Extinction Rebellion Cymru : e-petition to declare a climate emergency – final response to Lesley Griffiths Letter 12^th August 2019  

Extinction Rebellion’s 3^rd demand is to establish a national Citizens Assembly to tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Crisis.  Here in Wales, Extinction Rebellion Cymru are calling for a Welsh Citizens Assembly. Lesley Griffiths in her letter, mentions Citizens Assemblies noting they :

• ‘make a valuable contribution'
• ‘are most effective when established cross-party’
• and the First Minister has recently ‘committed political support to XR’s idea of a Citizens Assembly’

We would suggest there is already cross-party support for the idea of a national Citizens Assembly in Wales and would like to see a debate in full Chamber that commits time-scale and funding.

The Welsh Assembly Commission already has in place the necessary mechanisms - they ran a Citizens Assembly in Newtown July 2019 answering the question: How can people in Wales shape their future through the work of the National Assembly.

Lesley Griffiths notes that the First Minister has invited Extinction Rebellion Cymru to attend the Climate Decarbonisation Conference on 16^th October – we will be delighted to be there.

Extinction Rebellion’s first demand is for the government to tell the truth about the Climate and Ecological Crisis. XR Cymru met with Lesley Griffiths last week and the Welsh Government has agreed to a mass communication to the public about the climate crisis.  We are delighted to participate in the process of designing an ambitious Communication Strategy to Tell the Truth! We will submit our recommendations no later than the end of October 2019.

Lesley Griffiths’ letter states that a Cabinet Sub-committee has been established in response to declaring a Climate Emergency. We are pleased to see cabinet-level co-ordination of the government’s response to the Crisis is being established but would want to know more regarding this committee’s membership, mandate and schedule. How can we access the committee’s minutes online? We have asked for this information from Lesley’s office but at the time of submitting this document, we had not received a reply.

Lesley Griffiths talks of the Prosperity for All: A Low Carbon Wales Report and the government’s achievements since declaring a Climate Emergency April 2019. Extinction Rebellion Cymru are pleased to note the government’s commitment to taking action towards decarbonising Wales but many of us are concerned that the measures do not go far or fast enough. Other organisations in Wales are better placed to express exactly where and how the government should scale up their ambition to decarbonize. Extinction Rebellion Cymru will continue to demand a Citizens' Assembly to guide the specifics around decarbonisation and will be hosting a Citizens' Assembly workshop at the Climate Decarbonisation Conference in October.

Since February when our e-petition was launched, the Climate and Ecological Crisis has risen up the political and public agenda. Extinction Rebellion Cymru feel that the e-petition has played a part in this and would like to thank all members of the Petitions Committee for their contribution in making this happen.

Louise Gray

Extinction Rebellion Cymru and Cardiff