Can Wales change the world?
04th November 2011
The panel for the 2011 Sustainability Week debate: Professor Terry Marsden with Lee Waters Director of Sustrans Cymru, Hannah Scrase Project Manager of the Size of Wales Project, Dr Simon Bilsborough from Welsh Government and Dr Alan Netherwood.
What can a nation the size of Wales contribute towards the global sustainability agenda and how can individuals make a difference? Those were the questions at the core of the University’s 2011 Sustainability Week Debate.
The event was opened by the Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, John Griffiths AM who set the scene, outlining the Welsh Government ambition for a sustainable nation, and looking to the future, new legislation to embed sustainable development as the central organising principle not only for Welsh Government but all public bodies in Wales.
Hosted by the University’s Sustainable Places Research Institute which is at the forefront of innovative responses to the challenges of climate change and diminishing resources, the event attracted a diverse audience and generated much food for thought.
Speaking about the debate, Hannah Scrase, Director at Size of Wales said: “Despite being a small nation, Wales can absolutely have an effect on sustainability in a global context. 'An area the size of Wales' is frequently used to measure the rate of forest destruction. Through Size of Wales we aim to turn that negative use of the country's size on its head, by encouraging the people of Wales to take positive action and help protect an area of tropical forest equivalent to the size of our nation.”
Cardiff University is a forest partner of the Size of Wales project and voting has been taking place to decide which project the University will support.
More information about Sustainability Week 2011 is available at www.cardiff.ac.uk/sustainability/week