Global issue

Informally, a global issue describes any social, economic, political or environmental problem that has already arisen or can arise from global change or globalization, e.g. overpopulation, or water scarcity.^[1]

In their book "Global Issues," Hite and Seitz emphasize that global issues are qualitatively different from international affairs and that the former arise from growing international interdependencies which makes the issues themselves interdependent.^[2]

UN list

The UN has listed issues that it deems to be the most pressing as of 2015:^[3]

Top Level Issue	Issues	Relevant UN Directives/Initiatives
Africa	poverty, diseases, desertification, malnutrition, regional conflict	Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, African Union, New Partnership for Africa’s Development, United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur
Ageing	ageing population, demographic transition	Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing, United Nations Principles for Older Persons, Proclamation on Ageing, International Year of Older Persons
Agriculture	sustainable agriculture, food security	Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
AIDS	Prevention of HIV/AIDS, HIV and pregnancy, HIV/AIDS denialism	Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Atomic Energy	nuclear weapons, nuclear waste	International Atomic Energy Agency, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
Children	Child poverty, Child labour, Child abuse, Child mortality, Global education	Education First, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme, Global Education First Initiative^[4]
Climate Change	Climate change mitigation, Climate change denial, Adaptation to global warming	United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Decolonization	exploitation	United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization, United Nations Trust Territories, International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism
Demining	land mines	Mine Action Coordination Center, Ottawa Treaty
Democracy	democratization	Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, UNDP, UNDEF, DPKO, DPA, OHCHR, UN Women
Development	social transformation, economic development	Social protection floor
Disarmament	weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons, conventional weapons, landmines and small arms	United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs
Environment	pollution, deforestation, desertification,etc., see Environment below	United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, World Environment Day, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Framework Convention on Climate Change, Montreal Protocol, Convention to Combat Desertification, Convention on Biological Diversity
Family	socialisation of children, s.a. Ageing, Children	UNFPA, UNICEF, International Year of the Family
Food	missing food security and safety, food riots, world hunger	FAO
Governance	lack of equity, participation, pluralism, transparency, accountability, rule of law
Health	maternal health, extreme poverty	Millennium Development Goals
Human Rights	human rights violations	Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Human Settlements	slums, urbanization, sanitation	UN-HABITAT, Millennium Development Goal
Humanitarian Assistance (s.a. Refugees)	humanitarian crisis, human migration, displacement	World Food Programme, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, International Organization for Migration
International Law	war crimes, discrimination, state-corporate crime	International Law Commission, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979), United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (1996), International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (1999), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)
Oceans / Law of the Sea (s.a. Water)	marine pollution, ocean governance	United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter
Peace and Security		United Nations peacekeeping, List of United Nations peacekeeping missions, Peacebuilding Commission
Persons with Disabilities	discrimination, lack of universal design	Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Population	overpopulation, world population	UNFPA
Refugees (s.a. Humanitarian Assistance)		United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Terrorism		Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism
Volunteerism		United Nations Volunteers
Water (s.a. Oceans)	water scarcity, water conflict, water privatization, water pollution	UN-Water, System of Environmental and Economic Accounting for Water, Water for Life Decade, International Recommendations on Water Statistics, United Nations Water Conference, Millennium Development Goals, International Conference on Water and the Environment (1992), Earth Summit (1992)
Women	women's rights, gender equality	Commission on the Status of Women, International Women's Year

Global issues

Main article: List of environmental issues

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 overpopulation, resource depletion, pollution, water pollution, waste and waste disposal, ocean acidification, acid rain, ozone layer depletion, global warming/climate change, loss of biodiversity and habitat loss, deforestation, and urban sprawl.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

No single issue can be isolated. 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.

References

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 Environmental Politics
Global Education Magazine

External links

Human impact on the environment

General	Anthropocene Environmental issues Human impact Impact assessment List of issues Planetary boundaries

Causes	Agriculture fishing irrigation meat production palm oil Energy industry biodiesel coal electricity generation nuclear power oil shale petroleum reservoirs wind power Manufacturing cleaning agents concrete nanotechnology paint paper pesticides pharmaceuticals and personal care Transport aviation roads shipping Other land use mining genetic pollution human overpopulation overexploitation particulates pollution war

Effects	Biodiversity threats Climate change Deforestation Desertification Ecocide Erosion Coral reefs Freshwater cycle Global warming Habitat destruction Holocene extinction Nitrogen cycle Land degradation Land surface effects on climate Phosphorus cycle Ocean acidification Ozone depletion Runaway climate change

Mitigation	Birth control Cleaner production Climate change mitigation Climate engineering Ecological engineering Environmental engineering Environmental mitigation Industrial ecology Mitigation banking Organic farming Reforestation urban Restoration ecology Sustainable consumption Waste minimization

Commons Category by country assessment mitigation

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