Interests Of Future Generations Research Articles

An overview of nursing before, during, and after the pandemic: A qualitative research

ABSTRACT This study aimed to analyze in depth the opinions of nurses, nurse instructors, nursing students, doctors, and individuals, before, during the pandemic, and in the future on the nursing profession. The study, conducted as a qualitative and cross-sectional research with 35 participants, involved in-depth interviews using a semi-structured interview form, data were collected between January and November 2021. In the study, three main themes emerged nursing profession, nursing education, and nursing image. The participants expressed that there were changes in their personal rights in a negative direction during the pandemic, and that they did not have hopes for the future. Similarly, an intense working process, and adverse working conditions during the pandemic period caused the nurses to experience intense burnout and stress. The participants stated that nursing education was affected by the pandemic, online education negatively affected the development of professional skills and competencies. Finally, the developments experienced in the pandemic increased the visibility and reputation of the nursing profession and believed that the interest of future generations would increase, while some other participants stated that the developments experienced would have short-term effects. Problems experienced in the past have continued to increase, and a pessimistic picture of future has emerged.

The Rights of Future Generations and the Burden of Present Generations in Protecting the Environment

In Europe, one’s right to the environment was explicitly established as a fundamental human right, and was also established in the interests of future generations. Damage to the environment causes, in most cases, long-lasting, negative effects which have a negative impact on posterity, i.e., those future generations which need to be protected, due to which it is necessary to intervene with effective policies that lead to an ecological transition achieved with a reduction in extant polluting substances. The goal of this article is to understand whether or not future generations are holders of an active subjective juridical situation in terms of an individual’s right to a healthy environment. A comparative analysis of jurisprudential and doctrinal sources aims to discard the option of considering future generations as holders of a subjective right to a healthy environment and will focus on current subjects upon whom many constitutions impose a legal situation aimed at implementing a series of climate-protection actions for those who will come in the future.

Children, imagination and outer space exploration: implications for space accountability systems

PurposeThe primary objective of this paper is to explore how space organizations can incorporate children and imagination in their accountability-based accounting and decision-making processes.Design/methodology/approachThis study centers on stakeholder engagement with children, specifically examining the drawing competition associated with the CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) space exploration mission. We employ a multidimensional research design consisting of both an interpretive approach to the 2,748 space-related drawings submitted by children across Europe to the CHEOPS drawing competition in 2015 and a content analysis of 46 media releases published by ESA and the University of Bern, the key partners of the CHEOPS mission.FindingsOur analysis of the children’s drawings and the CHEOPS media releases indicates that the related organizations account for some of the children’s visions and imaginations, but shortcomings exist in addressing the ethical and space environmental concerns related to space exploration. We explore implications for the space accounting agenda by applying the critical dialogic accountability framework proposed by Dillard and Vinnari (2019), which allows for a discussion on an outline for action by incorporating intergenerational equity (Thomson et al., 2018) and moral imagination (Werhane, 1999).Originality/valueThis study offers a novel exploration of a largely overlooked yet crucial stakeholder group: children. By focusing on their unique perspectives and imaginative capabilities, the paper brings forth the voices of those who will inherit the future of space exploration. Employing children’s drawings as a medium of symbolic communication, this research study offers fresh insights into their perceptions, particularly relevant to space accounting. This innovative approach not only enriches the literature on stakeholder engagement and accountability but also provides space organizations with valuable guidance on fostering inclusivity and ensuring that the interests of future generations are considered in decision-making processes.

The Politics of Non‐Existence

This article argues that the representation of future generations is likely to remain inadequate because of the lack of accountability mechanisms characteristic of representative relations among contemporaries. Two problems pertaining to the representation of future generations and their interests are distinguished, namely misrepresentation and negligence. Misrepresentation refers to ill-informed, biased, and purposive interpretations regarding the interests of future generations, whereas negligence involves future interests not being properly considered in policymaking. While these two problems are often intertwined, misrepresentation is a problem of epistemic and normative judgments, whereas negligence is a motivational problem. The interests of future generations are especially likely to be neglected in cases of so-called intergenerational conflict, that is, situations of welfare tradeoffs between present and future generations. Inclusive democratic deliberation is a remedy for misrepresentation, but its capacity to address negligence may be more limited. Finally, the article remarks on the role of future-regarding deliberation in representative democratic systems.

