Future generations are cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future

generation A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and g ...

s are contrasted with current and past generations, and evoked in order to encourage thinking about

intergenerational equity Intergenerational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the idea of fairness or justice between generations. The concept can be applied to fairness in dynamics between children, youth, adults, and seniors. It can al ...

. The moral patienthood of future generations has been argued for extensively among philosophers, and is thought of as an important, neglected cause by the

effective altruism Effective altruism is a philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible, and taking action on that basis". People who pursue the goals of effective altruism, cal ...

community. The term is often used in describing the conservation or preservation of

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soc ...

natural heritage Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, including flora and fauna, ecosystems and geological structures. It forms part of our natural resources. Definition Heritage is that which is ''inherited'' from past gene ...

. The

sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

and

climate movement The climate movement is a global social movement focused on pressuring governments and industry to take action (also called " climate action") addressing the causes and impacts of climate change. Environmental non-profit organizations have eng ...

s have adopted the concept as a tool for enshrining principles of long-term thinking into law. The concept is often connected to indigenous thinking as a principle for ecological action, such as the seven generation concept attributed to Iroquois tradition.

Sources

The term refers to the impact which the currently living generation has on the world which future generations will live in, the world they will inherit from humans living today. This concept is referred to in the most widely quoted definition of

as a part of the concept

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The desi ...

, is that of the

Brundtland Commission The Brundtland Commission, formerly the World Commission on Environment and Development, was a sub-organization of the United Nations (UN) that aimed to unite countries in pursuit of sustainable development. It was founded in 1983 when Javier Pér ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

on March 20, 1987: "sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The use of future generations in international law is in part recognized by the

Charter of the United Nations The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its Organ ...

which focuses on preventing the "scourge of war" on future generations. With the publication of

UN Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

's landmark Our Common Agenda report in September 2021, there has been a renewed interest in understanding, action for, and representing future generations in the multilateral system.

UNESCO declaration

Economics

Most capitalist approaches assume future generations will have increased prosperity. However, these assumptions do not bear out—most economic decisions are made with short term benefits in mind.

Legal rights of future generations

Most implementations of future generations focus on enshrining the rights and needs of future generations in law, in order to represent those unable to voice their needs. Several countries have tried enshrining obligations to future generations in law. In

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2 ...

, this moral obligation is encoded as a legal duty in the

Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (anaw 2) ( cy, Deddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau'r Dyfodol (Cymru) 2015) is an Act of the National Assembly for Wales that was given royal assent on 29 April 2015; it came into force in April 2016. ...

and in the role of the Future Generations Commissioner. The first commissioner

Sophie Howe Sophie Howe (born c. 1977) is the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, appointed in 2016. She had previously been a local councillor and worked as a special political advisor and deputy police and crime commissioner. Career Howe was el ...

modeled the role, proposing a number of new policies designed for future-thinking policy in Wales, including a 2020 ''Manifesto for the Future''. Similarly in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croat ...

the office of the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations was established in 2008.

Climate litigation

The rights of future generations are increasingly being protected in legal precedents as part of the global trends in climate litigation. Future generations were the defendant in the critical defendants in a 2018 case ''

Future Generations v. Ministry of the Environment and Others The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

'' in Colombia which protected the Amazon rainforest basin for future generations.

In popular culture

The rights of future generations were the inspiration for the principle plot device in

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published twenty-two novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many ...

's ''

The Ministry for the Future ''The Ministry for the Future'' is a climate fiction ("cli-fi") novel by American science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson published in 2020. Set in the near future, the novel follows a subsidiary body, established under the Paris Agreement, ...

.''

References

{{Generation Cultural generations Futures studies