“Models for Protecting the Environment for Future Generations” describes how ombudsmen, guardians, and other legal instruments could help guarantee a habitable planet for future humans. The report is a collaborative effort of the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) of Harvard Law School, the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN), and the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN).

“We’ve been giving lip service to future generations, and this report takes us a giant step forward,” said Carolyn Raffensperger, executive director of SEHN. “The report proposes concrete tools that will help us think long term and deal with the consequences of our actions.”

The report traces how different legal traditions—modern and ancient, international and domestic—uphold the principle that future generations deserve a life-sustaining environment. This principle of intergenerational equity calls for attending to the wellbeing of present and future generations in current decision making.

“Our work is based upon the Indigenous memory that you have to consider how your decisions will affect future generations,” said Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the IEN. “We honor the seventh generation principle of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.”

“The problem in our Western legal system has been that future generations have no representatives,” said Raffensperger. “By putting into place guardians and ombudsmen we take into consideration the interests of future generations in decisions that are being made now.”

The report describes the role of courts in upholding the interests of future generations. It also describes how ombudsmen—government-appointed advisors who could review proposed legislation or government policies and bring official complaints—or guardians—government- or court-appointed advocates who would represent future generations in litigation or negotiations—could implement intergenerational equity.

“An ombudsman for future generations would be an innovative public policy tool for injecting consideration of human rights and environmental protection into existing legal structures,” said Tyler Giannini, clinical director of the IHRC. “Issues like climate change require proactive action that does not just pass off environmental concerns and problems to generations down the road.”