Our origins
This work began with Goa Foundation, an environmental non-profit in India. The Future We Need was set up as a global movement, with the Goenchi Mati Movement as its first campaign.
The Goenchi Mati Movement is a non-partisan public campaign to implement intergenerational equity in Goa, starting with minerals.
Subsequent campaigns have worked on international government accounting standards, India’s National Mineral Policy 2019, deep seabed mining in international waters; and UNEP’s resolution on mineral resource governance.
While these ideas were developed in response to the issues created by extraction/mining, it turns out that if civilization and the human species is to survive, the intergenerational equity principle must become foundational for our society, politics and economy.
What is Intergenerational Equity?
Natural resources, including minerals, are a shared inheritance between current and future generations. It is our duty to ensure future generations inherit at least as much as we did.
Consider the example of inherited family gold. If the family decide to keep the gold as it is, they ensure the gold remains to be passed onto future generations. However they must safeguard it against theft, which is both a headache and a cost, while the gold produces no income. Alternatively, if they decide to sell the gold and invest the proceeds in say land for example, they and their future generations can benefit from the income of the land as long as it is well maintained. The crucial point is that if the gold were to be lost or the investments mismanaged, the loss of capital would be permanent for all future generations.
If we fulfill our duty, we may enjoy the fruits of our inheritance. A loss is a loss to all of us and all our future generations.