The World Future Council wants 'ombudspersons for future generations'. Photograph: Nasa/Corbis
Today, vast factory trawlers are vacuuming every living thing off the floor of the oceans. Toxic waste is being dumped in poor communities whose governments turn a blind eye. Millions of acres of irreplaceable primeval forest are purposely being burned every year, to make way for cattle ranches.
These are crimes against the future, crimes that are happening today, in large numbers, all over the world. These are crimes that will not only injure future generations, but destroy any future at all for millions of people. And today, there is in most countries no institution or person with the job of defending the rights of those future generations.
But tomorrow, there could be.
The World Future Council is calling for "ombudspersons for future generations". These would be guardians appointed at global, national and local levels whose job would be to help safeguard environmental and social conditions by speaking up authoritatively for future generations in all areas of policy-making. This could take the shape of a parliamentary commissioner, a guardian, a trustee or an auditor, depending on how it best fits into a nation's governance structure. This person would facilitate coherence between the separate pillars of government to overcome single issue thinking, and hold government departments and private actors accountable if they do not deliver on sustainable development goals.
To read more:
• The authors are members of the World Future Council. Judge CG Weeramantry is former vice-president of the International Court of Justice. Ashok Khosla is president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and co-president of the Club of Rome. Dr Scilla Elworthy is founder of the Oxford Research Group and of Peace Direct.
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