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, posits that there are nine critical Earth-system processes and associated thresholds that we 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.

• See the report on the Panel’s website

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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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 needs of future generations within international decision-making and ultimately the possibility of setting up democratic structures to protect the needs of future generations around the world.

* See the zero draft (pdf, 122kB from the UN conference site)

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

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%).

• Download the detailed findings (pdf 111kB)
• See a video about the findings

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.

The Alliance was launched in March 2011 and will, we hope, become a leading voice for those calling for reforms to our democratic system and policies that will ensure we hand on a better future to our descendants and to young people living now.

• Download the founding document (pdf, 320kB)
• See a list of Alliance members.

Keep an eye out for updates — we’ll post them here as the Alliance takes shape…

Latest news on future generations

Background information

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 the needs of future generations at the global level”.

• Download challenge paper (pdf, 240k, 6 pages)

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 of the Alliance for Future Generations. The Declaration will help to build support for a future legal framework.

FDSD’s  Halina Ward is a member of an advisory group working to set up the new Planetary Boundaries Initiative. 

The Planetary Boundaries Initiative evolved out of research on long-term governance options funded initially by FDSD and WWF-UK. Members of the Alliance for Future Generations provided conceptual input.

• See the research paper (pdf, 1MB)
• See the draft declaration (external link)

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)

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

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:

1. There is no recognition in the communication of ‘planetary boundaries’
2. The communication seeks private sector engagement but doesn’t seek participation by people as workers, parents, children, employees, residents or citizens
3. Although the communication talks about poverty, it has nothing to say about inter-generational and intra-generational equity or a fair sharing of natural resources
4. It has almost nothing to say about the importance of public participation and access to information
5. The communication fails to recognise the value and importance of national, sub-national or regional institutional frameworks for sustainable development

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 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 political parties to try to help secure a shift towards long-term thinking in politics.)

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 as like a ‘Potemkin village’ (i.e. like the impressive but totally fake settlements said to have been put up in the Crimea to fool Catherine the Great!).