This weekend the United Nations will hold a ‘Summit of the Future’ with the aim to forge “new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future.”
The UN hosts a LOT of summits, so why is it that we think this one is important?
Well, the Summit of the Future starts with the recognition that the world is not on track to meet the global goals that we have set for ourselves – most notably the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global climate change commitments such as the Paris Agreement. We are not meeting our own goals, and we are not effectively rising to meet new challenges and opportunities. Recognising this, the Summit seeks to develop a renewed, action-oriented, Pact for The Future. A lot has changed since the SDGs and the Paris Agreement were established in 2015, and a renewed international commitment to care for people and planet is good news.
Importantly, the latest draft of the Pact for The Future recognizes the critical role that young people have to play in shaping our shared future. As the draft notes, ‘today’s generation of children and young people is the largest in history… [and] together with future generations, they will live with the consequences of our actions and our inaction.’ With our Infuse mission to promote youth active citizenship and support young people in caring for people and planet, we welcome the Pact’s youth focus. Like the Pact, we at Infuse also:
“commend the important contributions that young people are already making to the advancement of peace and security, sustainable development and human rights in their own countries. We can only meet the needs and aspirations of all young people, if we systematically listen to them, work with them, and provide them with meaningful opportunities to shape the future.” (19)
The third reason that we think the Summit of the Future is important is a bit more personal. The proposal for a Summit of the Future originated in the [2021] Our Common Agenda report, which was followed by an intergovernmental process for a Declaration on Future Generations that was initiated in June 2022 under the leadership of the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Permanent Representative of Fiji to the United Nations. Infuse has a special connection to Fiji, as we have been delivering student service programs in this beautiful country for more than a decade. A future influenced by the warm culture of Fiji is a future that we want to live in!
So, where to from here?
If the Summit is a success, governments around the world will make new commitments to work towards a more equitable, sustainable and inclusive future. Our job is to make sure that they honour these commitments! To combine the wise words of Dr Seuss and William Shakespeare (you can figure out who said what) ‘Only you can control your future, for it is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.’
The Summit of the Future will be held 22-23 September in New York. But the future doesn’t start on September 24, or the day after today. The future starts right now. What is your contribution to our future world going to be?
