The Unitive Earth Governance Collaborative aims to contribute to the wider global governance dialogue toward establishing the inner and material aspects of an ecological civilization founded on core principles that underpin a Unitive Worldview.

The Context

There is now worldwide acknowledgement that modern economics and governance systems are causing the collapse of our planetary ecosystem. As the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) has underlined, in the face of intersecting global challenges, “Humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown or a breakthrough.” We stand aligned with the call of Our Common Agenda for an urgent move toward effective, equitable, and accountable global governance of the Earth system for an economy based on regeneration of people and planet.

Alongside all the alarming statistics in the 2023 Climate Governance Commission’s ‘Governing our Planetary Emergency’ Report^[1], there is also the acknowledgement that the crisis presents ‘an extraordinary transformative opportunity’ to base planetary governance on contemporary scientific Earth system knowledge which affirms that the planet operates as a single, integrated system. As such, it should be legally recognised as an international common good that cannot be owned and used as a commodity. Rather, it is a living integrated system that has the right to be protected and governed responsibly by the international community for the flourishing of future generations.

A Unitive Narrative for a Unitive Age^[2]
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“A new paradigm, based on scientific breakthroughs, with evidence at all scales of existence and across numerous fields of research, is revealing a radically expanded perception of the world. It is converging with universal wisdom and spiritually-based teachings. In realizing the unified nature of reality, it calls for a collective evolutionary shift of consciousness and the emergence of an inclusive interspirituality which provides essential practices for awakening to this unitive consciousness. Central to a unitive narrative is the recognition of our interbeing; our interconnectedness, interdependence and belonging with the whole community of our planetary home, Gaia, and with the entire Universe.”

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Both modern science, and ancient indigenous and spiritual perspectives indicate that the solution to this crisis lies in remembering our interconnectedness and re-structuring our planetary governance in a way that harmonizes humanity with the health of the Earth. Rather than seeing ourselves as fundamentally separate beings existing in a Universe devoid of consciousness, we are called to restore a Unitive Worldview and Narrative aligned with the Culture of Peace[3] which views us as part of a living, loving and intelligent Universe and restores values and patterns of living that are aligned with those of the natural world.

Evidence-based science across multiple disciplines points to a Universe that not only exists and evolves as an entirely unified and innately sentient entity, but that exists TO evolve – from simplicity to complexity and diversity, toward ever greater levels of individuated and collective self-expression, self-awareness, and conscious interdependence. Many of these scientific discoveries have occurred in the 21^st century with profound implications for how we understand reality, with the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics, awarded for the science of universal nonlocality, being one key example. These advances demonstrate an emergent cosmology that supports the understanding of a living, evolutionary and unified Universe. They also attest that mind and consciousness are not something that we have but rather, what we and the whole world fundamentally are.

This expanded scientific evidence-based perception of the nature of reality endorses the worldviews of ancient and indigenous knowledge holders in the recognition of our interbeing. The Unitive Worldview and Narrative shifts the paradigm from a separation-based reality to one marked by a naturally occurring symbiotic integration of diversities, manifesting as correspondence, coherence, proportionality, reciprocity, generosity, and mutuality. It is the foundation behind the global call for regenerative cultures that can safeguard and grow biocultural abundance for future generations. It empowers us to envision an ecological civilization, where the structure and values of our governance and economic systems are in service to all Life that model loving care and respect, resulting in the realization of a Culture of Peace.

Given the choice, and the understanding that we are all in this together, what is the future you want, and what actions will you take to create, together with our children and young people, a coherent and resilient world that works for all?

[1] Climate Governance Commission’s 2023 Report

[2] Unitive narrative developed by the SDG Thought Leaders Circle https://sdgthoughtleaderscircle.org/unitive-new-narrative/

[3] See Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (A/RES/53/243) at https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/285677?ln=en&v=pdf