It is a global problem. Modern global problems of mankind and the reasons for their occurrence

The global problems of modernity should be understood as a set of problems on the solution of which the further existence of civilization depends.

Global problems are generated by the uneven development of different areas of the life of modern mankind and the contradictions generated in the socio-economic, political, ideological, socio-natural and other relations of people. These problems affect the life of mankind as a whole.

The global problems of our time include:

• - North-South problem;
• - the problem of poverty;
• - food problem;
• - energy problem;
• - the problem of ecology and sustainable development;
• - demographic problem;
• - the problem of human development;
• - the problem of the development of the oceans.

This set is not permanent, and as human civilization develops, the understanding of existing global problems changes, their priority is adjusted, and new global problems arise (space exploration, weather and climate control, etc.).

The North-South problem is the problem of economic relations between developed and developing countries. Its essence lies in the fact that in order to bridge the gap in the levels of socio-economic development between developed and developing countries, the latter require various concessions from developed countries, in particular, expanding access for their goods to the markets of developed countries, increasing the flow of knowledge and capital (especially in the form of assistance), write-offs of debts and other measures in relation to them.

One of the main global problems is the problem of poverty. Poverty is understood as the inability to provide the simplest and most affordable living conditions for the majority of people in a given country. The large scale of poverty, especially in developing countries, poses a serious threat not only to national, but also to global sustainable development.

The world food problem lies in the inability of mankind to date to fully provide itself with vital foodstuffs. This problem appears in practice as a problem of absolute food shortage (malnutrition and hunger) in the least developed countries, as well as nutritional imbalance in the developed ones. Its solution will largely depend on the efficient use of natural resources, scientific and technological progress in the field of agriculture and the level of state support.

The global energy problem is the problem of providing humanity with fuel and energy at the present time and in the foreseeable future. The main reason for the emergence of the global energy problem should be considered the rapid growth in the consumption of mineral fuels in the 20th century. If the developed countries are now solving this problem primarily by slowing down the growth of their demand by reducing energy intensity, then in other countries there is a relatively rapid increase in energy consumption. To this may be added growing competition in the world energy market between developed countries and new large industrial countries (China, India, Brazil). All these circumstances, combined with military and political instability in some regions, can cause significant fluctuations in the level of world prices for energy resources and seriously affect the dynamics of supply and demand, as well as the production and consumption of energy products, sometimes creating crisis situations.

The ecological potential of the world economy is increasingly undermined by the economic activity of mankind. The answer to this was the concept of environmentally sustainable development. It involves the development of all countries of the world, taking into account the present needs, but not undermining the interests of future generations.

Environmental protection is an important part of development. In the 70s. 20 century economists realized the importance of environmental problems for economic development. The processes of environmental degradation can be self-reproducing, which threatens society with irreversible destruction and depletion of resources.

The global demographic problem is divided into two aspects: the population explosion in a number of countries and regions of the developing world and the demographic aging of the population of developed and transition countries. For the former, the solution is to increase the rate of economic growth and reduce the rate of population growth. For the second - emigration and reforming the pension system.

The relationship between population growth and economic growth has long been the subject of study by economists. As a result of research, two approaches have been developed to assess the impact of population growth on economic development. The first approach is to some extent connected with the theory of Malthus, who believed that population growth outstrips food growth and therefore the world population inevitably becomes poorer. The modern approach to assessing the role of population on the economy is complex and reveals both positive and negative factors influencing population growth on economic growth.

Many experts believe that the real problem is not population growth itself, but the following problems:

• - underdevelopment - backwardness in development;
• - depletion of world resources and destruction of the environment.

The problem of human potential development is the problem of matching the qualitative characteristics of the labor force with the nature of the modern economy. In the conditions of post-industrialization, the requirements for physical qualities and especially for the education of an employee, including his ability to constantly improve his skills, increase. However, the development of the qualitative characteristics of the labor force in the world economy is extremely uneven. The worst performance in this regard is shown by developing countries, which, however, are the main source of replenishment of the world labor resources. This is what determines the global nature of the problem of human development.

Increasing globalization, interdependence and the reduction of temporal and spatial barriers create a situation of collective insecurity from various threats, from which a person cannot always be saved by his state. This requires the creation of conditions that enhance the ability of a person to independently withstand risks and threats.

The problem of the World Ocean is the problem of conservation and rational use of its spaces and resources. At present, the World Ocean, as a closed ecological system, can hardly withstand the increased anthropogenic load many times over, and a real threat of its death is being created. Therefore, the global problem of the World Ocean is, first of all, the problem of its survival and, consequently, the survival of modern man.

The solution of these problems is today an urgent task for all mankind. The survival of people depends on when and how they begin to be solved. The following ways of solving global problems of our time are distinguished.

