The present text serves as a vision document helping start a broad-based reflection in Sweden and elsewhere on how to aid future generations maintain or regain awareness of some of the most relevant environmental legacies that they will inherit – notably nuclear waste. The document will provide a basis for discussion at a workshop being planned in Stockholm, 21-23 May 2019 on understanding and improving practices for preserving information and memory of projects that may entail long-term legacies for land use and the future human environment.

These proceedings document a workshop on the the issue of records, knowledge and memory (RK&M) preservation over centuries and millennia, which is a topic of increasing concern in Sweden as well as in other countries. The participants were mostly from Sweden and represented governmental agencies, universities, local communities, regulators, industry, policy makers, civil society organizations and the press. It was the first time in Sweden that such a wide group of experts could address the issue of preserving RK&M in order to enable future society to make knowledgeable decisions concerning environmental legacies inherited from the past.

The workshop benefitted from the expertise and active involvement of all participants and the relevance of so wide a set of viewpoints and experiences. The international participants provided an overview of thinking and progress from outside Sweden. The resulting chart of principles and practical goals as well as the workshop proceedings provide an important foundation for developing new avenues for cooperation and strengthening and extending current practices in RK&M preservation. This should advance both the field of radioactive waste management and the management of other long-term legacies in the context of sustainable development for the benefit of future generations.