The results of the studies performed by many scientists demonstrate that the number of problems that cannot be solved in one country or continent of the world is constantly increasing. High level of environmental pollution, global warming and the spread of the pandemic are issues of concern to people on all continents of the world today. It would be scientifically correct and necessary to ask a number of questions: “Why is this happening? What is the cause of these phenomena and what measures should be taken to improve the situation?” Measures taken in the most developed countries of the world to increase the level of well-being of the population often reduce the opportunities to raise the standard of living in the least developed countries. Today, more than 800 million people do not have enough daily food, while more than 650 million are obese. The research results show that the cause of population starvation is more related to the inadequate management of food flows in the world. About one third of the world’s food production ends up in waste, and a total of 2.3 billion tonnes of food production is not consumed worldwide. According to UN research, global food consumption will increase 1.7 times by 2050. At the same time, the consumption of natural renewable resources is increasing dramatically. Currently, 1.7 Earths are needed to meet the needs of the population, but by 2050, 3 Earths will be needed, maintaining the current order of consumption of resources. It means that the threat of injustice and inequality among the nations of the world can increase without changing the current world governance patterns. Within the framework of the study, the world is perceived as the internal environment of the Earth, as a socio-ecological megasystem, in which the dominant element is social in the broadest sense of the word. In a narrower sense of the word, this megasystem is dominated by the governance element as a function of the social element. It means that the causes of global development problems are directly related to the mismatch between the form and content of global governance as a megasystem and the threats and opportunities faced by people on different continents and countries. Climate change, declining natural resource regeneration capacity, population growth, destructive attitudes towards consumption in developed countries and poor management of food flows are just some of the factors that call for fundamental reforms in our system of global Institute of Civil Engineering and Real Estate Economics 29 governance. Sustainable development can turn into a utopian idea if no action is taken to reconstruct the global governance system and make it more responsive to global threats.