Intergenerational Foresight 2026

ILLUSTRATIVE PATHWAYS The pathways below are illustrative rather than prescriptive and demonstrate how institutions can operationalize this provocation across different institutional contexts. 1. Constitutionalize ecological legitimacy with intergenerational governance Constitutions or foundational laws can recognize ecosystems as rights-bearing entities and mandate ecosystem accounting as a basis for public decision- making. Permanent intergenerational bodies at national and subnational levels can co-set targets for soils, forests and watersheds, review progress against official ecosystem accounts and assess projects that risk breaching ecological thresholds. Adapted to Latin American contexts, such arrangements would embed youth, elders and historically marginalized communities into long- horizon governance. Rural and Indigenous territories serve as anchors of ecological and social continuity, reducing dependence on short political cycles. 2. Build a regional natural capital finance architecture A regional natural assets facility could aggregate and scale payments for ecosystem services and other nature-linked instruments, aligning them with national ecosystem accounts. Public development banks and central banks could adjust risk models and collateral frameworks to recognize verified improvements in ecosystem condition. Public budgets, credit allocation and the cost of capital would then align with ecological performance rather than extraction. Rural communities would gain predictable long-term revenue streams, enabling investment in education, health and local economies while reinforcing stewardship as a core economic function. 3. Secure tenure and polycentric basin governance Community-led land registration reforms can secure collective tenure, guarantee free, prior and informed consent and record conservation obligations that transfer with land. Governments can fund basin councils and territorial assemblies with statutory authority over land use, public investment and concessions through fiscal transfers indexed to water regulation, soil health and habitat connectivity. Open digital registries linking contracts, funding flows and verified ecosystem outcomes increase transparency and rebuild trust. Treating basins and territories as primary units of governance aligns climate adaptation, food systems and infrastructure planning with the lived experience of risk. 4. Create a universal stewardship dividend and a nature-positive real economy Public transfers, utility tariffs, tourism levies and high-integrity biodiversity credits can finance long- term stewardship payments to rural households in priority biomes. These payments are linked to measurable ecosystem outcomes. Public procurement, agricultural extension, school meals and infrastructure investment can incorporate nature-positive criteria. Over time, this reframes rural households as partners in managing climate and biodiversity risk. Coupled with education and civil-service reforms that integrate ancestral knowledge with earth systems science, this pathway supports a professional culture of anticipatory, place-based governance. GLOBAL RELEVANCE The legitimacy challenges facing rural Latin America reflect broader global fractures. Communities that manage land, water and biodiversity often experience decision-making as distant, extractive and short-term. Trust erodes where benefits are uneven and risks are imposed without consent. This provocation offers a globally relevant response. By operationalizing intergenerational compacts, inclusive governance moves from consultation to shared authority. Historically marginalized rural communities are gaining recognized roles as stewards of natural assets critical to national and planetary resilience.More broadly, it reframes rurality in terms of global leadership. Rural territories are not residual spaces awaiting modernization. They are central to climate security, food systems and ecological stability. Empowering rural communities to co-design long- horizon rules strengthens democratic legitimacy and expands future options. By defining prosperity in terms of ecosystem health and embedding that definition in law, finance and territorial governance, Latin America can model a regenerative and intergenerationally fair form of development. It demonstrates how governments can rebuild legitimacy by aligning governance with the continuity of life and well-being across generations. Intergenerational Foresight: An Approach for Long-Term Responsibility in Governance 29