Evaluating the Economic Sustainability of Two Selected Urban Centers—A Focus on Amherst and Braintree, MA, USA

While the topic of sustainable development has been extensively explored, there is a lack of quantitative assessment of economic sustainability in the scientific literature; moreover, the term is often interpreted with excessive attention to the environment but not socio-economic inequality. In addition, university cities are often considered the most sustainable, although the higher education system in the United States is often criticized for the inequality of access to it among different racial and other groups of the population. This paper adds to the debate about how the concepts of sustainability and economic development relate. Many researchers have noted that they come into conflict with each other because their ultimate goals are fundamentally different: a voluntary limitation of production and consumption in the interests of future generations and, conversely, the pursuit of well-being during our lives. We would like to explore the issue of economic sustainability, which, at first glance, may become a compromise between the two approaches outlined above. So, our study is devoted to exploring the ambiguous concept of economic sustainability, which can add some new knowledge to the understanding of how social, economic, and ecological factors relate to each other in the broader framework of sustainability. For this objective, we analyzed the economic sustainability of the town of Amherst, MA. The city’s top employer and core enterprise is the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with over 32,000 students and almost 2000 staff members. Based on a literature review, a hypothesis was put forward that a university city should have a high level of economic sustainability. To assess economic sustainability, the original methodology based on the US Cities Economic Sustainability Index (USCESI) was developed. It evaluates sustainability in three groups of parameters: society, economy, and ecology. The first group includes the level of racial diversity, the level of education of the population, and the access to medical services. The second group consists of the Gini coefficient by income level, the median cost of housing, and the unemployment rate. The environmental situation is assessed according to the Air Quality Index developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. For comparison, the town of Braintree, MA, was chosen. As a result of the study, the USCESI was calculated for both locations. The analysis showed that both Amherst and Braintree have a high degree of economic sustainability. However, it was revealed that proximity to a significant economic center has a more powerful positive impact on economic sustainability than the location of a large university. In our paper, we proposed a new methodology for measuring economic sustainability with a special focus on inequality as a major problem in American society. The findings provide new knowledge about university cities and debunk the myth that they represent an exception to the general logic of urban development in the United States. A similar approach, with clarification of statistical indicators and a different emphasis, can be applied to other countries where inequality may be the main threat to economic sustainability, not in terms of access to higher education but in other areas.

РОЗВИТОК ДЕРЖАВНОГО РЕГУЛЮВАННЯ ЕКОЛОГІЗАЦІЇ СІЛЬСЬКОГО ГОСПОДАРСТВА В УКРАЇНІ

The article highlights the problems of forming an effective mechanism of state regulation of the greening of agricultural production in Ukraine in accordance with global trends in the greening of public production and wartime problems in the country. The indicator of the degree of environmental friendliness of production is the main indicator of the degree of development of the corresponding modern economy, as well as the degree of safety of each country for people to live in it. The agricultural sector is the basic industry that forms the conditions for the development of the social economy and provides the population with the basic needs of food and clothing, therefore it requires a high degree of environmentalization in the first place. Unfortunately, the current market principles of management in Ukraine often place current benefits above the interests of future generations, which negatively affects public health. Accordingly, the task of effective long-term state regulation is the combination in the system of activity of the national economy, primarily the agricultural sector, the tasks of increasing environmentalization and economic benefit, creating socially useful, healthy food production as the basis of national security. In the peacetime state regulation of ensuring the ecological focus of agricultural production in Ukraine was focused on diversifying the ways of increasing the pace of production of ecologically clean products, the use of environmentally safe and energy-saving technologies in agriculture, the wide implementation of innovative developments capable of minimizing the negative impact of production and processing of products on the environment. The full-scale military invasion that began on February 24, 2022, crossed out all strategies for promoting the development of the ecological economy of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, our country has faced significant consequences of hostilities, which caused not only direct destruction, large-scale loss of life and economic losses, but also had an extremely negative impact on the ecological situation. The article outlines the necessary tasks of modern state regulation of the ecological situation in the region, its focus on the restoration of the natural environment and the return to world standards of the natural environment after the end of the war.

