Abstract

The UN's proposed Declaration on Future Generations, on the rights and interests of those not yet born and how they should inform multilateral actions on long-term global challenges, is likely to be adopted in September 2024. Its success will depend on the implementation of measures to safeguard the interests of future generations at national and subnational levels.

This policy brief outlines what implementing a Declaration on Future Generations could mean in practice by identifying key tools around the world that policymakers are already using to safeguard future generations. These include informational tools, strategic foresight, goal-setting, representatives for future generations, trustees (especially courts), reserves, catalytic institutions that seed small interventions that grow over time, and tools to extend time horizons, including citizen assemblies.

The tools summarised seek to give a representative flavour of what implementing a Declaration on Future Generations might look like in practice.

See also a related Policy Brief: A voice and a forum for future generations in the UN