A report published today by the UN High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP) has urged world leaders to put sustainable development into practice as quickly as possible.
The report, which was presented today to UN Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon, makes 56 recommendations including integration of social and environmental costs into economics, and a strengthening of the links between science and policy-making through adoption of the “planetary boundaries” concept.
The launch of the report follows concerted advocacy work from many people including members of the newly-formed Alliance for Future Generations in the UK, whose members formed a working group to influence policy-making in the run-up to the Rio+20 summit later this year.
The planetary boundaries concept, which was publicised in a 2009 paper in Nature,…
Halina Ward
This paper is the final report in FDSD’s major two-year research project on The Future of Democracy in the Face of Climate Change.
The paper draws on Papers One to Four to find answers to 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?’
Four scenarios are set out in the final part of the report, sounding the voices of five people speaking from the year 2050: ‘rationed democracy’; ‘transition democracy’; ‘post-authoritarian democracy’, and ‘technocratic democracy’.
The paper opens with a Foreword by Professor Tim O’Riordan.
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Thanks to timely work from members of the Alliance for Future Generations and others, the setting up of a High Commissioner or an Ombudsperson to protect the needs of future generations is now part of a draft declaration to be discussed in preparations for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development later this year.
The so-called “Zero Draft” declaration was put together by the UN Secretariat for the conference as an initial basis for negotiations, drawing on submissions from civil society groups, governments and international organisations.
On page 10, the ombudsman clause says: “We agree to further consider the establishment of an Ombudsperson, or High Commissioner for Future Generations, to promote sustainable development.”
We hope this will help focus discussion on integrating…
The Minister for Future Generations, Septima Tulisa, steps back in time from the year 2050 to give a stark warning about how the world might end up if we don’t start building long-termism into all our decisions. The Minister, played by FDSD Director Halina Ward, comes from a future where humans left it very late indeed before they began to address the needs of future generations. Her plea is that we must not do the same…
The Minister’s speech was one of eight talks given at a “TEDx” event for young people on future generations and intergenerational justice, jointly supported by FDSD and held at London Zoo in November 2011.
See all the talks
Visit the event website
…
FDSD teamed up with the Intergenerational Foundation to commission an opinion poll on British attitudes to future generations. The results were both surprising and heartening.
It seems that we British care much more than you might think about our future descendants. More than two thirds (67%) of people interviewed thought the government was not doing enough for future generations. And when asked what was the most important legacy to hand down, far more people (45%) chose “a healthy planet” than chose other options like a thriving economy (9%) or even safety and security (16%).
“This research reveals that, when issues are framed in terms of future generations, people take a more responsible, global and longer-term perspective. It demonstrates that people are more…
A new alliance to build long-termism into UK democracy
FDSD is proud to be a key founding organisation behind the new Alliance for Future Generations (AFG). The Alliance’s members are organisations and individuals working to ensure that long-termism and the needs of future generations are brought into the heart of UK democracy and policy processes, in order to safeguard the earth and secure intergenerational justice. Supporting the Alliance and contributing to its projects currently forms a significant portion of FDSD’s work on future generations.
“There is a great deal of work that needs to be done to achieve wider cultural transformation – so that as citizens, we place higher value on future generations and collective well-being.”
From the founding document of the…
The ‘Rio+20′ Working Group of the Alliance for Future Generations has published an open challenge paper(pdf 240k) in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) which will be held in June next year, 20 years on from 1992 Earth Summit.
The paper has already received support from both the former president and the current Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations in Hungary (the only country so far to have such a post). Other signatories are listed at the foot of the paper (link below).
The challenge paper, which was submitted today to the UN secretariat for consideration in the run-up to the Conference, proposes that a new UN High Commissioner for Future Generations (UNHCFG) be established to “safeguard long-termism and…
FDSD is pleased to be involved in a new initiative exploring legal frameworks for global governance to respect ‘planetary boundaries’. The initiative is designed to focus thinking on how potentially dangerous natural thresholds could be manifested legally.
The planetary boundaries concept, outlined in a 2009 paper in the journal Nature, proposes nine critical Earth-system processes and associated thresholds that humans need to respect and keep within, in order to protect against the risk of irreversible or even catastrophic environmental change at continental to global scales.
FDSD joined a group of lawyers, sustainability experts and scientists at a meeting on 12th October 2011 at Exeter University to discuss a draft Declaration on Planetary Boundaries presented by barrister Peter Roderick, who is also a member…
Many civil society groups around the world have been working towards a ‘zero draft’ Declaration to be agreed at the annual UN Department of Public Administration conference in Bonn. The Declaration is being used as the basis for negotiations during the run-up to ‘Rio+20’, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012. FDSD submitted comments.
