World Future Council offers support to UN Summit of the Future 2023
“The United Nations needs to reinvent itself to remain relevant in the future”, says youngest Council Member
28 September 2021, New York/Hamburg. – Recently, the UN Secretary General published the UN Common Agenda proposal for the Summit of the Future 2023. As governments conclude plenary debates on the Agenda during the UN General Assembly, the World Future Council (WFC) is offering their support. The organisation, consisting of over 50 international change-makers, has a proven in-depth knowledge of future-just policy-making. In making their offer, the World Future Council underlines the need for governments to better address the rights and needs of future generations.
„For many years, we have urged governments and the UN to establish a High Commissioner for Future Generations. We therefore applaud and welcome the proposal for Special Envoy for Future Generations, a Futures Lab and a Declaration on Future Generations ”says Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Councillor of the WFC and former President of the UN General Assembly. “Young change-makers should speak for themselves, and have a seat at the table. The special envoy can pave the way.”
„We offer our knowledge and that of our members to prepare the Summit of the Future. With our Future Policy Award we showcase how future-just policies look in practice. We provide a rich pool of innovative policy solutions on key challenges the humanity is facing. This is something the UN could benefit from when preparing the Summit“, says Alexandra Wandel, Director of the World Future Council.
The WFC has advocated to address the rights and needs of future generations since 2007. For years, the organisation has been cooperating with UN organisations with the Future Policy Award, also known as “Policy Oscar”, showing how global UN issues can be broken down through impactful and future-just policies.
“The United Nations needs to reinvent itself to remain relevant in the future, in a post pandemic world.”, says the youngest Councillor of the World Future Council Kehkashan Basu. “Fulfilling the objectives of the 12-point plan outlined by the UN in its ‘Our Common Agenda’ report and its proposal for a Summit for the Future will be essential towards accelerating the implementation of the SDGs and ensuring that the talks and discussions finally turn into actions on the ground to truly leave no one behind.”
Media Contact
Miriam Petersen
Senior Communications Consultant
Miriam.petersen@ext.worldfuturecouncil.org
About the World Future Council
The World Future Council (WFC) works to pass on a healthy and sustainable planet with just and peaceful societies to our children and grandchildren. To achieve this, we focus on identifying, developing, highlighting, and spreading effective, future-just solutions for current challenges humanity is facing, and promote their implementation worldwide. The Council consists of 50 eminent global change-makers from governments, parliaments, civil societies, academia, the arts, and the business world. Jakob von Uexkull, the Founder of the Alternative Nobel Prize, launched the World Future Council in 2007. We are an independent, non-profit organisation under German law and finance our activities with institutional partnerships and donations.
About the Future Policy Award
Every year, the most impactful policies tackling humankind’s most pressing challenges are celebrated through the Future Policy Award, the first and only award that recognizes policies for the benefit of present and future generations on an international level. The aim of the Award is to raise global awareness for exemplary policies and speed up policy action. The World Future Council has awarded this annual prize since 2010 in partnership with UN agencies and the IPU.
