Wellbeing and Sustainable Development Bill: consultation

Annex D: United Nations recommendations

The UN Secretary General’s ‘Our Common Agenda’ report (2021)^[20] includes proposals for a UN Declaration on Future Generations, and a UN Special Envoy on Future Generations, to “ensure that policy and budget decisions take into account their impact on future generations” (p.4).

In terms of national decision making, the report notes that despite increasing international recognition of future generations’ needs, this has “not necessarily resulted in meaningful steps to account for the interests of future generations” and that “Short-term calculations continue to dominate policymaking”. The Report therefore invites States to consider specific steps to account for the interests of future generations, including “building long-term thinking into important policies and decision-making; and creating specific forums and instruments to protect the interests of future generations at all levels of governance” (p.44).

The Report recommends that States should consider adopting similar mechanisms to those countries who have already “established committees for the future or future generations commissioners who advise governments and public bodies on the effects of present decisions on people in the future” (p.45).

Similarly, the UN’s ‘Our Future Agenda’ Report (2021)^[21] states that countries must “reimagine international institutions as a platform for next and future generations”, including “a Contract for the Future setting out obligations to future generations” (p.44).