• - Prevention of a world war with the use of thermonuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction that threaten the destruction of civilization. This implies curbing the arms race, prohibiting the creation and use of weapons systems of mass destruction, human and material resources, the elimination of nuclear weapons, etc.;
• - Overcoming the economic and cultural inequality between the peoples inhabiting the industrialized countries of the West and East and the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America;
• - Overcoming the crisis state of interaction between mankind and nature, which is characterized by catastrophic consequences in the form of unprecedented environmental pollution and depletion of natural resources. This makes it necessary to develop measures aimed at the economical use of natural resources and the reduction of pollution of soil, water and air by waste products of material production;
• - Decreased population growth rates in developing countries and overcoming the demographic crisis in developed capitalist countries;
• - Prevention of the negative consequences of the modern scientific and technological revolution;
• - Overcoming the downward trend in social health, which involves the fight against alcoholism, drug addiction, cancer, AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases.

Every person has problems. Relations with loved ones are not going well, there is not enough money to fulfill any desires, failures in study and work, etc. But on a global scale, these are trifles. At this level, there are completely different issues - these are the global problems of society. Can they be solved?

History and origins

Global problems in one way or another worry humanity throughout its development. But those that have not been resolved even today have become extremely relevant relatively recently, in the last third of the 20th century.

According to most researchers, all the global problems of the modern world are closely interrelated, and their solution should be comprehensive, not isolated. Perhaps the whole point is in the concept of humanity's relationship to its home - the planet Earth. For a very, very long time, it was exclusively consumer. People did not think about the future, about what kind of world their children and more distant descendants would have to live in.

As a result, we have come to an extreme degree of dependence on the contents of the earth's interior, not wanting to fully use renewable energy sources. At the same time, these global problems acquired a truly catastrophic scale simultaneously with the population explosion, which aggravated them. He, one might say, is the reason why there is a lack of resources, forcing deeper and deeper bite into the earth's crust, closing this vicious circle. All this is accompanied by an extreme degree of social tension, which gives rise to misunderstanding between different states, and ignoring this problem inexorably leads to an increase in the likelihood of a global armed conflict.

Levels of human problems

Without a doubt, the scale of burning issues varies. There are problems:

• individual, that is, affecting the life of one person and, possibly, his loved ones;
• local, regional, which are related to the development of the district, region, etc.;
• state, those that are important for the whole country or most of it;
• international, affecting the macro-region, which may include many territories;
• global, planetary scale, relating to almost everyone.

Of course, this does not mean that the problems of one person are unimportant and not worth attention to them. But on a global scale, they are really insignificant. What is conflict with superiors compared to the hunger and poverty of a billion people or the threat of nuclear war? Of course, it can be said that the happiness of each individual person leads to general well-being, but without solving the global problems of mankind, this cannot be achieved. And what are these questions?

Environmental

Global problems primarily include human influence on nature. Yes, this is indeed one of the most important issues, because people are literally destroying their home. Air, water and soil pollution, animal and plant extinction, ozone depletion, deforestation and desertification. Of course, some of this is natural processes, but the human contribution is also visible.

People continue to devastate the earth's bowels, pumping oil and gas, extracting coal and metals necessary for their life. But the irrational use of these resources, the reluctance to switch to renewable energy sources can in the foreseeable future cause a real collapse.

Megacities are places of terrible noise and light pollution. Here people almost never see the starry sky and do not hear birdsong. Air polluted by cars and factories causes premature aging and health problems. Progress has made people's lives easier and faster, but at the same time, the consumer society has made waste disposal more relevant than ever before. It is worth considering that every day the most ordinary person generates just an insane amount of garbage. But there is also radioactive waste... Under these conditions, it is simply vital to stop solving problems alone and start thinking more globally.

Economic problems

The global division of labor has allowed the world community to produce goods and services more efficiently, and has developed trade to its current level. But at the same time, the problem of poverty in some regions became acute. The lack of necessary resources, low development, social problems - all this in one way or another hinders progress in regions such as Africa and Central and South America. The most developed countries are prospering and getting richer and richer, while the rest are lagging behind, living only by selling some valuable resources. This gap in the income of the world's population is simply huge. And charity in this case is not always an option.

Economic global problems may also include potential overpopulation of the planet. It's not that people may not have enough space - there are territories in the world where almost no one lives. But the number of people is growing exponentially, and the growth of food production - only in arithmetic. From this follows the problem of poverty, and its possible further spread, especially taking into account the environmental situation.

The issue is also that the foreign policy of some countries simply does not allow them to unite and think globally. Economic problems, meanwhile, accumulate and affect ordinary people.

Social

The planet is torn apart by constant conflicts. The constant threat of war, social tension, racial and religious intolerance - society seems to be constantly on the verge. Here and there riots break out. The revolutions of the last decade have shown how terrible wars can be within a country. Egypt, Syria, Libya, Ukraine - there are enough examples, and everyone knows about them. As a result, there are no winners, everyone loses in one way or another, and in the first place - the ordinary population.

In the Middle East, women are fighting for their rights: they want to study at schools and universities without fear for their health and life. They want to stop being second class people - it's scary to think, but in some countries this is still happening. In some countries, a woman is more likely to be raped than to learn to count. Is it possible to assume that all these are not global social problems? And if so, then we need to deal with them together.