Interaction model of forestry enterprises with society and environment

The article presents the results of a study on the interaction between timber enterprises, society, and the environment. Currently, a business's effectiveness is determined by its ability to resolve conflicts between social, environmental, and economic spheres. The purpose of this work was to obtain and substantiate an adequate model of enterprise interaction with society and the environment. The main method used was analysis. Several models were developed to describe the interaction of the studied objects. The text provides a justification for existing conflicts in the work of timber enterprises. The development of technological aspects is proposed as a direction to transition the forest industry to a qualitatively new level of functioning. Several proposed key transformations can contribute to the transition to a balanced interaction model between the enterprise and the environment. The model of interaction between timber enterprises, society, and the environment is developed, highlighting areas for both increase and decrease. The study concludes that a balanced policy, oriented towards achieving sustainable results over time, is necessary for timber enterprises to achieve long-term success. It is important to consider the interests of future generations and the surrounding society, as this approach will only become more important in the future.

The synergies between human rights and the rights of nature: An ecological dimension from the Latin American climate litigation

Latin America is highly vulnerable to climate change. From a justice-centred approach, its communities have been using human and constitutional rights as a strategy to combat environmental degradation and protect ecosystems in climate litigation. Thus, the paper analyses the ecological dimension of human rights arising from the Latin American climate litigation by selecting disputes that link human rights and the protection of a specific ecosystem, which enables catching both the right to a healthy environment and the rights of nature. As for the results, the national courts interpret human rights from the notion of a socio-ecological system, emphasising a rights-duties approach based on social justice. The territory becomes a non-static space, there is a long-term temporal scale of rights, and the lawsuits elaborate on the interests of future generations. The rights of nature acknowledge a more-than-human world and argue that nature's legal titularity complements human rights, and both agendas meet at the intersection with the safe climate system. Although climate change appears as a secondary concern, applicants use the climate crisis as a crosscutting element aimed at ecosystems’ protection and its impact on human rights. In conclusion, these disputes are ecological legal experiences that extensively redefine human rights law from the meeting between the system of rights and the cultural context of groups historically excluded from the spaces of power. Human rights receive a new axiological content reoriented from the realities of peripheral territories and previously invisible ecological backgrounds through the dynamic interaction with plural subjects that become drivers of transformations.

‘Urgenda-Style’ Strategic Climate Change Litigation in Italy: A Tale of Human Rights and Torts?

Abstract This contribution addresses the first strategic climate change litigation filed against the Italian State, the Giudizio Universale case. Giudizio Universale’s legal architecture is largely akin to other landmark cases filed in Europe, such as Urgenda in The Netherlands and Klimaatzaak in Belgium. Accordingly, Giudizio Universale is grounded on the state’s breach of international and EU obligations, the encroachment of human rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Italian Constitution, and the consequent attribution of domestic tort liability to the state under the Italian Civil Code. This article thus examines the main arguments raised in Giudizio Universale in light of the underlying domestic human rights and tort liability regimes. It first investigates the interplay between the breach of climate change obligations and human rights infringement as presented in the complaint to understand whether, and to what extent, Italian courts could give deference to an ‘Urgenda-style’ claim. Second, it unpacks the existing interpretation of tort liability as applied to state liability vis-à-vis its citizens by Italian courts. Third, it factors Giudizio Universale in the recent Italian Constitutional reform, which explicitly introduced the protection of the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as a reference to the ‘interests of future generations’, into the fundamental principles of the Italian Constitution. Overall, the article concludes that several limitations exist in the Italian legal system in the pursuance of strategic climate litigation against the state for its (in)action against climate change. One of the merits of the Giudizio Universale case, however, is that it challenges these limitations to provide another suitable tool for ensuring protection against the climate emergency.

