Intergenerational sustainability: Overcoming barriers via participatory governance, regenerative economics and cultural preservation
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Intergenerational sustainability represents a significant socio-ecological concern of the twenty-first century, requiring governance frameworks, economic models, and cultural practices to account for the interests and well-being of future generations. Existing literature remains fragmented across disciplinary silos, often failing to reconcile technocratic policy interventions with Indigenous custodial epistemologies. This study addresses this gap by synthesizing 41 comparative cross-sectoral cases from peer-reviewed qualitative secondary literature spanning diverse contexts in 18 countries. Building on these cross-case patterns, we construct an Integrated System Model for Intergenerational Sustainability, conceived as a conceptual heuristic rather than a predictive or empirically validated model. This model articulates the systemic interactions across three core dimensions: Economic (regenerative models vs. market hegemony), Governance (future-generation representation vs. presentist electoral bias), and Cultural (Indigenous knowledge systems vs. epistemicide). Furthermore, we propose an empirical operationalization framework for the 'future ancestors bias' not merely as a normative critique, but as a structural governance failure described through four proposed observable indicators: Temporal Liability Transfer Ratio, Intergenerational Discount Rate Asymmetry, Representation Deficit Index, and Epistemic Exclusion Score. We also advance three testable theoretical propositions governing inter-dimensional nexuses—including the Water-Energy-Food-Forests (WEFF) nexus and institutional path-dependency. Our comparative synthesis indicates that addressing intergenerational equity may require moving beyond Western-centric sustainable development toward a 'custodial ethic of sustainable coexistence.' Such a transition would involve institutionalizing future-generation ombudspersons, enacting reparative land tenure redistribution, and developing pluriversal governance frameworks that recognize the legal personhood of nature.
Source: Environmental Development
Institutions: Universidade Federal de Sergipe, CUNEF Universidad
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,540
OpenAlex ID: W7222965597