Decision

Of course, it is impossible to say with a high degree of certainty that the above-mentioned global social problems, economic and environmental issues will soon lead to the self-destruction of mankind. But it is hardly worth denying the fact that such a possibility exists.

Solving global problems is a very difficult task. It is impossible to simply limit the birth rate or find an unlimited source of energy - a complete spiritual rebirth of humanity is needed, which would change our attitude towards nature, the planet and each other.

Some global problems of countries and the whole world have already been resolved to some extent. Racial segregation has disappeared, so that now all people in civilized countries, regardless of skin color, have equal rights. Everyone else strives for the same position, trying not to judge people based on their religion, orientation, gender, etc.

Organizations and figures

There are several supranational bodies in the world dealing with various issues. One such organization was the United Nations, founded in 1945. It consists of several special commissions, whose work in one way or another is the global problems of mankind. The UN is engaged in peacekeeping missions, protection of human rights, development of international legislation, social and economic issues.

In addition, individuals are also engaged in activities aimed at solving global problems. Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Eisaku Sato and others fought for the future they wanted for their descendants. Of contemporaries, many public people are engaged in such activities. Shakira, Angelina Jolie, Natalia Vodianova, Chulpan Khamatova and many others establish charitable foundations, become UN Goodwill Ambassadors and do other things that make the world a better place.

Awards

Various awards are given to public figures for their contribution or even courageous attempts to change the world for the better. The most prestigious of them is the Nobel Prize. In 2014, its laureate was Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old girl from Pakistan who, despite the fact that her life was in constant danger, attended school every day and kept a blog in which she talked about life under the Taliban regime, which had its own views on the need for education for women. Having survived the assassination attempt, she ended up in the UK, but decided to return to her homeland. She was awarded the prize for fighting for her interests and defending her own rights. After the award, Malala released her autobiography, the reaction of the Taliban to which was a promise to kill the girl.

Why shouldn't it matter?

Of course, one can say that global problems are not our business, because the consequences of ignoring them will not hit us. Overpopulation, poverty, war, ecological catastrophe - even if all this is inevitable, it will not happen here and now. But it is worth thinking not only about yourself, but also about your children, relatives and friends. Even if the global problems of society cannot be solved alone, you can start small: try to use less packaging, recycle garbage, do not waste water, save electricity. It's not difficult, but if everyone does it, maybe the world will be a little better.

Global problems of our time is a set of the most acute, vital universal problems, the successful solution of which requires the combined efforts of all states. These are problems on the solution of which further social progress, the fate of the entire world civilization depends.

These include, first of all, the following:

prevention of the threat of nuclear war;

overcoming the ecological crisis and its consequences;

· resolution of the energy, raw material and food crises;

Reducing the gap in the level of economic development between the developed countries of the West and the developing countries of the “third world”,

stabilization of the demographic situation on the planet.

combating transnational organized crime and international terrorism,

· Health protection and prevention of the spread of AIDS, drug addiction.

The common features of global problems are that they:

· acquired a truly planetary, global character, affecting the interests of the peoples of all states;

· threaten humanity with a serious regression in the further development of the productive forces, in the conditions of life itself;

· need urgent solutions and actions to overcome and prevent dangerous consequences and threats to the life support and security of citizens;

· require collective efforts and actions on the part of all states, the entire world community.

Ecological problems

The irresistible growth of production, the consequences of scientific and technological progress and unreasonable use of natural resources today put the world under the threat of a global environmental catastrophe. A detailed consideration of the prospects for the development of mankind, taking into account actual natural processes, leads to the need to sharply limit the pace and volume of production, because their further uncontrolled growth can push us beyond the line beyond which there will no longer be enough of all the necessary resources necessary for human life, including including clean air and water. Consumer society, formed today, thoughtlessly and non-stop wasting resources, puts humanity on the brink of a global catastrophe.

Over the past decades, the general condition of water resources has noticeably deteriorated.- rivers, lakes, reservoirs, inland seas. Meanwhile global water consumption has doubled between 1940 and 1980, and, according to experts, doubled again by 2000. Under the influence of economic activity water resources are depleted, small rivers disappear, water withdrawal in large reservoirs is reduced. Eighty countries, which account for 40% of the world's population, are currently experiencing water shortage.

sharpness demographic problem cannot be assessed in abstraction from economic and social factors. Shifts in growth rates and population structure are taking place in the context of continuing deep disproportions in the distribution of the world economic. Accordingly, in countries with large economic potential, the overall level of spending on health care, education, and environmental conservation is immeasurably higher and, as a result, life expectancy is much higher than in group of developing countries.

As for the countries of Eastern Europe and the former USSR, where 6.7% of the world's population lives, they lag behind economically developed countries by 5 times

Socio-economic problems, the problem of the growing gap between highly developed countries and third world countries (the so-called `North - South` problem)

One of the most serious problems of our time is the problems of socio-economic development. Today there is one trend - the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. The so-called `civilized world` (USA, Canada, Japan, Western European countries - about 26 states in total - about 23% of the world population) currently consumes 70 to 90% of the goods produced.

