A Voice and Forum for Future Generations in the United Nations
Tools to Support Countries to Implement the Declaration on Future Generations
Summary
In September 2024, countries will likely commit to safeguard future generations through a Declaration on Future Generations, annexed to the Pact for the Future to be adopted at the UN Summit of the Future.
The purpose of the Declaration is not simply symbolic. Its success depends on its ability to catalyse a wide range of strategies and reforms at the the national and subnational levels to help countries address current and long-term challenges such as development, environmental protection, or changes in technology and demography. Across the world, countries have developed numerous tools that help them serve the interests of future generations, but every government needs more support to operationalise and implement the core commitment to safeguard future generations.
As we stand at a critical moment in human history, the Declaration on Future Generations would be a renewed commitment of Member States to act on the intergenerational transmission of injustice, and reinvigorate the principles of sustainable development: responding to the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to do so.
This policy brief outlines how a Special Envoy for Future Generations and a UN Forum on Future Generations could support countries to implement the Declaration. It suggests how these tools could work and through what process they could be created. Working in tandem, the core functions of these tools are to:
Support countries’ capacity to operationalise the commitment to safeguard future generations,
Support exchange knowledge and best practices between countries and between different parts of society,
Review progress toward the commitment of stakeholders to actively safeguard future generations,
Create a multilateral focal point that complements work on future generations across the UN system.
The Declaration, the Envoy, and the Forum work together as a set of complementary catalytic tools. By supporting not just a strong Declaration on Future Generations, but also this critical implementation work, Member States can use the Summit of the
