Critical Global Challenges

Anthropology on the Ground ANTH 2301 Critical Global Challenges The world is dealing with an increasing number of issues these days, most of which are connected to one another as well as to long-standing injustices and inequities in the past. Major global concerns are often the root cause of many of the challenges individuals face on a daily basis. These issues have an impact on cultural traditions and modern social behaviours. Put another way, there is a close relationship between our local and global concerns and how we live. Global and local issues are interconnected and reinforce one another. 22 major global challenges were listed by the United Nations (UN) in 2021, with some of them being made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the United Nations (2021) these issues "transcend national boundaries and cannot be resolved by any one country acting alone." Numerous of these issues, which impact all countries, are especially damaging to people who experience economic hardship, social and environmental racism, and prejudice. Take note of how many of these "global issues"—such as global health, Africa, decolonization, democracy, and poverty—are related to one another as you go through them. Look over this list and make a note of the things that affect you and the things that may have impacted your ancestors. Think about factors like the price of products and services, potential impacts on welfare and health, and even the potential for political instability as a result of these problems, which might have an impact on the entire world. Also take into account the possibility that groups subjected to different forms of injustice may be more affected than those living in otherwise stable societies. • Africa: safeguarding human rights, advancing democratic institutions, and assisting in social and economic growth. • Ageing: adapting to the global increase in the number of people over 60. • AIDS: In the ongoing worldwide campaign against AIDS, infection and mortality rates are being lowered. • Atomic energy: encouraging the more than 440 nuclear reactors that provide power globally to operate in a safe, secure, and peaceful manner. • Big data for sustainable development: keeping an eye on equity and inclusivity while using new technology, data sources, and analysis techniques. • Children: enhancing children's opportunities and defending each child's rights to protection, education, and health. • Climate change: addressing the hitherto unseen difficulties of altering weather patterns that jeopardise food supply and lead to climate emergencies. • Decolonization: keeping an eye on and promoting self-determination among former colonies—a concept the UN calls a "sacred trust"—is being carried out. Less than two million people are still under to colonial control today; when the UN was established in 1945, there were almost 750 million people living in colonies and dependent states. • Democracy: bolstering democracy as a means of bolstering human rights, as it is "a universally recognised ideal" and a fundamental UN principle. • Ending poverty: lowering the rate of poverty worldwide, which during the COVID-19 pandemic may rise by as much as 8% of the world's population. • Food: improving nutrition and achieving food security for the most disadvantaged populations, particularly during COVID-19. • Gender equality: advocating for gender equality as a vital human right and a prerequisite for building harmonious, longlasting communities. • Health: keeping an eye on, advancing, and safeguarding health issues globally. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is mostly responsible for the leadership in this field. • Human rights: carrying out the continuous endeavour to protect human rights everywhere. As stated in the UN Charter, this is a major area of the organization's activities.International law and justice: keeping up the promotion of international law and justice in relation to the three pillars of respect for basic human rights and freedoms, socioeconomic growth and advancement, and global peace and security. • Migration: making sure that migration is managed humanely and in an orderly manner, solving real-world migration issues, and helping refugees and internally displaced people. • Seas and the law of the sea: protecting the growing threat of pollution and waste from transport ships and oil tankers and promoting the peaceful, cooperative use of the seas and oceans for the benefit of all people. • Peace and security: assisting in the restoration of peace and averting the escalation of conflicts into war. • Population: enhancing people' capacity to control the number of their families as well as their sexual and reproductive health. • Refugees: offering assistance and a safe sanctuary to the millions of individuals who are displaced by force around the globe. An estimated 79.5 million individuals, 26 million of whom were under the age of 18, were refugees in 2019. • Water: balancing the competing demands of business and private users for access to this essential resource for all human populations. • Youth: guaranteeing access to health, education, and employment as well as promoting gender equality and a more just, equitable, and progressive future for those between the ages of 15 and 24. Some of these same issues have also been the focus of private donors. The Bill and Melinda Gates organisation was established in 2000 with the goal of collaborating with governments to address pressing global health challenges. In 2020, the multibillion-dollar organisation broadened its scope by designating three primary action areas for its work, in addition to continuing to prioritise education. • Climate change: expanding the use of clean energy, giving low-income nations access to electricity with minimal emissions, and creating novel methods of producing food. • Gender inequality and gender-based violence: strengthening women's leadership roles in the public sector, the financial sector, and the health sector; improving women's access to education to enhance women's lives. • Global health: funding immunisation campaigns and other efforts to fight infectious illnesses such as malaria and AIDS. (2020 Bass and Bloomberg) These are simply a few of the difficulties that confront us as fellow humans residing on this one planet. There are other issues that support these difficulties, but the loss of diversity is the most significant. Three major areas of diversity face devastating losses: biological diversity, where species are going extinct or becoming increasingly endangered; cultural diversity, where smaller populations, Indigenous peoples, and minorities in more remote areas are losing their lands and rights to exist as diverse cultures; and linguistic diversity, where thousands of languages are already extinct and many more are in danger of doing so. Our species has fewer alternatives and less flexibility as its diversity shrinks. Since most innovation derives from prior forms, be they biological, cultural, or linguistic, the loss of anything that was once there also represents the loss of potential, or what could have been. But it's not all bad news. Disciplines that emphasise and protect diversity, like anthropology, give hope. The study of anthropology has been essential in improving the state of the planet. Language reclamation and revitalization, primate conservation and habitat enrichment, the revival of traditional foodways and technologies, and other initiatives to revive, restore, and encourage cultural, biological, and linguistic diversity are among the projects that apply anthropological knowledge and insight to contemporary problems.