A global issue is a matter of public concern worldwide. This list of global issues presents problems or phenomena affecting people around the world, including but not limited to widespread social issues, economic issues, and environmental issues. Organizations that maintain or have published an official list of global issues include the United Nations, and the World Economic Forum.
Global catastrophic risks
Not all of these risks are independent, because the majority, if not all of them are a result of human activity.
United Nations list
The UN has listed issues that it deems to be the most pressing as of 2023:[1]
As part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) were superseded by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2016-2030), which are also known as The Global Goals. There are associated Targets and Indicators for each Global Goal.
World Economic Forum List
In keeping with their economy-centered view, the World Economic Forum formulated a list of 10 most pressing points in 2016: [3]
- Food security
- Inclusive growth
- Future of work/unemployment
- Climate change
- Financial crisis of 2007–2008
- Future of the internet/Fourth Industrial Revolution
- Gender equality
- Global trade and investment and regulatory frameworks
- Long-term investment/Investment strategy
- Future healthcare
Global environmental issues
No single issue can be analysed, treated, or isolated from the others.[4] For example, habitat loss and climate change adversely affect biodiversity. Deforestation and pollution are direct consequences of overpopulation and both, in turn, affect biodiversity. While overpopulation locally leads to rural flight, this is more than counterbalanced by accelerating urbanization and urban sprawl. Theories like the world-system theory and the Gaia hypothesis focus on the inter-dependency aspect of environmental and economic issues. Among the most evident environmental problems are:[5][6][7][8]
- Overconsumption – situation where resource use has outpaced the sustainable capacity of the ecosystem.
- Overpopulation – too many people for the planet to sustain.
- Biodiversity loss
- Deforestation
- Desertification
- Global warming/climate change
- Habitat destruction
- Holocene extinction
- Ocean acidification
- Ozone depletion
- Pollution
- Resource depletion
- Urban sprawl
See also
- Sustainable Development Goals – United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals
for 2030
- Antimicrobial resistance – Resistance of microbes to drugs directed against them
- Center for Global Food Issues
- Chicago Council on Global Affairs – Foreign affairs think tank in Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Climate change – Current rise in Earth's average temperature and its effects
- Cybersecurity – Protection of computer systems from information disclosure, theft or damage
- Developing country – Nation with a lower living standard relative to more developed countries
- Earth Economics – U.S. non-profit organization
- Earth system science – Scientific study of the Earth's spheres and their natural integrated systems
- Ecological footprint – Individual's or a group's human demand on nature
- Ecological collapse – Ecological communities abruptly losing biodiversity, often irreversibly
- Ecosystem collapse – Ecological communities abruptly losing biodiversity, often irreversibly
- Effective altruism – Philosophical and social movement
- Energy crisis – Low availability of energy resources
- Environmental social science
- Financial crisis – Situation in which financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value
- Global catastrophic risk – Potentially harmful worldwide events
- Global Challenges Foundation – Swedish non-profit organization
- Global change – planetary-scale changes in the Earth system
- Global governance – Movement towards political cooperation among transnational actors
- Global health – Health of populations in a global context
- Global justice – Issue in political philosophy
- Global Rights – Human rights capacity-building NGO
- Global warming controversy – List of debates over global warming
- Human impact on the environment – Impact of human life on Earth and environment
- Human security – People-centric approach to national security
- Intergovernmental organization – Organization established by treaty between governments
- List of United Nations peacekeeping missions
- Liu Institute for Global Issues – Esearch organization at the University of British Columbia
- Mass surveillance – Intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population
- Ozone depletion and climate change
- Pandemic – Widespread, often global, epidemic of severe infectious disease
- Peak oil – Point in time when the maximum rate of petroleum extraction is reached
- Social justice – Concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society
- Species extinction – Termination of a taxon by the death of its last member
- Washington consensus – Economic policies for developing nations
- Wicked problem – Problem that is difficult or impossible to solve
- World Community Grid – BOINC based volunteer computing project to aid scientific research
- WorldRiskReport – Annual cooperation report on global disaster risks
- World-systems theory – Approach emphasizing the world-system as the primary unit of social analysis
- World War – War involving major global states
- Crime – Illegal behavior defined by existing criminal law
References
- ↑ "Global Issues". United Nations. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
- ↑ "Global Education First Initiative - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
- ↑ Hutt, Rosamond (21 January 2016). "What are the 10 biggest global challenges?". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ↑ http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/issues/global/major-global-issues-diagram-lg.jpg
- ↑ Rinkesh (27 June 2014). "15 Current Environmental Problems That Our World is Facing - Conserve Energy Future".
- ↑ "The World's 6 Most Pressing Environmental Issues". 22 April 2012.
- ↑ "About NRDC". www.nrdc.org.
- ↑ "Environmental Issues — Global Issues". 2 February 2015.
Literature
- John L. Seitz, Kristen A. Hite (2012). Global Issues (4 ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-470-65564-1.
- Richard J. Payne (2012). Global Issues (4th ed.). Pearson. ISBN 978-0205854592.
- Michael T. Snarr, D. Neil Snarr, ed. (2012). Introducing Global Issues (5th ed.). Lynne Rienner Pub. ISBN 978-1588268457.
- Shirley A. Fedorak (2013). Global Issues: A Cross-Cultural Perspective Paperback. ISBN 978-1442605961.
- Global Education Magazine
- Global Environmental Politics
External links
- The UN's Global Issues page
- "Think Global: Learn More About Global Issues". dus.psu.edu. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- "Global issues". TED.com. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- "Global Issues". TakingITGlobal. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- "Global Issues : social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all". Global Issues. 24 September 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- "Global Issues Network". Global Issues Network. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- "Issues of resilience, interdependence and growth affect global climate change risk". Carbon Brief. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- "A list of the most urgent global issues". 80,000 Hours. 30 April 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
