Jane Davidson (born 19 March 1957) is a Welsh former Labour politician, the former Assembly Member for

Pontypridd Pontypridd ( , ), Colloquialism, colloquially referred to as ''Ponty'', is a town and a Community (Wales), community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales, approximately 10 miles north west of Cardiff city centre. Geography Pontypridd comprises the ...

, and served as minister for environment, sustainability and

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

in the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

. She also previously served as the Welsh vice-president of the Ramblers' Association, stepping down when appointed minister for environment, sustainability and

in 2007. She announced in 2008 that she would not be seeking re-election to the assembly in 2011.

Professional career

Prior to her election to the Welsh Assembly Davidson was a member of Cardiff City Council. In the Assembly she was minister for environment and sustainability in Wales from 2007 to 2011 where she was responsible for the Welsh Government agreeing to make sustainable development its central organising principle. Prior to that she was minister for education and lifelong learning where she introduced a new foundation phase for 3- to 7-year-olds, the Welsh Baccalaureate and Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) into the Welsh curriculum.Jane Davidson
In 2011, following her ministerial career and subsequent move to West Wales as planned, Davidson took up employment as director of the Wales Institute for Sustainability at the local Trinity St David University shortly afterwards, which intends to introduce sustainability content into every student's experience from 2013. In 2017, Jane was guest faculty in the Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership programme at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Contributions to public policy

Davidson was the third most influential environmentalist in the UK for the Independent on Sunday in 2009 and has been ''Resource'' magazine's number one and two in 2009 and 2010 for her work on waste. She holds honorary fellowships from CIW (Chartered Institute of Waste) and CIWEM (Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management) and is a member of WWF's UK Council of Global Ambassadors. Davidson was a judge on the 2011 Green Awards and is a member of the ''Telegraphs summit team writing about the

green economy A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without environmental degradation, degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological econ ...

in the run up to Rio+20.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Jane 1957 births Living people Welsh Labour members of the Senedd Wales AMs 1999–2003 Wales AMs 2003–2007 Wales AMs 2007–2011 Politicians from Cardiff Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Wales Councillors in Cardiff Members of the Welsh Government Female members of the Senedd People educated at Malvern St James 20th-century British women politicians Women members of the Welsh Government Women councillors in Wales