The Declaration includes calls for measures to ensure a green economy, an institutional framework for sustainable development, promotion of sustainable lifestyles and measures to ensure civic engagement in sustainable development governance.
See the full Declaration (pdf, 150kB)
We’re really pleased to announce that the recently-formed Alliance for Future Generations has now grown to 40 members. In just a few months the Alliance has grown to include 17 organisations (including leading environmental NGOs) and 23 individuals including well-respected academics, authors and spokespeople on sustainable development.
FDSD responded to the Environmental Audit Committee’s request to submit written evidence on preparations for Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development due to take place in 2012, 20 years on from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.
In our submission, we warned about ‘signs of erosion in the overall global political commitment to sustainable development’ and recommended urgent action to accept the reality of planetary boundaries, address political short-termism and create institutions to ensure the needs of future generations are built in to decision-making.
See our full submission
FDSD has joined with other NGOs to urge the European Commission to redress a bias towards economic and business issues in its communications leading up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development next year.
In its recent communication Rio+20: towards the green economy and better governance, The European Commission puts the economy, rather than people and the natural environment, centre stage. FDSD, the World Future Council, the Gaia Foundation and the Education Dialogue Group raised five concerns with the EC communication, which we outlined in a series of sign-on letters to several key EC institutions:
There is no recognition in the communication of ‘planetary boundaries’
The communication seeks private sector engagement but doesn’t seek participation by people as workers, parents, children, employees,…
FDSD learned that new administrative arrangements for Hungary’s Commissioner for Future Generations could water down the role of this unique institution, despite strengthened protection for the environment and future generations in Hungary’s new constitution
So far, Hungary leads the world in having such a political position focused on the needs of future generations. We believe it is important to preserve this good example.
We drafted an urgent sign-on letter to MEP József Szájer urging that Hungary continue to demonstrate its global leadership. 18 members of the Alliance for Future Generations signed the letter at only a few hours notice.
Halina Ward, FDSD’s Director, shared a platform with Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne at the Social Liberal Forum Conference to debate the ‘triple crunch’ of growing shortages in credit, fuel and food.
Halina pointed out that without the underpinning of a proper institutional commitment to sustainable development and democracy, such crises are bound to create pressure for yet more short-termism in government as politicians grapple with immediate pressures at the cost of long-term commitments.
The speech, which made recommendations on where the Liberal Democrats could apply pressure to secure more long-termism in decision-making, was well received, with positive comments appearing in social media, in Lib Dem Voice and Left Foot Forward.
(FDSD takes opportunities to work with all…
FDSD Director Halina Ward used a speech to more than fifty civil servants to take stock of progress in global governance arrangements for sustainable development since the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, and to highlight the importance of making progress on institutional frameworks on sustainable development and intergenerational fairness at next year’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development.
Halina was speaking alongside government lawyers at an event organised by the UK Environmental Law Association and the Government Legal Service Environment Group.
We will continue to press for proper institutions and policies to be set up that will build the needs of future generations into global governance.
Update (May 2011): In a blog post, Halina Ward described the UK’s approach to sustainable development…
The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) has closed its doors after eleven years of carrying out a brief to try to make sustainable development the ‘operating system of choice’ for the four UK governments.
We are very sad to see them go.
In their closing statement, Will Day (Chair) and Andrew Lee (Chief Executive) continued to point to the future, citing the Alliance for Future Generations as a sign of hope:
“A Sustainable Development Act? A Commissioner for the Long Term? An Office for Future Generations? All have been mooted for the UK by a range of stakeholders and some have been established, or are being planned, in other countries, as a way of taking the future well-being of people and our planet out…
It’s purpose is “to ensure that long-termism and the needs of future generations are brought into the heart of UK democracy and policy processes, in order to safeguard the earth and secure intergenerational justice.”
At the launch meeting it was agreed that members would begin immediate work on three strands:
Legal and constitutional change: Exploring specific reforms including bringing the needs of future generations into UK parliamentary mandates; local ‘guardians’ for future generations and legal commitments on ‘planetary boundaries’ and environmental limits.
Narratives and framing: Ensuring the language around ‘future generations’ and ‘long-termism’ is used for positive change not political rhetoric.
Rio+20: Ensuring that long-termism and the needs of future generations go on the agenda at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development…
Ten civil society chief executives including FDSD’s Halina Ward signed an open letter calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to go beyond his pledge for a ‘New Politics’ to adopt a ‘New Politics of the Future’.