The problem of relations between the `First` and `Third` worlds was called the `North - South` problem. Regarding her, there is two opposite concepts:

· The reason for the backwardness of the countries of the poor `South` is the so-called `Vicious circle of poverty`, in which they fall, and the offset of which they cannot begin effective development. Many economists of the `North`, adherents of this point of view, believe that the `South` is to blame for their troubles.

that the main responsibility for the poverty of the countries of the modern `Third World` is borne precisely by the `civilized world`, because it was with the participation and under the dictation of the richest countries in the world that the process of forming the modern economic system took place, and, naturally, these countries found themselves in a deliberately more advantageous position, which today allowed them to form the so-called. `golden billion`, plunging the rest of humanity into the abyss of poverty, mercilessly exploiting both the mineral and labor resources of countries that are out of work in the modern world.

Demographic crisis

In 1800, there were only about 1 billion people on the planet, in 1930 - 2 billion, in 1960 - already 3 billion, in 1999 humanity reached 6 billion. Today, the world's population is increasing by 148 people. per minute (247 are born, 99 die) or 259 thousand per day - these are the modern realities. At This is why world population growth is uneven. The share of developing countries in the total population of the planet has increased over the past half century from 2/3 to almost 4/5. Today, humanity is faced with the need to control population growth, because the number of people that our planet is capable of providing is still limited, especially since a possible lack of resources in the future (which will be discussed below), coupled with a huge number of people inhabiting the planet, can lead to to tragic and irreversible consequences.

Another major demographic shift is the rapid process of “rejuvenation” of the population in the group of developing countries and, conversely, the aging of residents of developed countries. The share of children under 15 in the first three post-war decades increased in most developing countries to 40-50% of their population. As a result, these are the countries where the largest part of the able-bodied workforce is currently concentrated. Ensuring the employment of the huge labor resources of the developing world, especially in the poorest and poorest countries, is today one of the most acute social problems of truly international significance.

In the same time the increase in life expectancy and the slowdown in the birth rate in developed countries have led here to a significant increase in the proportion of elderly people, which entailed a huge burden on the pension, health and care systems. Governments are faced with the need to develop a new social policy that can address the problems of population aging in the 21st century.

Resource exhaustion problem (mineral, energy and other)

Scientific and technological progress, which gave impetus to the development of modern industry, required a sharp increase in the extraction of various types of mineral raw materials. Today every year the production of oil, gas, and other minerals is increasing. Thus, according to scientists' forecasts, at the current rate of development, oil reserves will last an average of another 40 years, natural gas reserves should last for 70 years, and coal - for 200 years. Here it should be taken into account that today humanity receives 90% of its energy from the heat of combustion of fuel (oil, coal, gas), and the rate of energy consumption is constantly growing, and this growth is not linear. Alternative energy sources are also used - nuclear, as well as wind, geothermal, solar and other types of energy. As seen, the key to the successful development of human society in the future can be not only the transition to the use of secondary raw materials, new energy sources and energy-saving technologies(which is certainly necessary), but, first of all, revision of the principles on which the modern economy is built, not looking back at any restrictions in terms of resources, except for those that may require too much money that will not be justified later.

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Recently, you have been hearing more and more about globalization (from the English global world, worldwide), which means a sharp expansion and deepening of the relationships and interdependencies between countries, peoples and individuals. Globalization covers the areas politicians, economy, culture. And at the heart of its activities are political, economic unions, TNCs, the creation of a global information space, global financial capital. However, for the time being, only the “golden billion” can benefit the most from globalization, as residents of the highly developed post-industrial countries of the West, whose total population is approaching 1 billion, are called.

It is this inequality that brought to life the mass anti-globalization movement. The emergence of global problems of mankind, which have become the focus of attention of scientists, politicians and the general public, is closely connected with the process of globalization and is studied by many sciences, including geography. This is because each of them has its own geographical aspects and manifests itself differently in different regions of the world. Recall that even N. N. Baransky called on geographers to "think in terms of continents." However, today this approach is no longer enough. global problems cannot be solved only “globally” and even “regional”. Their solution must begin with countries and regions.

That's why scientists put forward the slogan: "Think globally, act locally!" Considering global problems, you will need to summarize the knowledge gained from studying all the topics of the textbook.

Therefore, it is a more complex, synthesizing material. However, it should not be treated as purely theoretical. After all, in essence, global problems directly concern each of you as a small “particle” of the entire single and many-sided humanity.

The concept of global problems.

The last decades of the twentieth century posed many acute and complex problems before the peoples of the world, which are called global.

Global problems are called problems that cover the whole world, all of humanity, pose a threat to its present and future and require joint efforts, joint actions of all states and peoples for their solution.

In the scientific literature, one can find various lists of global problems, where their number varies from 8-10 to 40-45. This is explained by the fact that along with the main, priority global problems (which will be discussed further in the textbook), there is also a number of more particular, but also very important problems: for example, crime. Drug addiction, separatism, lack of democracy, man-made disasters, natural disasters. As already noted, the problem of international terrorism has recently acquired particular urgency, which in fact has also become one of the highest priorities.

