The Bill of Rights for Future Generations was born of a document drawn up by Captain Cousteau after years of exploring the planet and meeting with the people who govern it. The world’s leaders, generally motivated by good intentions, are often forced to make short-term decisions in order to satisfy immediate needs or to gain immediate profits. Rare are those who envision the long-term consequences of their actions. It is future generations who will pay the costs of this state of affairs.

In 1993, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) joined the project as a partner and, in 1997, a text, reworked by international jurists, was approved by its General Conference. 
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Nobel Prize-winner Kofi Annan, received President Francine Cousteau on October 17, 2001. Five children symbolizing the five continents read out the Articles of the Bill of Rights for Future Generations and Pierre Chastan, a French volunteer, delivered the latest 6,000 signatures he had collected himself alone.

COUSTEAU