by Carolyn Raffensperger Science and Environmental Health Network Global Conference on Implementing Intergenerational Equity July 45 2013 Geneva Switzerland Eleanor Roosevelt The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams ID: 481654
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Guardians of Future Generations: A Legal Frameworkby Carolyn RaffenspergerScience and Environmental Health Network
Global Conference on Implementing Intergenerational Equity
July 4-5, 2013
Geneva SwitzerlandSlide2
Eleanor Roosevelt“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”Slide3
Rights and Responsibilities FrameworkCreate a legal framework that defines the rights of future generations to a habitable planet.
Constitutions
Statutes
U.N. Declaration
Create the legal mechanisms for present generations to fulfill their responsibilities to future generations.
Constitutions
Executive Orders
Statutes
TreatiesSlide4
Creating new institutionsCommissioner at the U.N.Cabinet level offices of Guardian of Future GenerationsOmbudsmen or guardians housed in specific agencies
Community Review Boards analogous to Institutional Review Boards. Slide5
U.N. CommissionerAssign responsibility for the rights of future generations to the U.N. High Commissioner on Human RightsConvene Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Slide6
Guardian or Ombudsman?A Guardian has the proxy for future generationsAn Ombudsman is an advocate for future generations but does not speak as the voice of future beings.Slide7
Tasks of a guardian or ombudsmanEnsure that all decisions taken protect the rights of future generations.Legislation
Regulation
Judicial
Do an audit of the commons (air, water, pollinators, public health) and report as part of the budget.
Intervene in court cases on behalf of future generations.
Convene Truth and Reconciliation CommissionsSlide8
Community or Futures Review BoardsMedical and scientific experiments on human subjects require that those experiments meet two criteria. The first is that the experiment is ethical. The second is that the subject has given consent.
Many environmental decisions (pipelines, mining, drilling, development) have unknowns and are essentially experiments. They should require the same oversight as human subjects research.
Is this project ethical?
Has the guardian, ombudsman or commissioner given consent?Slide9
The CommonsThe right of future generations is essentially a right to the common heritage, the commonwealth and common health of humanity and nature. The commons include all the elements of ecosystems and culture necessary for life and community well-being. The commons include but are not limited to air, water, the ocean, the moon, wildlife.Slide10
Decision-making Rights-based decisions not utilitarianism-based decisionsPrecautionary principle (taking action to prevent harm in the face of scientific uncertainty.)
Consent (free, prior and informed consent)
Budget
No debt to future generations without a corresponding asset.
Commons are the economic foundation of the futureSlide11
Rights of Nature and Rights of Future GenerationsThe emerging international law on rights of nature is a limit on the rights of corporations and a litigation tool.The emerging law on the rights of future generations is a day to day decision making strategy.
They are not in conflict and need to be integrated in the evolving jurisprudence.Slide12
George Bernard Shaw“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.”