There are also various classifications of global problems. But usually among them are distinguished: 1) problems of the most "universal" nature, 2) problems of a natural and economic nature, 3) problems of a social nature, 4) problems of a mixed nature.

There are also more "old" and more "new" global problems. Their priority may also change over time. So, at the end of the twentieth century. Ecological and demographic problems came to the fore, while the problem of preventing a third world war became less acute.

Ecological problem

"There is only one earth!" Back in the 40s. Academician V.I. Vernadsky (1863-1945), the founder of the doctrine of the noosphere (the sphere of the mind), wrote that the economic activity of people began to have no less strong impact on the geographical environment than the geological processes occurring in nature itself. Since then, the "metabolism" between society and nature has increased many times over and acquired a global scale. However, by "conquering" nature, people have largely undermined the natural foundations of their own life.

The intensive way consists primarily in increasing the biological productivity of existing lands. Of decisive importance for him will be biotechnology, the use of new, high-yielding varieties and new methods of tillage, the further development of mechanization, chemicalization, and reclamation, the history of which dates back several millennia, starting with Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and India.

Example. Only during the twentieth century the area of ​​irrigated land increased from 40 to 270 million hectares. Now these lands occupy about 20% of cultivated land, but provide up to 40% of agricultural products. Irrigated agriculture is used in 135 countries, with 3/5 of the irrigated land in Asia.

A new non-traditional way of food production is also being developed, which consists in the "design" of artificial food products based on protein from natural raw materials. Scientists have calculated that in order to provide the population of the Earth with food, it was necessary in the last quarter of the 20th century. to increase the volume of agricultural production by 2 times, and by the middle of the 21st century by 5 times. Calculations show that if the level of agriculture achieved so far in many developed countries were extended to all countries of the world, it would be possible to fully meet the food needs of 10 billion people and even more. . Hence , the intensive way is the main way to solve the food problem of mankind. Even now it provides 9/10 of the total increase in agricultural production. (Creative task 4.)

Energy and raw material problems: causes and solutions

First of all, these are the problems of reliable supply of mankind with fuel and raw materials. And earlier it happened that the problem of resource provision acquired a certain acuteness. But usually this applied to certain regions and countries with an “incomplete” composition of natural resources. On a global scale, it first manifested itself, perhaps, in the 70s, which can be explained by several reasons.

Among them, a very rapid growth in production with a relatively limited proven reserves of oil, natural gas and some other types of fuel and raw materials, deterioration of mining and geological conditions for production, an increase in the territorial gap between production and consumption areas, promotion of production to areas of new development with extreme natural conditions, the negative impact the industry for the extraction and processing of mineral raw materials on the ecological situation, etc. Therefore, in our era, more than ever before, it is necessary to rationally use mineral resources, which, as you know, belong to the category of exhaustible and non-renewable.

Enormous opportunities for this are opened up by the achievements of scientific and technological revolution, and at all stages of the technological chain. Thus, a more complete extraction of minerals from the bowels of the Earth is of great importance.

Example. With the existing methods of oil extraction, the coefficient of its extraction ranges from 0.25-0.45, which is clearly not enough and means that most of its geological reserves remain in the bowels of the earth. An increase in the oil recovery factor even by 1% gives a great economic effect.

Large reserves exist in increasing the efficiency of already extracted fuel and raw materials. Indeed, with existing equipment and technology, this coefficient is usually approximately 0.3. Therefore, in the literature one can come across the statement of one English physicist that the efficiency of modern power plants is approximately at the same level as if it were necessary to burn down a whole house in order to fry a pork carcass ... It is not surprising that in recent times especially great attention has been paid to not so much to a further increase in production, but to energy and material saving. GDP growth in many countries of the North has long been taking place virtually without an increase in the consumption of fuel and raw materials. In connection with the rise in oil prices, many countries are increasingly using non-traditional renewable energy sources (NRES) wind, solar, geothermal, biomass energy. NRES are inexhaustible and environmentally friendly. Work continues to increase the efficiency and reliability of nuclear power. The use of MHD generators, hydrogen energy and fuel cells has already begun. . And ahead is the mastery of controlled thermonuclear fusion, which is comparable to the invention of a steam engine or a computer. (Creative task 8.)

The problem of human health: a global aspect

Recently, in the world practice, when assessing the quality of life of people, the state of their health has been put forward in the first place. And this is no coincidence: after all, it is it that serves as the basis for the full life and activity of each person, and society as a whole.

In the second half of the twentieth century. great successes were achieved in the fight against many diseases - plague, cholera, smallpox, yellow fever, poliomyelitis, etc.

Example. In the 60-70s. The World Health Organization (WHO) has carried out a wide range of smallpox medical interventions that have covered more than 50 countries with a population of over 2 billion people. As a result, this disease on our planet has been virtually eliminated. .

Nevertheless, many diseases still continue to threaten people's lives, often acquiring a truly global distribution. . Among them are cardiovascular diseases, from which 15 million people die every year in the world, malignant tumors, sexually transmitted diseases, drug addiction, malaria. .

