The Past
The advocacy efforts on appointing a representative for Future Generations at the United Nations mainly begun through the pioneering campaign of the Future Justice Commission of the World Future Council beginning in 2007 and leading to its codification in the outcome document at the Rio Earth Summit in 2012. This led to a series of high-level events, reports and dialogues at the multilateral, regional, national and local levels leading to various key achievements and paved the way for the Our Common Agenda Report to feature this proposal in 2021.
Dr Maja Goepel, then Director now Councillor and Catherine Pearce, who then continued these efforts provided visionary leadership and was guided by the wisdom of several Members of the World Future Council throughout these processes throughout the years, which included Founding Councilors such as Judge C.G. Weeramantry, Professor Hans-Peter Durr, Dr David Krieger, Maori Grandmother Pauline Tangiora, Dr Rama Mani, Professor Marie Claire Cordonier Seger, Professor Herbie Girardet, Jakob von Uexkull, Katiana Orluc, Alexandra Wandel, Neshan Gunasekera, Alyn Ware and many others. Some of the Councillors have passed on now, yet their legacy and spirit lives on through the continuing efforts of the Members of the Council today.
Founding Congress: Councillors and staff in front of Haus Rissen before the press conference 2007
The Present
The World Future Council welcomes the statement made by the United Nations Under Secretary General for Policy at the UN Secretary Generals Executive Office Guy Ryder during the Hamburg Sustainability Conference 2024 concluded 8 October 2024 on the steps being taken by the UN Secretary General to action the appointment of a UN Special Envoy on Future Generations. This is a key outcome anticipated following the historic UN Summit of the Future and the advocacy efforts of the Council alongside numerous other partners and collaborators specifically calling for the implementation of the Declaration on Future Generations. Special mention should be made of Alice Vincent, assistant to the founder, who has been campaigning vehemently for a UN representative for FG, among others at the UN and with the large children’s and youth group.
This augurs well for the efforts taken to cohost several high-level dialogues during the UN Summit of the Future, including one titled ‘A Seat at the Table – Institutional Representation for Future Generations’, which featured some of the efforts of Councillors and Advisors including Cyril Ritchie, Maria Espinosa, Otto Scharmer, Marie Claire Graf, Marie Biermann, Lena Dente, Samia Kassid and supported by partners such as Henk-Jan Brinkman, IDLO, UN, Professor Katy Gwaizdon, IUCN Ethics Specialist Group, Dr Andrea Hinwood, UNEP, Daouia Chalali, Future Climate Corporation, Alimi Salifou, Impact Coalition for Future Generations, Ishan Shaah, C4UN, UN Association of Germany, and others.
Our working group members at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference 2024
The Future
The World Future Council looks forward to continuing our joint efforts to support the establishment of the UN Envoy on Future Generations and further our continuing efforts at all levels of governance taking into consideration also the normative developments surrounding the principles of the human rights of future generations, intergenerational equity and Earth Trusteeship.
