UN’s SDGs 2030 Agenda, Environment as Global Public Good

This Chapter adopts an idealistic perspective to discuss the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) dealing with two questions: (1) How can these noble goals be financed? and (2) Where to start implementation? It is argued that SDGs cannot be achieved without provision for their financing. An ideal world is a just world without poverty and hunger, with peace and security, there is human dignity for all, with access to health, education, housing, and all other basic human needs. In such an ideal world, every individual counts. There is entitlement to a universal basic income (UBI). If cash payment is not feasible for political or economic reasons, an equivalent investment in creating a just and sustainable world should be considered. Our global ecosystem is an intricately balanced global public good (GPG) for the collective benefit of humanity. Diverse species in forests, seas and on land are inter-dependent, co-existing in a delicate support system. Rain, sunshine and labor support agriculture and food production, industry provide goods and services, while good governance ensures health, safety, and other basic human needs. It all fits together like a complex machine. When a single component is damaged, the whole malfunctions. Poverty and Climate change are the top man-made damage in our world today. Sustainability, a global strategy to keep the system in good order, is now a global challenge.