Smoking continues to cause great harm to the health of hundreds of millions of people. . But a very special threat to all mankind is AIDS.

Example. This disease, the appearance of which was noted only in the early 80s, is now called the plague of the twentieth century. According to the WHO, at the end of 2005, the total number of people infected with AIDS had already exceeded 45 million, and millions of people had already died from this disease. At the initiative of the United Nations, World AIDS Day is held annually.

When considering this topic, you should keep in mind that when assessing a person's health, one should not be limited only to his physiological health. This concept also includes moral (spiritual), mental health, with which the situation is also unfavorable, including in Russia. That's why human health continues to be one of the priority global problems(Creative task 6.)

The problem of using the oceans: a new stage

The world ocean, which occupies 71% of the Earth's surface, has always played an important role in the communication of countries and peoples. However, until the middle of the twentieth century. all human activities in the ocean gave only 1-2% of world income. But as the scientific and technological revolution developed, the comprehensive exploration and development of the World Ocean took on completely different scales.

Firstly, the aggravation of global energy and raw materials problems has led to the emergence of marine mining and chemical industries, marine energy. The achievements of scientific and technological revolution open up prospects for further increasing the production of oil and gas, ferromanganese nodules, for extracting the deuterium hydrogen isotope from sea water, for the construction of giant tidal power plants, and for desalination of sea water.

Secondly, the aggravation of the global food problem has increased interest in the biological resources of the ocean, which so far provide only 2% of the food "ration" of mankind (but 12-15% of animal protein). Of course, the production of fish and seafood can and should be increased. The potential for their removal without the threat of disturbing the existing balance is estimated by scientists from different countries from 100 to 150 million tons. An additional reserve is the development mariculture. . No wonder they say that fish, containing little fat and cholesterol, can be "the chicken of the XXI century."

Thirdly, the deepening of the international geographical division of labor, the rapid growth of world trade are accompanied by an increase in maritime transport. This, in turn, caused a shift in production and population to the sea and the rapid development of a number of coastal areas. Thus, many large seaports have turned into industrial port complexes, for which such industries as shipbuilding, oil refining, petrochemistry, metallurgy are most characteristic, and some of the newest industries have recently begun to develop. Coastal urbanization has taken on a huge scale.

The “population” of the Ocean itself has also increased (crews, personnel of drilling platforms, passengers and tourists), which now reaches 2-3 million people. It is possible that in the future it will increase even more in connection with projects for the creation of stationary or floating islands, as in Jules Verne's novel "The Floating Island" - islands. . It must not be forgotten that the Ocean serves as an important means of telegraph and telephone communication; Numerous cable lines are laid along its bottom. .

As a result of all industrial and scientific activities within the oceans of the world and the contact zone of the ocean, a special component of the world economy arose. maritime industry. It includes mining and manufacturing, energy, fisheries, transport, trade, recreation and tourism. Overall, the maritime industry employs at least 100 million people.

But such activity simultaneously gave rise to the global problem of the oceans. Its essence lies in the extremely uneven development of the resources of the Ocean, in the increasing pollution of the marine environment, in its use as an arena of military activity. As a result, over the past decades, the intensity of life in the World Ocean has decreased by 1/3. That is why the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted in 1982, which is called the "Charter of the Seas", is of great importance. It established economic zones 200 nautical miles from the coast, within which the coastal state can also exercise sovereign rights to exploit biological and mineral resources. The main way to solve the problem of using the World Ocean is rational oceanic nature management, a balanced, integrated approach to its riches, based on the combined efforts of the entire world community. (Creative task 5.)

Peaceful exploration of space: new horizons

Space is a global environment, the common property of mankind. Now that space programs have become much more complex, their implementation requires the concentration of technical, economic, and intellectual efforts of many countries and peoples. Therefore, space exploration has become one of the most important international, global problems.

In the second half of the twentieth century. two main directions in the study and use of outer space were identified: space geography and space production. Both of them from the very beginning became the arena of both bilateral and, in particular, multilateral cooperation.

Example 1 The international organization Intersputnik, headquartered in Moscow, was established in the early 1970s. Nowadays, more than 100 public and private companies in many countries of the world use space communications through the Intersputnik system.

Example 2 The work on the creation of the International Space Station (ISS) "Alte", carried out by the USA, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan, Canada, has been completed. . In its final form, the ISS consists of 36 block modules. International crews work at the station. And communication with the Earth is carried out with the help of American space shuttles and Russian Soyuz.

The peaceful exploration of outer space, which provides for the abandonment of military programs, is based on the use of the latest achievements in science and technology, production and management. It already provides tremendous space-based information about the Earth and its resources. The features of the future space industry, space technology, the use of space energy resources with the help of giant solar power plants, which will be placed in a heliocentric orbit at an altitude of 36 km, are becoming more and more distinct.

