Global Systems at Risk

Global systems represent a very high risk to our society. Global finance, global energy consumption, global CO2 emissions, global climate, global food, global water systems expose our planet and its living inhabitants to very high “systemic risks”.

The 2008 financial system collapse brought our economy into a recession. Some economists argue that this recession lasts over a decade, and that it might degrade into a global depression.

Climate change is the most important challenge and threat to our planet. While there is no doubt anymore that our planet is getting warmer, the global political and economical world does not come up with solutions, proceeding with “business as usual” or even worse. While international dialogue on international climate policy and measures is taking place during the climate change conferences, major CO2 emitters do not agree or engage into binding commitments to reduce and stop CO2 emissions.

This is evidence that on a systemic issue like global climate change, despite the good will and intentions of individual politicians and nations, international politics fails.

The good news is that there are alternative solutions. While in my opinion we should not only rely on the political process to come up with solutions, we have to work in small local units to come up with creative solutions. Politics can facilitate solutions, but we cannot only rely on politics to do so. Politics is an authoritarian institution focused on political power which implements regulations, norms and controls, mainly from a national and international security perspective on how society has to function and its citizens to interact. Politics and its heavy bureaucracy mainly concentrates their resources into parties politics, political processes themselves, into top down governance and policy making. In international politics, politicians depend on their national political system and on their international counterparts with hardly any possibility to come up with creative solutions. Politics role is to assure national state sovereignty inwards and outwards of its national borders.

I would also say that independently whether global systems functions or not, we have to develop decentralized solutions. If international systems collapse, we are left on our own, so it is better we are prepared, in the case it would happen, based on the precautionary principle. Resources should be decentralized and go into supporting stronger local autonomy and initiatives. It is a shift from a heavy centralized and resource consuming bureaucracies into local flexible, adaptive and integrated institutions, that help to build resilience against systemic risks such as financial crisis and climate change.

With regards to resource security, I am a strong supporter of building local sustainable solutions, e.g. through local organic farming and product consumption, radically reduce ecological footprints, to build resilience and independence from global food systems, which leave our communities worldwide and billions of people in desolation, if the system breaks down. It is also a call to centralized governments and control to reform and to move towards decentralized, flat and networked communities which can rapidly adapt in situations of global systemic failures, to secure vital resources like energy, food, water, shelter. And this is true for all nations and economies, industrialized, developing and emerging.

The same is true with regards to the national and multinational corporate world. With growing populations, climate and environmental change, increasing pollution and pressures on natural resources, MNCs need transparency, trustworthiness, governance and strategy oriented towards local and community based solutions, involving all local stakeholders, people and societies, NGOs, municipalities and operate locally in a ethical, sustainable and responsible way, driven by the main paradigms that climate is changing, resources are more and more scarce and the usage of resources, whether natural, social or economical, must have a long-term sustainability focus.