Learning Objective: After completing this lesson students will be able to - a) describe the concept of intergenerational justice b) address the complexities relating to the objectives of implementing intergenerational justice

1. UNDERSTANDING
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENTP R E E T I K A N A S I K D E R
A S S I S T A N T P R O F E S S O R ,
D E P A R T M E N T O F L A W & J U S T I C E , J U

2. S U S TA I N A B L E
D E V E L O P M E N T R E L I E S O N
C O M M I T M E N T T O E Q U I T Y
W I T H F U T U R E
G E N E R AT I O N S
A D D R E S S I N G T H E I S S U E O F
S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y F R O M A N O R M AT I V E
P E R S P E C T I V E

3. PROF. EDITH BROWN WEISS IN HER
ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN 1992
We, the human species, hold the
natural environment of our planet in
common with other species, other
people, and with past, present and
future generations. As members of the
present generation, we are both
trustees, responsible for the
robustness and integrity of our planet,
and beneficiaries, with the right to use
and benefit from it for ourselves.

4. E T H I C A L A N D
P H I L O S O P H I C A L
C O M M I T M E N T
R E S T R A I N I N G O U R N AT U R A L
I N C L I N AT I O N T O TA K E A D VA N TA G E O F
O U R T E M P O R A R Y C O N T R O L O V E R T H E
E A R T H ’ S R E S O U R C E S

5. RELATIONSHIP THAT SHAPES THE THEORY
FROM ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT
With natural
system
With other
generations

6. THE COROLLARY TO THE PREMISE OF EQUALITY
: PARTNERSHIP AMONG GENERATIONS
• Every generation should use the natural system to improve the human
condition.
• But when one generation severely degrades the environment, it violates
its intergenerational obligations to care for the natural system.
• In such cases, other generations may in fact have an obligation to
restore the robustness of the system, though not to bear all the costs.
• Those costs should be distributed across generations.
• The integrity of the planet requires proper care of the life support
systems of the planet, the ecological processes and the environmental
conditions necessary for a healthy human environment.

7. E D M U N D B U R K E ,
A N G L O - I R I S H
P H I L O S O P H E R
As the ends of such a
partnership cannot be
obtained in many
generations, it becomes a
partnership, not only
between those who are living
but between those who are
living, those who are dead,
and those who are to be born.

8. T O R E A L I Z E A N D
P R O T E C T T H E W E L FA R E
A N D W E L L - B E I N G O F
E V E R Y G E N E R AT I O N I N
R E L AT I O N T O T H E P L A N E T
P U R P O S E O F PA R T N E R S H I P A M O N G
G E N E R AT I O N S

10. J O H N R AW L S ,
A M E R I C A N
P H I L O S O P H E R
Principle of
Veiled
Ignorance

13. HARMONY AMONG GENERATIONS
• Even if one society of the present generation selfishly cares only for its
own descendants, extending that concern further and further into time
increasingly requires care for the whole natural system.
• No single country or group of countries has the power to ensure a healthy
environment for the future.
• Thus, even when each country cares only about its own people, all
nations must cooperate in order to guarantee a robust planet in the future.
• This includes meeting the basic needs of the poor so that they will have
both the desire and the ability to fulfill intergenerational obligations to
conserve the planet's resources.

14. NORMATIVE PRINCIPLES OF
INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY
Each generation must conserve natural
and cultural resource base
Each generation should maintain the
quality of the planet
Each generation should conserve the
access

15. CRITERIA THAT APPLIES TO
ARTICULATION OF THIS PRINCIPLE
• This principle should neither authorize the present generation
to exploit resources to the exclusion of future generations, nor
impose unreasonable burdens on the present generation to
meet indeterminate future needs.
• No principle should require us to predict the values of future
generations. Rather, we should provide them with sufficient
flexibility to achieve their own goals according to their own
values.
• The principles must be clear in their application to foreseeable
situations.

16. • “For any possible population of at least ten billion
people, all with a very high quality of life, there must
be some much larger imaginable population whose
existence, if other things are equal, would be better
even though its members have lives that are barely
worth living”
(Parfit 1984)

17. PARFAIT’S
PARADOX
• The width of each block shows the number
of people in the corresponding population,
the height shows their quality of life or
lifetime welfare.
• People’s quality of life is much lower
in Z than in A but, since there are many more
people in Z, there is a greater quantity of
welfare in Z as compared to A.
• Consequently, although the people in A lead
very good lives and the people in Z have
lives only barely worth living, Z is
nevertheless better than A according to total
utilitarianism.
• Thus, the attempt to provide a plausible
solution to the Non-Identity Problem has led
to a seemingly unacceptable conclusion.

18. INTERGENERATIONAL OR PLANETARY RIGHTS
• They exist regardless of the number and identity of individuals making
up each generation.
• Sometimes, intergenerational rights held by members of the present
generation acquire attributes of individual rights, reflecting protection of
an individual's identifiable interests.
• These interests, however, derive from the fact that those living are now
members of the present generation and have rights in relationship to
other generations to use and benefit from the planet.
• The remedies for violations of these rights will benefit other members of
the generation, not only the individual.

19. N U C L E A R W A S T E ,
H A Z A R D O U S W A S T E
D I S P O S A L , T H E L O S S O F
B I O L O G I C A L D I V E R S I T Y,
A N D O Z O N E D E P L E T I O N
S I G N I F I C A N T E F F E C T S O N T H E N AT U R A L
A N D C U LT U R A L H E R I TA G E O F M O R E
D I S TA N T G E N E R AT I O N S

20. ALMOST EVERY POLICY
DECISION OF
GOVERNMENT AND
BUSINESS
S I G N I F I C A N T E F F E C T S O N T H E N AT U R A L
A N D C U LT U R A L H E R I TA G E O F M O R E
D I S TA N T G E N E R AT I O N S

21. ENFORCEMENT OF
INTERGENERATIONAL RIGHTS
• Enforcement could be appropriately done by a guardian or
representative of future generations as a group.
• While the holders of rights may lack the capacity to bring
grievances, and hence, depend upon the representatives to
do so, such incapacity does not affect the existence of the
rights or the obligations associated with them.

22. • Give representation to the interests of future
generations in decision-making processes.
• Focus on maintenance of systems, capital
investments, and data banks.
• Long-term scientific research and development.

23. HOW TO IMPLEMENT NATIONALLY?
• We have a duty to defend and improve the environment for
present and future generations and to use natural resources
in a manner that ensures the preservation of ecosystem for
the benefit of present and future generations.
• At national level, there shall be fairness between groups of
people in a society, in terms of access to common natural
resources, such as clean air and water in national water
courses and the territorial sea.

24. CAN WE TAKE
IT EASY?