The relationship of global problems. Overcoming the backwardness of developing countries is the biggest global problem

As you have seen, each of the global problems of mankind has its own specific content. But all of them are closely interconnected: energy and raw materials with environmental, environmental with demographic, demographic with food, etc. The problem of peace and disarmament directly affects all other problems. However, now that the transition from an armaments economy to a disarmament economy has begun, the focus of most global problems is increasingly shifting to the countries of the developing world. . The scale of their backwardness is truly enormous (see Table 10).

The main manifestation and at the same time the cause of this backwardness is poverty, misery. More than 1.2 billion people, or 22% of the total population in these regions, live in extreme poverty in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Half of the poor people exist on $1 a day, the other half on $2. Poverty and poverty are especially characteristic of the countries of Tropical Africa, where almost half of the entire population lives on $1-2 a day. Residents of urban slums and rural hinterland are forced to be content with a standard of living that is 5-10% of the standard of living in the richest countries.

Perhaps the food problem has acquired the most dramatic even catastrophic character in the developing countries. Of course, hunger and malnutrition have existed in the world since the very beginning of human development. Already in the XIX - XX centuries. many millions of lives were taken away by outbreaks of famine in China, India, Ireland, many African countries and the Soviet Union. But the existence of famine in the era of scientific and technological revolution and overproduction of food in the economically developed countries of the West is truly one of the paradoxes of our time. It is also generated by the general backwardness and poverty of the developing countries, which have led to a huge backlog of agricultural production from the needs for its products.

Today, the “geography of hunger” in the world is determined primarily by the most backward, not affected by the “green revolution” countries of Africa and Asia, where a significant part of the population lives literally on the verge of starvation. More than 70 developing countries are forced to import food.

Due to diseases associated with malnutrition and hunger, lack of clean water, 40 million people die in developing countries every year (which is comparable to the human losses during the entire Second World War), including 13 million children. It is no coincidence that the African girl depicted on the poster of the UN Children's Fund answered the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” answers with only one word: “Alive!”

The demographic problem of developing countries is closely related to food . The population explosion has a contradictory effect on them. On the one hand, it provides a constant influx of fresh forces, the growth of labor resources, and on the other hand, it creates additional difficulties in the struggle to overcome economic backwardness, complicates the solution of many social issues, "eats" a significant part of their achievements, increases the "load" on the territory. In most countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, the rate of population growth outstrips the rate of food production.

You already know that recently the population explosion in developing countries has taken the form of an "urban explosion". But, despite this, the number of rural population in most of them not only does not decrease, but increases. Accordingly, the already huge agrarian overpopulation is increasing, which continues to support a wave of migration both to the “poverty belts” of large cities and abroad, to richer countries. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the refugees are in developing countries. Recently, more and more environmental refugees have joined the stream of economic refugees.

The specific age composition of the population of developing countries, already known to you, is directly related to the population explosion, where there are two dependents for every able-bodied person. [go]. The high proportion of young people exacerbates many social problems to the extreme. The ecological problem also has a direct connection with the food and demographic problems. Back in 1972, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called poverty the worst environmental pollution. Indeed, many of the developing countries are so poor, and the terms of international trade are so unfavorable for them, that often they have no choice but to continue to cut down rare forests, allow livestock to trample pastures, allow the transfer of "dirty" industries, etc., without caring. about future. This is the root cause of such processes as desertification, deforestation, soil degradation, reduction in the species composition of fauna and flora, water and air pollution. The special vulnerability of the nature of the tropics only exacerbates their consequences.

The plight of most developing countries has become a major human, global problem. Back in 1974, the UN adopted a program stipulating that in 1984 not a single person in the world would go to bed hungry.

That is why overcoming the backwardness of developing countries remains an extremely urgent task. . (Creative task 8.)

Global problems of mankind in the 21st century and possible solutions

Problems of a planetary scale are related to the global problems of mankind, and the fate of all mankind depends on their balanced solution. These problems are not isolated, they are interconnected and concern all aspects of the life of the people of our planet, regardless of their economic, social and cultural levels.

In modern society, it is necessary to clearly separate well-known problems from global ones in order to understand their cause and the whole world to begin to eliminate it.

After all, if we consider the problem of overpopulation, then humanity needs to understand that it can be easily dealt with if you do not spend a lot of money on wars and advertising, but provide access to the necessary resources, and throw all your efforts into the formation of material and cultural wealth.

Here the question arises, what are the true global problems that concern humanity in the twenty-first century?

The world society stepped into the 21st century with the same problems and threats to life on earth as before. Let's take a closer look at some of the problems of our time. Threats to humanity in the 21st century include:

Ecological problems

Much has already been said about such a negative phenomenon for life on Earth as global warming. Scientists to this day find it difficult to give an accurate answer about the future of the climate, and what may follow the increase in temperature on the planet. After all, the consequences can be such that the temperature will rise until the winters disappear altogether, or it can be the other way around, and global cooling will come.

And since the point of no return in this matter has already been passed, and it is impossible to stop it, it is necessary to look for ways to control and adapt to this problem.

Such catastrophic consequences were caused by the rash activities of people who, for the sake of profit, were engaged in the robbery of natural resources, lived one day and did not think about what this could lead to.

