Sunny with a chance of money showers? Indeed, that is the forecast for this weekend in the city of Munich. The spectacle of real money falling from the sky is all part of a campaign to publish an international survey result.
Munich, 09.10.2015. This weekend, helium balloons carrying moneybags will rise up to the sky in the Bavarian capital. Minutes later, several thousands of euros in 5- and 10-euro banknotes will flutter from the sky down on unsuspecting passers-by. The money comes from the German financial planner Joachim° Ackva, a co-founder of the citizens‘ movement ‚ Planet Earth Account (http://www.planetearthaccount.org)‘. During this event the result of an international survey on people’s readiness to get involved in solving the world’s problems is published. It found that many people from different countries would be willing to pay one thousandth of their personal wealth into a proposed global community fund – a UN World Account of civil society that could co-finance the new Sustainable Development Goals. „We would all benefit from such a motor to drive global cooperation,“ says Ackva. „A better protected environment, more prosperity, more peace and, not in the last place: less displaced people. It is high time for a UN World Account.“
THE WORLD IN NEW YORK
From September 25 to 27, more than 100 government leaders meet in New York. They will decide on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals) (SDGs) for the global community. The implementation of these goals will determine if a world-wide transition is possible.
GOALS YES – CONTRIBUTION NO?
At the New York summit governments will declare what they want to achieve. At the recent meeting in Addis Ababa, they had to set out how to do so. However, this preliminary conference, held in July 2015, did not come out with a clear plan. The coordination group for the civil society participation (https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/271-general/52795-reactions-to-the-addis-ababa-outcome-document.html) summarized: „The Addis Ababa Action Agenda doesn’t rise to world’s current multiple challenges, nor does it contain the necessary leadership, ambition and practical actions. It is almost entirely devoid of actionable deliverables, exposing an unbridged gap between the rhetoric of the aspirations and reality of the actions.“ The British newspaper ‚ The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jul/16/where-are-concrete-plans-action-development-finance-deal)‘ commented: „But as far as concrete actions are concerned, there’s no debate on whether the glass was half full or half empty: it was dry.“
WHAT DOES THE WORLD COST?
A UN World Account of the civil society would co-finance the goals and thereby stimulate states as well as corporations to live up to their promises. But how many people would be willing to pay one thousandth of their wealth into a UN World Account for the benefit of global well-being? ‚Planet Earth Account‘ asked research company TNS to find out. The projected results: 9 million British, 14 million Russians, 21 million Japanese, 38 million Germans and 70 million Americans would want to be involved. Based on these figures, the global willingness to participate amounts to an estimated $ 70 billion – roughly the equivalent of about 24 times the UN’s regular annual budget.
IMPORTANT TREND
In many countries the willingness to deposit is strongly above average among higher income brackets. This will also certainly delight Germany’s federal minister Gerd Mueller. „We, as 10 percent of the population, own 90 percent of all wealth and use nearly 80 percent of all resources,“ is how he recently described the global situation at a G7 Summit. He ended his speech with the words: „We should learn how to share anew.“
CO-ADMINISTRATION
The government of Spain and the UN already founded a small SDG-Fund (http://www.sdgfund.org) in 2014. The global civil society could do the same – on a much larger scale. In regard to private contribution, the PEACE°-survey shows a preference for a ’sub-accounts‘ model. It would divide the World Account into 17 sub-accounts representing the SDGs acknowledged by the United Nations. By depositing money to a sub-account, contributors support the goal of their choice.
A SYMBOL FOR THE PLANET
To show their willingness to deposit in a World Account, many respondents are prepared to place a planet symbol behind their first name. If more and more people do this, they create growing awareness of the potential of a World Account. This way, a wave of solidarity and trust would travel across the globe. The common ° degree sign, that also references climate change, serves as a culturally neutral planet symbol. To sum it up: „Agree by degree.“
FURTHER INFORMATION
Ten examples of how a World Account could support the Sustainable Development Goals and the results of the survey can be found in the newly published book „It’s Raining Money for a World Account – the one per mille question“ (Joachim° Ackva, ISBN 978-3-7386-3396-2).
The independent initiative ‚Planet Earth Account‘ was started by Dutch artist Daniela° Tiben and German financial planner Joachim° Ackva. Anyone can join the initiative by simply putting the ° behind the first name.
Kontakt
Planet Earth Account
Daniela° Tiben
Peacestraße
76891 Erlenbach
+49 152 5603 4169
info@planetearthaccount.org
http://www.planetearthaccount.org
