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Now, here's a talk from the countdown global launch event given by Sophie How the Future Generations Commissioner for Whales.

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Wales is a small but progressive country, the only country in the world to have legislated to protect the interests of future generations. The only country to have appointed someone independent to oversee this across the world are systems of government, of politics, of economics, have tended to act in the short term. And often the decisions that are taken discount the interests of future generations and the planet. But in Wales, we're trying to change that by passing a law which requires not just our government, but all of our main public institutions to demonstrate how they're acting for the long term and how the decisions they take don't harm the interests of those yet to be born.

And so, as a mum at five and the world's only future generations, commissioner, I want to share with you today some of the lessons we've learnt about how we're trying to leave the world better than we found it. First of all, you must involve people in setting long term goals. Ask them what's the whales or the world you want to leave behind to your children and your grandchildren? We held a national conversation. The whales we want and people told us we want a low carbon economy.

We want you to help us keep people well rather than just treat them when they're ill. We want connected communities and more equal whales. And our government legislated to set seven national wellbeing goals. To achieve that, each institution has to demonstrate how they're meeting those goals and they're held to account by me.

You have to focus on the interconnections between different aspects of wellbeing. You need to talk often about why is just as important to public health as it is to the environment to tackle high levels of air pollution. Why diversity in the workforce is just as important to economic prosperity as it is to addressing inequality. Our institutions have a legal duty to act beyond their immediate remit to recognise those connections work with unusual suspects. And so we're seeing hospitals in Wales working with the National Botanic Gardens to create spaces for nature on their sites.

We're seeing officers in our environmental agency helping to find solutions to tackle childhood adversity, make wellbeing your metrics, test everything you do across the four pillars of wellbeing social, economic, environmental and cultural. Because for too long, governments have tested their success on the measures of economic growth and increases in GVA. But in Wales, our measures of success are around our safe and wellbeing goals. So when the government thought it was a good idea to spend one point four billion pounds building a new motorway, a simple application of these wellbeing metrics told them that actually if you want to improve people's health, if you want to meet your carbon emissions targets, if you want to protect nature, and if you want to direct your resources to those with the lowest incomes, a much better option would be public transport and active travel.

And so that's what they're doing. Make it your mission to maximize your contribution to well-being. So when we're seeing plans for economic stimulus and green jobs and energy efficiency measures in homes post covid, they're really good ideas. But make sure you target those jobs towards those furthest from the labour market because otherwise you'll be missing opportunities to address inequality, to think about your projects holistically. Don't save carbon by putting solar panels on your new hospital and then spend it in another area by failing to consider how patients are going to travel there sustainably.

Well, in Cardiff, our capital city, like many others across the world, were blighted by high levels of air pollution, long commutes, congested roads and big differences in life expectancy between the richest and the poorest. So what is our act doing to make a difference? Well, first of all, it requires our public institutions to work together. And so as a result, the public health consultant was seconded from the health board to the local council to lead on the transportation strategy.

And when you apply a public health lens to a transport problem, you get a different set of solutions. The public institutions realize that between them, they were employing 30000 people in Cardiff. So they're now incentivizing their employees to travel sustainably. We've seen a tenfold increase in investment in safe routes to cycle and to walk, and we've targeted that cycling and walking infrastructure towards those neighbourhoods who have the highest level of air pollution and the lowest life expectancy. And in Cardiff, doctors can issue prescriptions not just for statins, but for free bike bikila for those who would benefit from increasing their physical activity.

And when we've constructed our cycling infrastructure, we've also built in sustainable drainage, taking away over 40000 cubic metres of water from an unsustainable drainage system through nature based solutions. And in doing that, we've created sites for nature. We've cleaned and greened communities, and we've transformed concrete jungles. And when you travel from this area to our city centre, you'll be met with areas which are closed off to traffic where people can meet and businesses can trade outside the splendour of our medieval castle.

So this is how we're embedding well-being in what we do in Wales. This is how we're protecting the interests of future generations. This is how we're acting today.

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