Protecting Future People’s Future: How to Operationalise Present People’s Unfulfilled Promises to Future Generations

AbstractAs societies become more concerned with their impacts on future generations, the question of how to translate that concern into greater consideration in contemporary decision-making is coming to the fore. Despite growing societal acceptance of the ethics of obligations to the future – as reflected in record-high number of future-sensitive constitutions and international treaties – present generations’ promises to future generations remain unfulfilled. This article explains why and offers an alternative approach to future-proofing. After providing a systematic account of the multiple efforts at aligning the actions of decision-makers with the interests of future generations, it argues that achieving the inclusion of future generations’ interests in contemporary policymaking requires more than their legal codification and the establishment of new and typically scattered institutions, mechanisms and procedures. It rather calls for a more holistic, future-orientated and proactive approach by all public authorities. These must increasingly be expected to create the conditions not only for policymakers to consider the temporal dimension of their decisions, but also for all stakeholders – including new dedicated institutions – to hold present people accountable to currently non-existent future generations. To do so beyond the environment and climate space is a matter of urgency. This is the spirit animating this Special Issue devoted to long-term risks and future generations: to nurture a more imaginative theorisation and operationalisation of the recognition of future generations’ interests in contemporary policymaking beyond today’s institutional and conceptual models.

Changes in perception and the effects of personal attributes in decision-making as imaginary future generations: evidence from participatory environmental planning

We conducted a Future Design deliberation workshop on the theme of the “3rd Environmental Master Plan” of Suita City, Osaka Prefecture over four sessions in 2019, with the participation of both city residents and officials of the city government. To condition the deliberations of participants, we adopted the method of Imaginary Future Generations (IFGs) and analyzed its impact on their future vision of the city in 2050, policy options needed to shape that future, and changes in their perceptions. We also investigated how the adoption of IFGs affects the relationships between personal attributes and the changes in their perception. The results of variance analysis and multiple linear regression analysis based on data from the deliberations and questionnaire surveys of participants revealed the following: (1) the content and quality of the 2050 vision of society and policy options conceived from the perspective of the IFGs significantly differed from those conceived from the perspective of the current generations; (2) IFGs heightened certain perceptions, such as “a sense of crisis about the future” and “a shared recognition of goals that are desirable for society as a whole”; and (3) although the degree of “critical thinking”, as a disposition of individuals, influences the heightening of perceptions in decision-making from the perspective of the current generations, when IFGs is adopted, the degree of “critical thinking” seems to be no longer a factor in heightening these perceptions. These findings could be useful for designing mechanisms to facilitate sustainable decision-making that considers the interests of future generations.

SOME SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AS INDICATORS OF SOCIAL DYNAMICS IN RURAL TERRITORIES OF THE SIBERIAN FEDERAL DISTRICT

An overview of the sustainable development goals (SDGs No. 10, 17) is presented, the level of achievement of which is an indicator of social dynamics. The purpose of the study is to analyse the achievement of sustainable development goals in rural areas in the regions of the Siberian Federal District at the current moment, according to the indicators presented by the resolution of the UN General Assembly A/RES/70/1. For these purposes, the whole point of the formulated system of sustainable development goals is concentrated. Each independent target organically complements the other, and these goals characterise achieving the other sustainable development goals. The widespread involvement of all countries in achieving sustainable development goals and partnerships is a natural outcome of the idea of transition to sustainable development formulated in 2015. All achievements of human civilisation are impossible without a mutually beneficial partnership, which originates in the two essential skills of humanity - communication and cooperation. Only through mutual touch and pooling of their efforts is society able to generate positive social dynamics and ensure sustainable development in the interests of future generations. The authors of this study tried to present their views on the processes taking place in the rural areas of the Siberian Federal District in the context of the monitored sustainable development goals. The factors influencing the achievement of sustainable development goals are also considered. The research methods were retrospective and statistical analyses. In addition, the study also analysed indirect determinants by years that affect social dynamics. As a result of the survey, proposals are presented for optimising partnerships to improve the social situation in the regions of the Siberian Federal District and for effective process management to achieve positive social dynamics in rural areas.

