FDSD has been awarded a ‘Future of Humanity’ grant by US-based Foundation for the Future for a research project on ‘the future of democracy in the face of climate change’.

Future of Humanity grants are awarded following an annual competition for proposals from scholars undertaking research at a macro level that is directly related to better understanding the factors affecting the long-term future of humanity.

The 12-month FDSD project will develop scenarios around the question: “how might democracy and participatory decision-making have evolved to cope with the challenges of climate change by the years 2050 and 2100?”

The Foundation for the Future award comes as the relationship between science, democracy and climate change enters the media spotlight as never before.

With the UK public bombarded with a media and internet storm over the stolen emails and the scientific evidence at the heart of what has been dubbed ‘climategate‘, the risk is that public trust both in scientists and politicians will plummet. 

But what could this mean for democracy in the UK and elsewhere, and how could it shape the next stages in the relationship between democracy and climate policy? 

Climategate brings even greater unpredictability to the Copenhagen Climate Summit, already beset with challenges as governments such as that of the US struggle to get public and political backing for measures to decrease the carbon intensity of their economies. 

We welcome your views on ‘the future of democracy in the face of climate change’. And we’ll be at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen to talk to participants about how they think the issues could play out.

If you’d like to let us know your views, please post a comment or drop us a line at info@fdsd.org.