The
Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development (Allan Wilson):
This has been a wide-ranging debate, as we might expect on the subject of
sustainable development. The majority of contributions have been positive,
upbeat, stimulating and interesting. I would, however, exclude a couple of
speeches from that description. Mr Brocklebank's contribution, interesting
as it was and concentrating as it did on fishing, failed to address the
biggest sustainable development issue facing the fishing industry, which is
the decline in stock and biomass and how that can be addressed to maintain a
sustainable fishing industry and sustainable fishing communities.
Mr Brocklebank:
Will the minister take an intervention?
Allan Wilson:
If the member does not mind, I will move on, as I do not want to get bogged
down on fish—yet again.
Christine Grahame gave us a stream of consciousness, describing a capitalist
conspiracy by the packaging industry to make us buy more baked potatoes. I
understand from what she said that an independent Scotland would be a
terry-towelling Scotland. I have good news for her: through sustainable
action grants, we have provided funding for the Scottish nappy network,
which has been set up to promote renewable nappies. [Applause.] That is a
significant step forward. However, the Scottish Executive has set its sights
a little higher than simply promoting renewable nappies.
Johann Lamont (Glasgow
Pollok) (Lab): I am
feeling particularly stigmatised, as someone who used disposable nappies. If
I had a child tomorrow, I would probably use them again. I do not think that
we should be guilt-tripping women when they are doing their shopping.
I wish to ask the minister about a separate point. Could he comment on the
Executive's view of the urban environment and the importance of
sustainability issues to cities? Too often, the focus in such debates is
entirely on rural areas, but the issue is significant for people in
communities in my constituency.
Allan Wilson:
As the member knows, I agree entirely with those sentiments. We have put at
the heart of our environmental agenda and our agenda for sustainable
development the question of environmental justice. That means that
communities in urban environments that have been put upon through
environmental degradation have the opportunity to improve their environment
and their quality of life by embracing the principles of environmental
justice.
Patrick Harvie rose—
Allan Wilson:
If the member does not mind, I would rather make progress. The Greens' basic
criticism of our policy was that there were inconsistencies in what we had
to say. One criticism was that we put economic growth at the heart of our
agenda for sustainable development. I make no apology for that. As I have
said, I believe that economic growth and the creation of sustainable
employment, giving economic and employment opportunity to some of the
poorest people in our community, is at the heart of building sustainable
communities.
Robin Harper:
When I recently attacked Scottish Enterprise about its apparent lack of
commitment to sustainability, it said that the Executive tasks it solely
with economic development. Is that the case, or does the Executive, with its
new ideas, intend to revise Scottish Enterprise's remit?
Allan Wilson:
As my colleague Ross Finnie has just said to me, we set targets and
indicators for Scottish Enterprise as we do for every Government agency.
To turn to a point that Richard Lochhead raised, we are committed to a green
jobs strategy. My colleague Jim Wallace will be launching the draft strategy
for consultation very soon. However, we will take no lessons from
nationalists or Greens on creating employment opportunity. The United
Kingdom Government's record on creating employment opportunity and
addressing the economic
inequality that is caused by unemployment is second to none over the past
century.
I say to Robin Harper that economic growth does not have to be at the
expense of the environment.
We will work with business to develop and implement the green jobs strategy
and we will assess economic development policies against their impact on our
sustainable development indicators. We have a whole range of measures in
place to help business to be more sustainable and to drive the economic
benefits that that can bring.
That does not include banning low-cost air fares. Tourism is a key driver of
our economy and creates employment opportunities throughout rural Scotland.
Chris Ballance (South
of Scotland) (Green):
Will the minister take an intervention?
Allan Wilson:
I will continue, if the member does not mind.
The Deputy Presiding
Officer: The minister
is in his last minute.
Allan Wilson:
Tourism is increasingly dependent on low-cost air travel, so that even
tribunes of the people, such as Tommy Sheridan, can commute back and forth
to Havana at relatively little cost.
Tommy Sheridan
(Glasgow) (SSP): The
minister has obviously never done it.
Allan Wilson:
I have spent many a happy hour in Havana, it has to be said. The point is
that depriving ordinary working people of the opportunity of air travel is
not the way to create a sustainable economy.
I do not have the time to go over all the points that have been raised, but
I will, as ever, make myself available to discuss them with members. I am
pleased that the Scottish Green Party welcomes the Executive's intention to
place the environment and sustainable development at the heart of our
policy making. As I have explained, the commitments of the partnership
agreement are not contradictory, nor are they in conflict with sustainable
development. The Green party needs to take a more holistic view of what
sustainable development means and it needs to come on board with the
Executive. |
