Not meeting a deadline and overshooting the budget can happen. But if it happens in every year, with every project, the person responsible is usually fired - whether in business or government. Today marks the day we used up our resource budget for 2016, according to WWF. Unfortunately, when it comes to our global resource consumptions we don't have the governance system in place to fire someone - and even if, it wouldn't help.

When it comes to reduction of our ecological footprint we suffer the tragedy of the commons. Collectively, our independent actions driven by self-interest deplete the common resource and lead to an overutilization - contrary to the common good. It's a concept which economist William Forster Lloyd already discussed in 1833 - it should take until the late 1960's until it became known more widely.

What to do about it?

If the problem was limited to a confined space or integrated community, it's solution could be rather easy. Farmers in a village may introduce means of collaboration to use to common graze-lands - controlling each other. Social relationships would act as governance structure.

However, in a globalized world with long supply chains, it is impossible for anyone to see the direct correlation of her actions on the common resources. And it is also highly unlikely therefore that peer pressure keeps people acting in the common interest.

Solutions therefore need to incorporate at least two things:

• Improving economic measurements

What isn't measured, isn't a priority. As we feel more and more how inadequate GDP as a measure of economic activity is, a new scale needs to include costs of externalities caused by resource depletion. That is the only way resource usage can be adequately reflected in market prices. The economic development will require us to get there eventually, but instead of waiting for the unavoidability of difficult conversations, the topic should to be addressed proactively as long as politicians still have room to manoeuvre.

• "Decision-focused" transparency

As part of the value chain, information on resource usage needs to be disseminated with the product. Again, measurement will be the first step. But aggregation of information at the point of sale of any good will be needed to provide the necessary tools for decision making. New technologies such as 5G networks enabling the internet of things in new dimensions and wider application of information capturing, e.g. blockchain, will help this.

In addition, those of us living in a world of plenty should ask ourselves what we can do on an everyday basis. With the global population further growing and a shared goal to lift the bottom of the pyramid out of poverty, we should expect more pressure on our global resources in the future. The fact that resources are not equally distributed will benefit some more than others. But in order to do the right thing for our own and future generations (unfortunately, at this point my own generation will feel the impact already), common action is needed to tackle the common problem.

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Please share your comments and inputs (via comment function, twitter, e-mail, etc.). In my short write-ups I address topics that I am particularly interested in because they align with my values and beliefs. As such, they are always a reflection of my ideas, thoughts, and opinions. The only thing I am positive in that regard is that I do not have all the perspectives, all the knowledge, or all the facts - help me be better tomorrow.