Wales’ Central Organising Principle: Legislating for Sustainable Development

First Minister Carwyn Jones has set out his Government's commitment not only to have sustainable development as its central organising principal but also to enact this through primary legislation. A Sustainable Development Green Paper will appear next May, followed by a White Paper in the autumn of 2012. This will be the first piece of primary legislation dedicated to sustainable development in the United Kingdom and has the potential to be a world leader.

This conference addresses what the proposals should contain, how they should be implemented and what their likely impact will be. It will ask what difference sustainable development legislation can make to Wales' efforts to create a society more attuned to the related demands of climate change, social justice and a strong economy. Can legislation really enforce sustainable development as a central organising principle? How will the Welsh Government be held to account once the Bill is passed?

Speakers include Peter Davies, Commissioner for Sustainable Futures and Jane Davidson, Director of INSPIRE, University of Wales Trinity St David.