ABSTRACT
Environmental degradation, global warming and overuse of natural resources have long-term adverse effects whose prevention or mitigation requires imposing costs in the very near future. While many of these problems are global in scope, though, they do not affect all countries with equal severity. This chapter addresses how do the particular situations and difficulties of developing countries bear upon their responsibility for future generations. It introduces some important circumstances, problems and vulnerabilities at the national level that are relevant in the context of sustainability and intergenerational justice. Then, the chapter discusses economic circumstances, institutional failure, and entrapment. Finally, it considers the implications of such issues for the duties of developing countries with respect to future generations. The situation of developing countries is, for several reasons, relevantly different from that of highly developed countries. Resource exhaustion, environmental degradation and related issues are global problems, which require a cooperative solution.
