What does it feel like to grow up somewhere that is noisy and polluted, where the only green space lies beyond a busy road, and concrete and metal dominate? This is the world in which many children live, says Peter Davies, the Sustainable Development Commission’s Commissioner for Wales
SUSTAINABLE development is essentially about our children. Ensuring a future for them in the face of the challenges of climate change – so graphically set out in the latest report from the world’s leading scientists – and engaging them in developing solutions, as with Jane Davidson’s Young People’s Climate Change Champions.
But importantly it is also about the sort of environment that children grow up in today.
We know what makes a good childhood and we know about the key children’s issues today – respiratory disease, obesity, anti-social behaviour, poor diet, child poverty, child protection and safety, disengagement with society and education – the list goes on.
But unless we put the environment at the heart of strategies to tackle children’s issues, will we ever succeed?
It’s easy to forget how important the environment is to children and young people.
We’ve reached major milestones in areas like education, and are making great strides in tackling child poverty and health inequality, but we should always remember a child lives everyday in an environment, be it a good one or bad.
And while we continue in Wales to develop and deliver policies and promises on children’s issues, like the eradication of child poverty, we will struggle to deliver these unless we take a closer look at the environment children live in.
The office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, as a result of talking with young people, gathering their concerns and views, has decided that one of its two main projects for the next year will be “talking to local councils about improving play facilities for young and disabled people”.
Local access to green space – parks, play areas and natural areas – has to become a priority in planning and regenerating communities.
We know green spaces can contribute to children’s mental and physical health, providing places of play, learning and discovery.
There is a gathering body of evidence showing its importance in terms of helping children to develop physically and emotionally.
There is also evidence that even short periods of time spent in green spaces can help children with behavioural problems like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
A recent survey from mental health charity Mind highlighted the views of people who regularly take part in green activities run by its network. Of those surveyed 90 per cent said it was the combination of nature and exercise that had the greatest effect on them, and 94% said green activities had benefited their mental health.
Here in Wales we have a wealth of green space and natural environments – from our coasts to our mountains and countryside, and indeed one of the Welsh Assembly Government’s key priorities is improving access to the countryside for all.
But how good are we at designing the truly local community, particularly in urban areas, where children spend their day to day lives?
Even if there are green spaces in your local community, how child friendly are they? Designing them – even maintaining them – demands a high level of insight into children’s lives. When they are too distant, too unkempt, across a busy road, or too unsupervised to reassure parents, they just don’t work.
There is excellent work already ongoing in Wales, for example with Groundwork’s work in Caerphilly and across other areas, working with young people to improve the local environment.
Another excellent initiative are the “pocket parks” – where communities work together to develop amenities on disused land.
If we look across mainland Europe, an initiative which is widespread is “care farms”. Care farming is a partnership between farmers and health and social care agencies, where commercial farms, woodlands and market gardens are used as a base for promoting and improving the mental and physical health of participants through normal farming activities.
The schemes have been very effective in providing therapeutic and health benefits to the young people involved, and reconnecting them with the land while also developing new skills.
In countries such as the Netherlands there are around 600 care farms working very successfully, as changes in agricultural policy drive the need to diversify, and care policies focus on integration.
Here in Wales, we need more of these schemes that connect our young people with the farming community. There are some examples, like the partnership between Marks and Spencer, Ceredigion young farmers and the Prince’s Trust, with disadvantaged young people developing skills through on farm placements – but more could yet be done, with excellent potential health and wellbeing benefits for the young people and farmers alike.
But the need for action goes beyond this, because we continue to plan communities that are simply not child friendly. Roads are everywhere acting as boundaries to children’s movement. As an environmental hazard, they are a serious problem, as road accidents are the biggest cause of accidental death in the young, and pollution and noise can have a significant impact on a child’s health, especially for example with respiratory disease – a growing problem across Wales. Who can blame a parent for wanting to restrict a child’s movement to try to keep them away from our busy roads?
More parents than ever are also driving their children to school, instead of letting them walk or cycle – again, is it such a surprise when our roads provide such a threat to young people’s safety?
So what’s the solution? There is not an easy answer, but surely keeping children indoors, leading lifestyles that are more sedentary is not the solution. Children need to be outdoors, they need regular exercise, they need to learn to play and communicate with other young people, they need to avoid the fatal trap of boredom.
If we are serious about our children’s safety, health and education, it is time to reassess the priority given to road traffic over past decades.
We need to take action to reduce the amount of pollution, noise and safety problems arising from roads, particularly in proximity to homes and schools.
Our towns and cities need to be designed around pedestrians and cycle users, allowing young people and parents to make safe and sustainable journeys. The Safe Routes to School initiative recognises this, with the Welsh Assembly Government funding projects that help reassure parents and enable young people to cycle or walk safely to school.
But still more needs to be done if we are going to realise the carbon and calorie benefits. Research has shown that compared to European countries like Denmark, we are light years behind in establishing traffic calming areas in our communities, where children spend half of their pedestrian time in these controlled areas. In Britain, the figure is 10%.
Finally, coming back to climate change – it really is a massive problem for young people and their future.
So why is it such a problem? Well, of course, the increasingly erratic weather we are already seeing to some extent is a measure of the kind of problems they will face in the future. But it’s more than this.
What about their jobs, lifestyles and health?
We have to adapt our economy and develop the skills in young people that will ensure that there are future jobs for our children, as the increasing costs of raw materials, energy and carbon taxes will be major challenges for our industrial base and for businesses across all sectors.
Recent figures released showed already, seven of the top 10 towns with the highest number of people on incapacity benefits were in Wales.
If our children continue to lead sedentary lifestyles, guided by the environment they live in, poor health in Wales will increase in the future and make the problem of finding work, and being able to work, even greater as other challenges emerge.
We see an increasing sense of urgency in government, business and communities across Wales.
We all want to do the right thing for the future of our children, but we need to help each other to make the changes that will improve the quality of life of children today and in the future, and to do this effectively, we have to start from their environment.
To read more about the Sustainable Development Commission’s research on children and the environment – Every Child’s Future Matters – visit www.sd-commisison.org.uk/wales
Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.
No comments:
Post a Comment