Myfanwy holds a Conference on a creating a sustainable economy for Wales at the National Botanical Gardens

As we face the twin crises of the recession and rapid environmental change, Plaid Cymru’s Dr. Myfanwy Davies and Nerys Evans AM hosted a one-day conference with experts from a range of fields aiming to develop solutions on each level of government. The conference was held at the National Botanical Gardens on Saturday.

Key points made were:
• Wales has excellent resources to produce sustainable food and energy
• These industries support good long-term jobs
• The policies of councils, the Welsh Assembly and Westminster could increase the market available for local food and energy
• The relationships of supermarkets to suppliers need to be regulated
• Communities need to have a better deal when selling locally produced energy on the national grid
• Communities need to make their own decisions on which sustainable technologies to develop

Speaking from Llanelli, Dr. Myfanwy Davies, Plaid’s candidate in Llanelli for the next Westminster election said:

“As a party we have been committed to sustainability for decades, we are fully committed to acting upon the points raised at this important conference. It is clear that the recession and the wider environmental crisis are linked to patterns of consumption that create huge inequalities of wealth and that make our jobs uncertain”.

“We have seen an increase in joblessness of 80% in Llanelli over the past year. Those jobs were lost because it is too easy to relocate and because we do not have policies in place that mean we are able to buy local goods in preference to those shipped from the other side of the world”

Adam Price, MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr added:
“We all need to change the way we think and the way we live to respond to the environmental and financial crisis. There is a lot we can do as individuals, but essentially we need bold actions from politicians. I was very pleased to see so many experts and organisations come to the conference and I would urge people concerned about crisis facing the environment to get involved politically and start making their points from inside the political parties”.