By :Raja Furqan Ahmed
A global issue is any issue that adversely affects the global community and environment, such as climate change, environmental issues, political, health, social and economic crisis. As its name is self-explanatory that global issues concern with the problem worldwide.
Global challenges are trans-national, which are beyond the capability of any one state to resolve. They are persistent or long-acting in that they may take years, decades, or even generations to be fully felt, and may require similar time frames to be resolved. Global issues are interconnected, which means that a change in one whether for better or worse exerts pressure for change in others. Global issues range in severity from minor issues that affect everyone to global catastrophic risks that threaten the existence of the entire human race or its society. The basic solutions to global issues generally require cooperation among nations.
In the contemporary world, the current global issue is the pandemic called COVID-19 which spread all around the world. This pandemic not only affects the social life but it really impacts on the state economy. COVID-19 is a global threat that needs a global solution. Some other major global issues are poverty, health, education, human rights issues etc.
Another terminology which commonly used when defining global issues is Inequality. It is a global concern because not only a single country faces this problem but it has a great impact on the entire world. Mostly global inequality concern with the economy as this inequality focuses primarily on income inequalities across states or across individuals in the world. The primary focus is on income measures, such as measures of per capita gross domestic product of countries, inequality in wealth distribution not only economical inequality, but it also consists of the health and educational differences. Inequality has been on the rise across the globe for several decades. Some countries have reduced the numbers of people living in extreme poverty but economic gaps have continued to grow as the very richest amass unprecedented levels of wealth.
Poverty is most commonly defined by economic standards, based on income levels and access to basic human necessities, such as food, water, and shelter. Poverty is a lack of basic needs. Global poverty is a serious issue that puts breaks on human development. It also challenges human dignity and world peace. The global poor are poor not only because they have no or little access to income and wealth, but also they lack the capabilities such as education, good health, security etc.
As Global inequality, global poverty and global inequity terms are the interrelations. Global inequality directly links with global equity as it is the unfair distribution of opportunities such as property, power, prestige etc. As those who get more opportunity will have a good living standard and high benefit as compared to those who have fewer privileges and opportunity comes in the category of the poor class. So this also creates poverty. As Poverty and inequality, and their associated outcomes can no longer be contained within national boundaries. This makes them global issues. Due to inequality and poverty, the state goes toward the civil war which creates a global crisis. An example is the Syrian crises due to the political issues and inequality inside the state, people start migrating from Syrian to the European countries so that conflict affects the globe from different perspectives. Similarly, after 9/11 war on terror was started and almost all countries have to take their stance. This event affects the world.
Finally, the global challenges in the contemporary world have created a big issue in the development of the state. The main reason behind this is due to globalization. As it describes the growing interdependence of the world’s economic, social, and technological exchange within the framework of capitalism in the cross border. It also gives a new way of interaction with others. Hence, one state issue does not remain a domestic problem. The only possible solution for the global issues is by adopting a global framework and policy in which a state can minimize the global challenges. As this issue cannot be finished but we can reduce them. The non-state actors such as the United Nations and other regional organization’s can play their role for the sustainable solution.
The state must focus toward reducing poverty, move toward sustainable agriculture, ensure equitable and quality education and gender equality.
(The writer is a student of International Relations and Freelance journalist currently based in Islamabad, Pakistan. He can be reached at [email protected])