Environmental Justice Conference

A major conference to address pollution and injustice

Torfaen Friends of the Earth and Friends of the Earth Cymru are organising a free conference on Environmental Justice to be held in the Congress Theatre, Cwmbran on the 6th October 2001. The conference is open to everyone and seeks to link together social and environmental problems by highlighting the problem of environmental injustice. It will provide the people of Torfaen with a chance to voice their concerns and to take part in a debate on the future of the environment in Torfaen.

The concept of Environmental justice is well developed in the United States but little addressed here. It tries to address the fact that people who suffer the brunt of poverty are also more likely to suffer from pollution and environmental degradation.

Environmental Justice means -

• A fair and decent environment for all
  
• Empowering people facing the brunt of pollution and poverty
  
• Improving people's quality of life
  
• Providing solutions to environmental problems which make life better for people
  
• A fair share of the world's resources for everyone
  
• Creating jobs

Charles Secrett, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth commented,
"Wales is one of the richest countries on the planet. Yet tens of thousands of Welsh citizens don't even have a healthy place to live in. This is outrageous. Friends of the Earth in Wales and elsewhere will fight for everyone's right to a clean and healthy environment. We believe every citizen should have constitutionally guaranteed rights to clean air, pure water, wholesome food and uncontaminated land."

Bleddyn Lake of Torfaen Friends of the Earth (FOE) stated,
"The issue of Environmental Justice is particularly relevant to the people of Torfaen and Wales, who have had to endure, and are still enduring particularly poor living conditions. Communities living next to polluting industries, landfills and opencast mines; or exposed to ill health through air pollution and cold damp homes often suffer from environmental injustice. We have long been subjected to poor housing stock in Torfaen, the pollution problems created by Shanks (formerly Rechem), and the current proposals to build a school on contaminated land in the Glebelands in Newport."

Notes

The conference itself will be a mixture of workshops, debates and also the chance to listen to highly experienced and respected campaigners such as Charles Secrett (Executive Director of Friends of the Earth), Professor Phil Williams (AM).

Speakers

• Charles Secrett - Executive Director, Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Eurig Scandrett - Friends of the Earth Scotland.
• Sello Jelle - South African High Commission - The South African Bill of Rights and environmental justice
• Phil Williams - Plaid Cymru member of the National Assembly for Wales - the role of the assembly in delivering environmental justice in Wales
• Maria Adebowale - Director, Capacity; former Director of the Environmental Law Foundation -

Workshops include:

• Pollution and poverty - breaking the link - Eurig Scandrett, FOE Scotland
• Environmental justice - waste - Ralph Ryder, Communities Against Toxics
• Community regeneration - Awel Aman Tawe Community Wind Farm Project
• Using the law to protect the environment - Environmental Law Foundation
• Communities First - How can we get local authorities to take forward environmental justice? - Dafydd Thomas, Community Development Worker
• Jobs and the environment - Tim Jenkins, Research Co-ordinator, Policy and Research Unit, Friends of the Earth

The conference will be chaired by Welsh Assembly Members Lynne Neagle (Labour, Torfaen) and Jocelyn Davies (Plaid Cymru, South Wales East)