In preparation for Universal Children’s Day on 20th November, we’ve posted up a home page for a fictitious “Ministry for Future Generations”. It paints a somewhat rose-tinted picture of how the world could be improved if such a ministry were called into existence. No more fossil fuels, education for all — all kinds of global problems miraculously solved.
Okay, the web page is not real. And in the real world, another traditionally-structured Government ministry probably isn’t even the right solution. But we are in fact very serious about the possibility of reforms to our democratic and political systems specifically designed to defend the needs of future generations. We think such reforms would help and we think they could realistically happen, possibly quite soon.
Experience from other countries
In 2008, the Hungarian Parliament created a ‘Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations’, to safeguard the constitutional right of Hungarian citizens to a healthy environment. Dr Sándor Fülöp was elected to this post and is mid-way through his 6-year term. He is one of four Parliamentary Ombudsmen in Hungary. Others deal with civil rights, data protection and freedom of information, and the rights of “national and ethnic minorities”.
The Commissioner investigates environmental complaints, acts as a policy advocate for sustainability issues and promotes research on the long term sustainability of human societies.
That’s one approach to bringing the needs for future generations into policy processes – with a focus on the environment and sustainable development. There are others too.
In Finland, parliament’s Committee for the Future is charged with carrying on an “active and initiative-generating dialogue with the Government on major future problems and means of solving them”.
In Israel, the Knesset passed legislation to enable the creation of a Commission for Future Generations, a non-political entity which operated from 2001 until 2006.
Around the world, nineteen constitutions refer directly to future generations (you can read more on page 22 of Peter Roderick’s report for FDSD and WWF-UK).
The World Future Council is campaigning for ‘future justice’ and calling for ombudspersons for future generations.
Here in the UK, the Welsh government appointed a Commissioner for Sustainable Futures earlier this year.
And some members of the Alliance for Future Generations, which FDSD is a founder member of, have been mulling over the idea of local guardians for future generations. Together, we’re also exploring proposals for a UN High Commissioner for Future Generations.
So what shall we do?
Do you think that we need institutions and policies to bring the needs of future generations into the heart of our democracy and policies?
If you do, what do you think is the best way to do it?
We’d love to hear from you with your ideas. Please add your ideas in the Comments box below to tell us what you think – and stay in touch!
Together, we might just be able to get our elected representatives to think differently about the future….
One Comment
Great initiative! Institutions and policies to bring the needs of future generations into the heart of our democracies are definitely useful.
One approach should be to bring the subject closer to the public. E.g., the Clock of the Long Now (longnow.org), Long Player (longplayer.org), milliongeneration’s Letters (milliongenerations.org), and Time Buoys (timebuoys.net) intend to (in the words of Time Buoys) “trigger long-term thinking in public spaces by promoting and disseminating physical reminders that will remain present for millenia”.
Public awareness is one step. Developing viable visions on long term existence is another. It is not possible to predict the future. Useful deductions can, however, be made from the assumption that knowledge continues to be passed on on this planet for very long time spans. To deduct what future existence requires.
Worth a try. Keep this effort up, please!