International Agreement for a Sustainable Future: Protecting Global Resources and Controversially, a Population Control Strategy
The concept of the planetary commons approach is gaining traction in the realm of global governance, emphasizing the Earth as a shared space that requires new political identities and institutional structures to manage common challenges like climate change, pandemics, and biodiversity loss.
This approach has its roots in the environmental and ethical commitments that emerged from the Earth Charter and the 1992 Earth Summit. The Earth Charter, introduced at the summit, articulated a vision for a sustainable, just, and peaceful global society rooted in respect for Earth and humanity’s shared responsibilities.
As global crises have accelerated, scholars, activists, and policymakers have revisited and expanded this approach. They argue for new forms of global governance that explicitly recognize planetary boundaries and the Earth as a common heritage requiring collective management beyond national governments.
The emergence of the planetary commons approach highlights the insufficiency of current international arrangements to adequately address complex global problems. It calls for a shift from nation-centric diplomacy and governance to forms that represent a planetary identity—such as the proposed concept of "Earthlings" loyalty—and institutions capable of acting legitimately on behalf of all life on Earth.
The approach is linked with the idea of the planetary boundaries framework, which scientifically defines safe operating limits for Earth’s critical systems, and emphasizes governance based on ecological limits rather than narrow sectoral or national interests.
Recent global governance discussions, including international conferences and policy briefs, highlight proposals like establishing an Earth System Council to provide strategic direction and coordinated management of global commons—essentially formalizing governance at the planetary scale consistent with the planetary commons approach.
The planetary commons approach also informs debates on diplomatic reform needed to serve planetary interests rather than only national ones. This includes integrating the interests of future generations and non-human life, drawing on philosophical and spiritual traditions to foster a geocentric ethic in global governance.
In the modern context, the Summit of the Future, coinciding with the 33rd anniversary of 'The Initiative for Eco-92 Earth Charter', shares themes with the Earth Charter. One of the key documents to be adopted at the Summit, the Pact for the Future, calls for a significant overhaul of global governance in response to perceived existential risks.
Billionaire financier László Szombatfalvy, associated with the authors of the controversial "Initiative for Eco-92 Earth Charter" document, shares a Malthusian worldview with the document's call for a New World Order. Szombatfalvy has advocated for a political global organization with understanding, power, and authority to tackle these problems. He also stated that it is important that the new system does not require that all nations must be democratic in the Western sense of the word.
The "Initiative for Eco-92 Earth Charter" document's New World Order proposal includes population control measures, such as quotas for population reduction on a yearly basis. The document also proposed a New World Order in which all nations, regions, and races would cooperate with the decisions of the Major Nations of the Security Council.
Szombatfalvy, along with Club of Rome's president Anders Wijkman, has written opinion pieces about the "population problem." He has also donated money to The Overpopulation Project, an initiative studying the environmental impacts of global human overpopulation and exploring humane policies to end population growth. The Overpopulation Project's motto is "Too Many People Consuming Too Much."
In summary, the planetary commons approach, rooted in the environmental and ethical commitments of the Earth Charter and the 1992 Earth Summit, is evolving to provide a normative and institutional basis for planetary-scale governance necessary to confront urgent global crises collectively and equitably. Its significance lies in its potential to revolutionize global governance, ensuring a sustainable and just future for all life on Earth.
[1] Rockström, J., et al. (2009). A safe operating space for humanity. Nature, 461(7263), 472-475. [2] Steffen, W., et al. (2015). Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science, 347(6223), 1259855. [3] Steffen, W., et al. (2018). Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(33), 8252-8259. [4] Steffen, W., et al. (2020). The Anthropocene: From global change to planetary stewardship. Science, 367(6484), 1354-1359.
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