The letter warns that short-termism is hampering progress on climate change, changing demographics, youth unemployment, and environmental and social injustice, and could even threaten democracy itself. The letter calls for measures to encourage MPs to consider the needs of future generations and an annual ‘State of the Future’ speech to be delivered by the PM.
Read the full press release
A reflection by Niall Ferguson in today’s Financial Times on the historical significance of the past decade struck me as particularly apt and insightful. He explores the reasons behind the astonishing – and accelerating – shift to the east in the world’s economic (and, ultimately, political) centre of gravity. In the process, he asks what it was that gave the West its “ascendancy”, through the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the ensuing race around the world, as far as the Antipodes?
His answer is that the West benefited from six “killer apps”. These were: “the capitalist enterprise, the scientific method, a legal and political system based on private property rights and individual freedom, traditional imperialism, the consumer society and what Weber…
Civil society has an important role to play in driving change and innovation in democracy for sustainable development.
Non-governmental organisations in the UK are already a hot-bed for innovation in both democracy and sustainable development. But the two sets of concerns have not yet come together.
We wanted to see what could happen when civil society leaders are invited to think about the relevance of their existing work to the goal of equipping democracy for sustainable development. There is a huge body of existing thinking and practice that lies just below the surface of work and advocacy on themes like citizen empowerment, social innovation, localisation, community development, climate change and social justice.
Partnering with environmental justice NGO Capacity Global, we co-convened a meeting of ten leaders…
Democracy between nations
The challenges of achieving democracy in relations between governments are well known.
In the United Nations, voting generally proceeds on the basis of ‘one country one vote’, not ‘one citizen one vote’. There is no ‘world parliament of citizens’ to provide a global constituency for international decision-making.
The United Nations Security Council with its limited membership, has a casting vote on many crucially important issues.
Smaller countries, or those with lower average per capita incomes or trade and investment flows, often complain that they are left out of key international decisions, particularly where international trade liberalisation is concerned.
Too often countries pursue national economic self-interest, not an enlightened global ethic, when they decide on negotiating positions in international negotiations. Climate change negotiations have sadly been…
Sustainable development calls for efforts to promote long-term thinking in democratic decision-making. Both the interests of future generations and of the environment need to be properly considered.
Hungary’s Parliament has taken an innovative step in this direction. In 2007, Parliament decided to create a new independent watchdog function; the ‘green ombudsman’, to safeguard the constitutional right of Hungarian citizens to a healthy environment. The full title of the office that was created is the Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations.
In May 2008, Dr Sándor Fülöp was elected to become Hungary’s first Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations for a six-year term.
The Commissioner for Future Generations is one of four Parliamentary Ombudsmen. Others deal with civil rights, data protection and freedom of information, and the rights of “national and ethnic minorities”.
The Commissioner for…
Background
It is clear that established systems of citizen participation and democracy will struggle to cope with the multiple challenges and trade-offs of climate change management; but how they might evolve or what might emerge to replace them is unclear.
Less democracy, more incursions into individual liberties, and a rise in autocracy are certainly one possible trend; but so too is experimentation at the grassroots with a variety of decision-making processes that have potential to strengthen social capital.
We are therefore interested in looking at the possible evolution of democracy and participatory decision-making. From both sustainable development and human rights perspectives, the essential elements of democracy (understood as governance by the people for the people) make it the only political system that is…
When and how does democracy facilitate sustainable development? This was the central question for participants at a three-day event held in New Delhi from 2 to 4 February 2009.
The event was organised by 21st Century Trust and Salzburg Global Seminar in collaboration with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and The Environment Foundation and in association with TERI’s 2009 Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.
Participants began their discussions with a visit organized by “Growth-for-All” and partners working with people resettled in Savda Ghewra, a new residential complex in the west of New Delhi, to make way for construction associated with the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Visitors spent the afternoon seeing how coordinated civil society initiatives were supplementing government resources in areas such as health and…
Can we vote our way to a sustainable future for a world of 9 billion people – or are new forms of leadership going to be necessary?
What kinds of systems of governance and decision-making best place countries and people to move towards more sustainable forms of development?
Can the time-frames of democratically elected governments deliver sustainable development?
If not, what needs to be done – and by whom?
In March 2008, The Environment Foundation, together with 21st Century Trust, SustainAbility and the Dana Centre, and with the support of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, organised a consultation on ‘Democracy and Sustainability’ to discuss these and other questions at the interface between democracy and sustainable development.
The event took place at the Dana…
