The World Future Council

Better policies for a better world

The Council:  50 international experts in climate protection, human rights, peace, and ethics in politics and economics
The Vision: a safe, just, peaceful and sustainable world
The Mission: to educate opinion makers worldwide about best policies and promote their implementation for the welfare of future generations.

Structure

The Council is supported by its staff, who coordinate the day-to-day activity of the WFC, and by the Board of Advisors, who offer advice and suggest proposals to the Council. Finally, in order to ensure that WFC recommendations reflect the best available knowledge, expert panels are convened around the key global issues that the Council chooses to target with its campaigns.

History

The World Future Council Initiative was launched in London in October 2004, having first been mooted in 2000 during an interview on German radio with Swedish writer and activist Jakob von Uexküll.

Von Uexküll''s idea for a global council made up of wise elders, thinkers, pioneers, and young leaders, was born out of a frustration with global politics and its apparent inability to take the necessary steps to secure our common future. His first-hand experience of working with both the United Nations and the European Union persuaded him that there was no end of good ideas for tackling the problems we face, but that the existing institutions seemed incapable of making the most of these.

His idea for a non-partisan global council designed to tackle these ''action gaps'' struck a chord. Numerous individuals and organisations greeted the idea with enthusiasm, and people immediately started putting forward suggestions for suitable councillors. Persuaded that his idea had potential, von Uexküll started working to make it a reality.

The Council''s evolution involved a wide consultation process with input from more than 8,000 organisations, elected representatives, activists and other interested people, from some 200 countries across the globe.  The result was the selection of 21 founding councillors, with endorsements from around the world.

So nineteen months after its launch in London, the first meeting of the World Future Council Initiative was held in Geneva. This Founding Council of 21 individuals met to formalise the structure of the World Future Council, and set in motion its further development. Among other things, this led to the establishing of a head office in the city of Hamburg, Germany in November 2006.

With members of the Founding Council subsequently selecting a further 29 councillors, the World Future Council, with its full membership of 50 councillors, was launched in Hamburg''s Town Hall in May 2007.

After the celebrations were over, the members of the newly-founded World Future Council adjourned for three days of discussions and decisions regarding the future of the Council itself.

One of the major highlights to come out of the plenary sessions was the unanimous approval of the World Future Council''s founding document:
The Hamburg Call to Action.