Conservatives would support Sector's work on climate change

A Conservative Government would empower the voluntary sector so that it can help build a better society, according to Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Greg Clark.

Speaking at NCVO's 2010 Annual Conference, Clark told the audience of over 600 that the voluntary sectory was at the forefront of thinking behind the Tory green paper, Voluntary Action in the 21st Century, which he said would seek to devolve authority from the centre.

"The sector has always been at the forefront of campaigning and advocacy on this issue," he said.

"As on other issues, I want to say just how important your voice is and that your freedom to speak out must not be compromised. The environmental NGOs were the pioneers in this area and they continue to play a leading role."

The Shadow Secretary went on to explain that he thought the sector was particularly important because it was less bound by short term concerns.

"Both market and state can be driven by short-term considerations," he said.

"This destroys the space for long-term consideration – for the vision of a good future, without which there can be no good society."

Taking a quote from NCVO's manifesto he said:

"A civilisation flourishes when people plant trees under whose shade they will never sit.

" I think that everyone here knows that the organisations you lead will outlive you in a way that other forms of human enterprise do not.

"Therefore, when it comes to planting trees under whose shade we will never sit, who better to do the job?"

Clark also argued that the voluntary sector had an important role in humanising the climate change debate because it had the power to show the effects on real people.

"In the run up to Copenhagen, I travelled with Christian Aid to Bangladesh, where I saw for myself the impact that climate change is already having on everyday life in the developing world," he said.

"As an issue, climate change is vast in scale, encompassing the Earth and spanning the generations.

"If nothing else, the voluntary sector has a vital part to play in humanising the challenge, showing what it means to particular people in particular places.

"The last few months have not been good ones for the fight against climate change.

"The need to communicate the case for action is more important than ever.

"In particular, we need to rethink government communications on the subject, which are preachy, patronising and – as recent polls would indicate – counter-productive.

"With scepticism on the rise, the government advertising campaign that literally presented the case for action as a fairy tale took a special kind of incompetence.

"I think it is time that government looked to the voluntary sector, and not to the advertising agencies, for a better way forward."