them. So having these seven long-term goals, it means, for Wales, we know where we're going.”
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© Rachel Donald
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