Climate change and the rights of future generations

In the twenty-first century, we must be ecologically aware and adopt responsible behaviors to limit the impacts of climate change. In this sense, eco-responsibility is an important notion that will be at the heart of the next century. What are the best approaches to adopt in order to be better prepared for this reality? The answer lies in a broad spectrum of interventions, from understanding the ecological and socio-economic causes of climate change, through the environmental, social and economic challenges of this transition, to the best strategies to train entrepreneurs and innovative change agents committed to fighting climate change and creating a decarbonized world by 2050.

To protect the heritage of humanity, we need a paradigm shift in thinking about law, in our conception of law and in its implementation in order to define the rights of future generations. What are the rights to which future generations can legitimately aspire? Today, these rights are poorly defined, poorly framed, and even totally orphaned. There are no recognized standards in the field of law to protect the quality of the air, the quality of and access to water, which are the two resources essential to life that are most threatened. Their quality and accessibility have a direct influence on people’s health and dignity, not to mention the ability to ensure the subsistence of future generations through the responsible management and regeneration of animal and plant resources. This is why we are launching a major project in which we will initiate a reflection to identify the social and legislative parameters of this new paradigm to be framed and defined through the International Eco-citizenship Summit. The report of the United Nations University in Tokyo (1992) explains precisely what intergenerational justice consists of, which is based on three fundamental principles: 1) each generation is responsible for conserving natural and cultural diversity for future generations – this principle is called the conservation of options, 2) the present generations must conserve not only the options, but also a quality of the planet comparable to that of previous generations, and finally 3) the right of access to these resources.