by kultur.work | Apr 7, 2023
FDSD submitted a response to Sarah Boyack MSP on the proposed Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill on 24 March 2023. We highlighted the importance of adopting a long-term perspective in policymaking to ensure the wellbeing of current and future...
by kultur.work | Apr 3, 2023
FDSD made a collective submission to the Labour Policy Forum on 17 March 2023 together with Involve, Demos, the Sortition Foundation, IsWe and Shared Future. In it we argued that since our current democracy is failing to tackle the big challenges of our time, we need...
by Andrea Westall | Feb 2, 2023
Full paper → Introduction The grand challenges of our time – climate change, biodiversity loss and excessive inequality – are proving difficult for our current liberal democracies to tackle effectively. The inability to address them will not only negatively affect...
by Ariella Shalev | Feb 2, 2022
Regional disparities have haunted policy makers in the UK for generations – regional economic agencies have come and gone, motorways were built to reconnect economic centres, subsidies were tried and then more market forces. But, as we emerge from the pandemic,...
by kultur.work | Jan 18, 2022
As we move ever closer to 2030 – the arbitrary endpoint for the collectively agreed UN Sustainable Development Goals – and in a year when the commitments of the climate negotiations at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, COP26 will need to be further strengthened,...
by Ariella Shalev | Jan 5, 2022
If the recent COP26 tells us anything, it’s that different ways of making hard decisions about our shared futures are needed. Too often critical decisions are made through last minute compromises, hammered out amongst small groups of negotiators behind closed doors,...
by Ariella Shalev | Dec 8, 2021
The Wellbeing for Future Generations (Wales) Act became law in 2015. A previous FDSD blog reflected on development of the Act from my perspective as Sustainable Futures Commissioner for Wales from 2011-16, setting out its genesis in the devolution process. This is now...
by kultur.work | Dec 7, 2018
In 2008, Sara Parkin wrote a provocation for the FDSD: “Are Political Parties getting in the way of the sort of collaborative democracy we need to tackle sustainability? If so, what can we do about it?” Ten years later, she revisits her thinking, “in the...
by kultur.work | May 6, 2018
For the first time in 25 years, the House of Lords Liaison Committee is reviewing the structure and function of committees in the second chamber. FDSD is making the most of the opportunity to propose a new Committee for Future Generations to bring long-term...
by Andrea Westall | Sep 21, 2017
FDSD responded to the consultation by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on their proposed approach to measuring and reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the UK. The provision of adequate data on our progress towards the SDGs (both within...
by kultur.work | Jul 7, 2017
In response to the provocations by Peter Davies and Sándor Fülöp at the FDSD event ‘A Future Generations Commissioner for the UK’, Andrea Westall argues that we need to think beyond institutions in isolation. While Commissioners may have an important role...
by kultur.work | Jul 7, 2017
In this provocation, Peter Davies offers personal reflections on his role in the development of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales within the broader story of the journey of devolution – a journey that started with the duty to promote sustainable...
by kultur.work | Jul 7, 2017
The imminent ecological crises and our consumer society’s lack of receptivity to this bad news mean that an independent, authentic voice is needed to represent the interests of future generations. In this provocation, Sándor Fülöp draws on his experience as...
by Sian Lewis | Jul 7, 2017
Does the United Kingdom need a Commissioner for Future Generations? What would that role look like and how could we set it up? Participants at an event on 11 April 2017, hosted by FDSD in partnership with the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity and...
by kultur.work | Jul 7, 2017
In response to the provocations by Peter Davies and Sándor Fülöp at the FDSD event ‘A Future Generations Commissioner for the UK‘, Victor Anderson reminds us that there are a variety of approaches to safeguarding the interests of future generations. Our focus can be...
by kultur.work | Feb 16, 2017
© Ferenc Cakó’s sand animation performance at the BWS 2016: Water Connects The theme of the Budapest Water Summit 2016 was that Water Connects across all aspects of sustainable development and across geographies. But to ensure against future conflict and...
by kultur.work | Feb 15, 2017
It is increasingly argued that involving stakeholders and the wider public in planning and decision making leads to more effective environmental governance. But the impact of such participatory planning in practice remains unclear. In this report, the authors compare...
by Graham Smith | Oct 27, 2016
The economy is an area of decision-making fiercely protected by experts and politicians from public participation. But public confidence in this closed policy community is waning and arguments for democratic participation in an area that so profoundly shapes all our...
by Andrea Westall | Oct 14, 2016
In September 2016, we responded to the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry: The sustainable development goals in the UK. You can find our submission on the EAC website. We argued that currently Whitehall is not publicly stating, acknowledging or realising the...
by Andrea Westall | May 30, 2016
Charlotte Burns and Viviane Gravey argue that the EU Referendum debate in the UK has been “surprisingly quiet on the issue of the environment”. They look at three options for the UK from the point of view of their impacts on participatory democracy, as...
