Jane Davidson

Jane Davidson (born 19 March 1957) was the Labour Assembly Member for Pontypridd and the minister for environment, sustainability and housing in the Welsh Assembly Government. She was also the Welsh vice-president of the Ramblers' Association, stepping down when appointed minister for environment, sustainability and housing in 2007. She announced in 2008 that she would not be seeking re-election to the assembly in 2011.

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 3-7-year olds, the Welsh Baccalaureate and Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) into the Welsh curriculum.

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.

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 Telegraph's summit team writing about the green economy in the run up to Rio+20. In February 2013 it was reported that Jane Davidson had edited the Wikipedia page about her.

She lives in Gwaelod-y-Garth with her husband and three children.