Everything You Need to Know About the Summit of the Future
It's a really, really big deal for the UN
The significance of the Summit of the Future is a somewhat tricky to convey. On the one hand, it is hard to overstate how much of a big deal the Summit of the Future for the United Nations, which bills it as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.” On the other hand, the Summit of the Future has not really penetrated outside the UN bubble. Not yet, at least.
The Summit of the Future is a two day confab that kicks off the 79th United Nations General Assembly on September 22 and 23. It is truly an occasion to revitalize the UN in a time of great global turmoil and restore trust in international cooperation as a means of solving common global challenges. That may sound impractically idealistic, but the Summit itself is the culmination of years of discussions, negotiations and diplomacy around concrete policies and reforms intended to make the UN more responsive to future global challenges.
Today's episode of our To Save Us From Hell podcast is entirely devoted to the Summit of the Future and some of the specific UN reforms on the table. Co-host Anjali Dayal and I have an in-depth conversation with Richard Ponzio from the Stimson Center about the significance of the Summit and what to expect from its three major outcome documents. These include the ‘Pact for the Future,’ which enshrines the agreed-upon reforms from the Summit; the ‘Global Digital Compact,’ which aims to create a new framework for leveraging digital technologies for the common good; and the ‘Declaration on Future Generations,’ an aspirational text intended to guide policy discussions well into the future.
This episode is freely available across all podcast listening platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can also listen directly in Substack. But we need your support to keep this up! To Save Us From Hell is entirely funded through our amazing community. Please purchase a subscription to join the fun!
The audio embed and transcript is available immediately below the fold for paying subscribers.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Global Dispatches to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.