Becoming good ancestors: A decolonial, childist approach to global intergenerational sustainability

AbstractThere are two key questions consistently raised by children and youth since the onset of the school strikes for climate in 2018 in the Global North: Why study for a future, which may not be there? Why spend a lot of effort to become educated, when our governments are not listening to the educated? (conf. fridaysforfuture.org, n.d). While the same questions are shared by young climate activists from the Global South, there are other interrelated economic realities that echo the disappointment, anger, disillusionment, desperation, and frustration driving those utterances in their socio‐political contexts. Comparative insights from so‐called ‘developing’ countries disclose that institutionalized schooling, commonly confused with education, manipulates the aspirations of younger generations and their wider societies. Contemporary global schooling is one of the key propellers of global economic agendas geared towards producing human capital that is ‘employable’ in the future job market. The paradox of a global education agenda geared towards generating human capital employable on a job market is that most of those jobs (if at all they will be there) continue serving the very economic system that is threatening the right to life, health, culture (especially for indigenous communities) and the best interests of future generations on this planet. As young climate activists from various countries collectively argue within the framework of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, major economies are failing to protect the basic human rights of children and future generations. I suggest that the various interrelated crises evident through the key questions raised by young climate activists must be considered as part of a North–South continuum. In this paper, I reflect upon these interrelated crises by developing a decolonial childist approach to education—understood as an intergenerational relationship, implying an effort on part of present adults becoming good ancestors of the future, in the present. Such efforts require larger structural shifts which I consider by means of the four strategies I discuss building upon previous co‐reflections.

Representing posterity: Two challenges

Can future generations be represented politically? In this paper I elaborate and discuss two relatively underexplored challenges. According to the first challenge, trying to represent future generations could have perverse consequences, as the rhetoric of representation might be used to resist demands for more ambitious forms of inclusion, or to legitimize decisions that have not in fact adequately represented all affected interests. According to the second challenge, attempting to represent posterity could also be futile, as it requires from citizens a disposition to think and deliberate impartially about the interests of future generations which they presently lack – if they had them, the argument goes, representation would be redundant. Although both challenges offer important insights, I argue that they can be resisted.

Lease contract of water objects: environmental and legal aspects and prospects for use

It is emphasized that, despite social changes in the world, general processes and the importance of restoration, protection and conservation of the natural environment, there are acute problems of rational and effective use of natural resources and complexes in Ukraine. This does not fully correspond to the commonly recognized concept of the need to consider the interests of future generations and meet the contemporary needs of humanity. Based on this, it has been proven that there is an urgent need to provide the introduction of rational and effective use of natural resources and complexes, as well as to restore and preserve the latter, in order to correct the current situation, guarantee the realization of the environmental rights of every citizen of our country and the right to use natural resources in particular.
 An analysis of the norms of the current domestic legislation, in particular, water and land legislation, whose prescriptions regulate relations with the use of natural objects, including water ones, was carried out. It is argued that one of the priority steps now should be the development of a special legal mechanism, for example, by spreading the practice of using objects under a lease contract. Based on the modern trends in the functioning and development of environmental law and its leading sub-branches - water and land, it is proved that when studying the contract for the lease of water (water objects), namely its legal nature, it is of great interest to clearly establish as its object, as well as essential features of the latter.
 The ecological state of water objects on the territory of our country is characterized. It was found out that the main reason for the clear separation and legislative consolidation of the types of intended use when renting the mentioned objects is their functional purpose, since the components of the water ecosystem are interdependent and interconnected. It is proposed to bring in accordance with the provisions of the Water Code of Ukraine art. 59 of the Land Code of Ukraine, making changes to the list of types of targeted rental use. Proposals for improving the environmental (in particular, water and land) legislation of Ukraine regarding the legal basis of the water lease contract are substantiated.

