The Introduction sets out the research question of the book viz: the question of whether future generations ought to be represented in the global legal order and institutions to address the climate change challenge and, assuming a positive answer to this, how best such representation should occur. The massive bias against the interests of future generations in current climate law and policy-making is demonstrated. This provides a powerful rationale as to why there is an urgent need to explore proxy-style mechanisms to represent future generations. The pragmatist methodology (in the tradition of John Dewey) of the book is explained. This involves analysing existing practices, and values which are incorporated into these values, and extending them to deal with new problems. The legal realism methodology of the book is also explained, including its application to the sources of international law. The strong links between the book and Earth System Governance scholarship are set out; finally, the structure of the book is explained.

The Conclusion reiterates the overarching argument of the book, namely that the search for – and collective experimentation with – new forms of representation are immensely important forms of sustainable climate policy. Through proxy representation, future generations can be practically and institutionally involved in climate law and policy-making, considering both the vulnerability of future generations and their distinctive interests. The chapter discusses the need to find synergies between proposals for proxy-style mechanisms to represent future generations and development policy. New avenues for research are suggested, including the way in which science and scientific discourse can be a proxy for future generations’ interests, and also the way in which proxy representation of future generations features in climate treaty making processes and climate activism more generally.

Traditional pastoral practices have maintained Alpine grasslands over thousands of years, and Alpine biodiversity now depends on these practices. Grasslands are also central to the identity of pastoral communities: They are biocultural landscapes. Across the Alps, these landscapes are now threatened by high rates of agricultural land abandonment as traditional, labor-intensive agricultural methods become uneconomic, and small-scale development increases. The Autonomous Province of Bozen/Bolzano-South Tyrol, Italy, experiences some of the lowest rates of land abandonment and high rates of grassland retention. The case study explores the functions of regulatory intervention and coordination, two of the regulatory functions advanced by this book’s CIRCle Framework of regulatory functions for addressing cumulative environmental problems. It investigates how a diverse set of regulatory interventions provides for maintaining and restoring grasslands in South Tyrol, and how diverse forms of coordination – links between areas of laws, coordinating institutions, and dispute resolution processes – facilitate implementation in a context of deep multilevel governance.

In Chapter 3, firstly, we reconstruct central theoretical models of democracy and enquire how an expansion of representation mechanisms for future generations could be conceptualised within these justificatory narratives. Secondly, we analyse the values that underlie democratic practices which can be helpful for advancing proxy representation at the international level by providing ethical criteria for such reforms. This involves analysing the discourses of intergenerational justice, solidarity and vulnerability. The chapter then turns to examine how these discourses can be translated into political forms of proxy representation by drawing on the all affected principle which requires that those affected by a decision have a role in the making of that decision, which is argued to be an element of most, if not all theories of democracy. This in turn is hypothesised to provide a basis for extension of the demos to include future generations, which then justifies proxy forms of representation to enable their representation . Human rights are argued to constitute a practice of global values which provides a powerful normative orientation for climate law and policy-making.

Cumulative environmental impacts are a central problem that contemporary environment-related laws must face, from laws that allocate natural resources such as forests and water, to rights-based approaches to nature and human health. This introduction sketches the basic characteristics of a cumulative environmental problem – accumulating, incremental harms at different scales, caused by many and diverse actors, with the added complexity of interacting and uncertain effects addressed by multiple legal regimes. It explains why addressing cumulative environmental problems requires reaching across disciplines, legal contexts, and jurisdictions. The CIRCle Framework is introduced - a Framework of four integrated functions of formal rules for responding to cumulative environmental problems – conceptualization, information, regulatory intervention, and coordination. The chapter also introduces case studies of laws addressing environmental justice concerns related to groundwater in the Central Valley of California, cumulative harms to the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and cumulative impacts to grasslands as biocultural landscapes in South Tyrol, Italy.

Chapter 7 involves an analysis of the 2019 case brought to the UN committee on the rights of the child by 16 young people (Saachi et al. 2019). The case is assessed in terms of its legitimacy and effectiveness in promoting intergenerational justice discourses and its capacity to act as an indirect proxy representative for future generations. The chapter argues that while there are distinct limitations in the rights of the child complaints system (with an asymmetry in power between children and the states involved, with decisions being non-binding), the Saachi case, nevertheless, has the potential to have both a political and legal impact. It is one of the few avenues at the international level which allows young people increasingly impacted by climate change to have a voice. It can also allow young people to act as proxy representatives for future generations, while the Committee to date has been reticent to move in this direction. Finally, some elements of the decision are likely to be taken up in future climate litigation at the international and national levels.

This chapter provides a bird’s eye view of the landscape of laws that can deliver the CIRCle Framework functions of conceptualization, information, regulatory intervention, and coordination to address cumulative environmental problems. Its scope is broad, covering traditional and customary laws; environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment; natural resources, land use planning, conservation, pollution, and other environment-related laws; and broader areas of public law, including constitutional environmental rights. It also discusses the way international treaties and development bank policies deal with cumulative impacts. The chapter provides a simple compass for navigating this landscape: considering whether the dominant focus of the law is a matter of concern that is threatened by cumulative impacts (e.g., environmental justice, national parks), impacts (e.g., environmental impact assessment, water pollution), or activities (e.g., road construction, mining), or whether it instead indirectly influences a cumulative environmental problem (e.g., laws for intergovernmental coordination).

Australia’s World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef experiences cumulative impacts from diverse activities, including regional catchment-sourced water pollution and the impacts of climate change. Regulating these threats engages a wide range of laws for intervention, which have been influenced by a regulatory mechanism for information – a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) undertaken a decade ago at the request of UNESCO. This chapter explores how the strategic assessment and associated interventions influence impacts from two major activities that contribute to water pollution and climate change – cattle grazing and coal mining. It shows that regulatory SEA can provide for entrenching and integrating ongoing information collection, analysis, and sharing. Moreover, SEA can directly influence diverse regulatory interventions to address cumulative impacts. It can link the functions of information and intervention, two of the regulatory functions advanced by this book’s CIRCle Framework. At the same time, opportunities remain to build stronger links between interventions for water quality and climate adaptation, and between climate change mitigation interventions and the Reef context.