Since the bulk of the operational part of the GHOST system consists of existing satellites, research sites, stations, centres and campaigns, most of the operational funding for the system would come from the existing sources which support these activities. New funding would be directed towards stimulating the development of new observing sites and variables where there are critical deficiencies and to data exchange and harmonisation mechanisms. This additional expenditure is justified in terms of the value added to existing measurements by making their scope global and the synergies resulting from an integrated data set.