The Environment and its Protection as Fundamental Principle of the Italian Constitution: A Constitutional Innovation that Looks to Future Generations?

This article deals with two innovative aspects of Italian Constitutional Law. Firstly, the revision made by constitutional law no. 1/2022 that introduced (in art. 9 and 41 of the Italian Constitution) the principle according to which the Republic protects the environment, biodiversity, and ecosystems in the interest of future generations. Secondly, this article points out a recent trend in the constitutional reform process in Italy, particularly in the XVIII Legislature, that constitutional reforms are increasingly being implemented through specific/sectoral amendments. Apart from characterizing the indicated innovations, I also draw attention to their minor systemic consequences.

Intergenerational contract in Ageing Democracies: sustainable Welfare Systems and the interests of future generations.

As the assumptions of perpetual economic and population growth no longer stand, the welfare systems built on such promises are in peril. Policymakers must reallocate the responsibility for providing care between generations. Democratic theories can help establish procedures for finding solutions, particularly in ageing democratic countries. By analysing existing representative and deliberative democratic theories, this paper explores how the interests of future generations could be included in such procedures. A hypothetical social health insurance scheme with the pay-as-you-go financial arrangement is selected as an illustrative case. This paper argues that due to the intrinsic bias towards the current generation, both representative and deliberative democratic health policymaking are limited in making decisions that account for future generations. Instead, their interests could be at best represented by benevolent representatives.

The European Union as a long-term political actor: an overview

ABSTRACT This paper provides an overview of the time perspectives with which the European Union conducts its politics and policies – an aim that has garnered very little scholarly attention thus far. We ask in which ways and to what extent is the Union able to employ long-term policy targets and considers the possible interests of future generations. Which factors determine the time perspectives, which institutions define them and what can possibly be done in order to employ longer-term perspectives in a more systematic manner within this complex technocratic system? We approach these questions from three viewpoints: the foundational ideas of integration; the governance structures within the EU system; and the Union’s policy objectives. In addition to analyses of EU documentary data, our reflections rely on a set of semi-structured interviews conducted with a group of EU-experts in the autumn of 2019. A range of governance logics and mechanisms already support long-termism in the EU, but much can still be done in order to create a real processual value supporting it.

Speaking for the Voiceless? Representative Claims-Making on Behalf of Future Generations in Belgium

Abstract Given that modern democracies face generation-transcending policy challenges, this study asks whether the interests of future generations are sufficiently taken into account in present-day parliamentary politics. Through analysis of parliamentary documents in Belgium (2010–2019), we examine whether present-day MPs make representative claims on behalf of future generations, how such claims are made and by whom. We find that MPs do formulate claims, but only to a limited extent and with little or no justification. Moreover, claims-making is driven by electoral-strategic considerations. Only those who hold prominent positions make claims for future generations and fewer claims are made in election years.

Ambiente e Salute News n.12 - novembre-dicembre 2021

Environment and health This issue goes to press shortly after the inclusion in the Italian Constitution of a law on Environmental Protection, (8th February 2022) amending two articles: Article 9 in which is added the text: "the Italian Republic ... protects environment, biodiversity and ecosystems, also in the interest of future generations", and Article 41 in which is added the text: "Private economic initiative... may not be carried out in a manner contrary to social utility or which adversely affects security, freedom, human dignity, health and the environment." This is a first step towards the perspective promoted by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature: including the rights of Nature or of the Earth in the Constitutions gives them a legal value (https://www.garn.org/). It certainly bodes well to have written down the interests of future generations and the protection of biodiversity. Precisely for this reason we believe that It is important to stress the need to move on to concrete actions, such the necessity to control soil, air and water pollution. All this needs to be resolved now, and further delays are not tolerable. In this issue, which summarizes the main articles published in the monitored journals, a great deal of data has been collected showing that environmental contamination harms human health, and that human health rights are in line with both the duty to protect environment and the right of the Earth to be protected. This issue is based on the systematic monitoring of the November and December 2021 publications.