Of course, the international community is trying to start solving this problem, but so far somehow not as actively as we would like. And in the future, the climate will definitely continue to change, but in which direction, it is still difficult to predict.

The threat of war

Also, one of the main global problems is the threat of various kinds of military conflicts. And, unfortunately, the trend towards its disappearance is not yet foreseen, but on the contrary, it only sharpens.

At all times, there have been confrontations between central and peripheral countries, where the former tried to make the latter dependent and, naturally, the latter tried to get away from it, also with the help of wars.

The main ways and means of solving global problems

Unfortunately, the ways to overcome all the global problems of mankind have not yet been found. But in order for a positive shift to occur in their solution, it is necessary that mankind direct its activities towards the preservation of the natural environment, peaceful existence and the creation of favorable living conditions for future generations.

Therefore, the main methods for solving global problems remain, first of all, the formation of consciousness and a sense of responsibility of all citizens of the planet without exception for their actions.

It is necessary to continue a comprehensive study of the causes of various internal and international conflicts and the search for ways to resolve them.

It will not be superfluous to constantly inform citizens about global problems, involving the public in their control and further forecasting.

Ultimately, each person must take responsibility for the future of our planet and take care of it. To do this, it is necessary to look for ways to interact with the outside world, develop new technologies, conserve resources, look for alternative energy sources, etc.

Maksakovskiy V.P., Geography. Economic and social geography of the world 10 cells. : studies. for general education institutions

Modernity is a series of social problems in the development of civilization, which, however, are not limited to the exclusively social aspect, and affect almost all areas of society: economic, political, environmental, psychological. These problems have been formed over many years, which are characterized by the rapid development of various spheres of human life, and therefore the ways to solve them do not have unambiguous options.

Philosophy and global problems of our time

Awareness of any problems is the first stage in their solution, because only understanding can lead to effective actions. For the first time, the global problems of our time were comprehended by philosophers. Indeed, who, if not philosophers, will be engaged in understanding the dynamics of the development of civilization? After all, global problems require a full-fledged analysis and consideration of different points of view.

The main global problems of our time

So, he is engaged in the study of global processes. They arise as an objective factor of human existence, i.e. arise from human activities. The global problems of our time are not numerous:

1. The so-called "negligible aging". This problem was first voiced in 1990 by Caleb Finch. This is about expanding the boundaries of life expectancy. A lot of scientific research is devoted to this topic, which were aimed at studying the causes of aging and methods that can slow it down or completely cancel it. However, as practice shows, the solution of this issue is a rather distant point.
2. The North-South problem. It includes an understanding of the great gap in the development of northern and southern countries. Thus, in most states of the South, the concepts of "hunger" and "poverty" are still a pressing problem for large parts of the population.
3. The problem of preventing thermonuclear war. It implies the damage that can be inflicted on all mankind in the event of the use of nuclear or thermonuclear weapons. The problem of peace between peoples and political forces, the struggle for common prosperity is also acute here.
4. Pollution prevention and ecological balance.
5. Global warming.
6. The problem of diseases: AIDS, oncological and cardiovascular diseases.
7. demographic imbalance.
8. Terrorism.

Global problems of our time: what are the solutions?

1. Negligible aging. Modern science is taking steps towards the study of aging, but the question of the appropriateness of this is still relevant. In the mythological traditions of different peoples, one can come across the idea of ​​eternal life, however, the elements that make up the concept of evolution today conflict with the idea of ​​eternal life and prolongation of youth.
2. The problem of the North and the South, which consists in the illiteracy and poverty of the population of the southern countries, is solved with the help of charitable actions, but it cannot be solved until the countries lagging behind in development become developed in political and economic aspects.
3. The problem of preventing the use of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, in fact, cannot be exhausted as long as the capitalist understanding of relations dominates in society. Only with the transition to another level of evaluation of human life and peaceful coexistence can the problem be solved. Acts and treaties concluded between countries on non-use are not a 100% guarantee that war will not start one day.
4. The problem of maintaining the ecological balance of the planet today is being solved with the help of political forces representing which it worries, as well as with the help of organizations that are trying to save endangered species of animals, are planting plants and organizing events and actions that are aimed at drawing public attention to this problem. . However, a technological society is unlikely to be able to save the environment at 100%.
5. Questions about global warming have been worrying scientists for a long time, but the causes that cause warming cannot be eliminated at the moment.
6. The problems of incurable diseases at the present stage find a partial solution offered by medicine. Fortunately, today this issue is relevant for scientific knowledge and the state allocates funds to ensure that these problems are studied and effective medicines are invented by physicians.
7. The demographic imbalance between the countries of the south and the north finds a solution in the form of legislative acts: for example, Russian legislation encourages high birth rates in the form of additional payments to large families, and, for example, Japanese legislation, on the contrary, limits the ability of families to have many children.
8. At present, the problem of terrorism is very acute after a number of resonant tragic cases. The internal security services of states are doing everything possible to counter terrorism on the territory of their country and prevent the unification of terrorist organizations on an international scale.