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Comment and Society

A Declaration on Future Generations could bring the changes we need

Committing countries to safeguarding the needs and interests of the citizens of tomorrow, a new Declaration on Future Generations could be as transformational as 1948's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, says Thomas Hale, author of Long Problems

By Thomas Hale

18 September 2024

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Simone Rotella

Scientists who study the climate work with data that goes back thousands of years and build models that project centuries into the future. Meanwhile, CEOs and politicians base their decisions on business, political and news cycles. Can we reconcile this gap? A new gathering is going to try.

This week, world leaders will arrive in New York for the UN Summit of the Future, one of the most ambitious international conferences ever convened. It aims to cover everything from war to the economy, climate change to artificial intelligence.

Present and future generations need exactly this kind of ambition. But in…

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