The most urgent global problems. What are global issues? Global problems of the modern world

In the course of the development of civilization, complex problems, sometimes of a planetary nature, repeatedly arose before humanity. But still, it was a distant prehistory, a kind of "incubation period" of modern global problems.

They manifested themselves in full measure already in the second half, and especially in the last quarter of the 20th century. Such problems were brought to life by a complex of reasons that clearly manifested themselves precisely during this period.

In fact, never before has humanity itself increased in numbers by 2.5 times during the lifetime of only one generation, thereby increasing the strength of the “demographic press”. Never before has mankind entered into, has not reached the post-industrial stage of development, has not opened the road to space. Never before has it required so many natural resources and “waste” returned to the environment for its life support. This is all from the 60's and 70's. 20th century attracted the attention of scientists, politicians, and the general public to global problems.

Global problems are problems that: firstly, concern all mankind, affecting the interests and destinies of all countries, peoples, social strata; secondly, they lead to significant economic and social losses, in case of their aggravation, they can threaten the very existence of human civilization;
thirdly, they can be solved only with cooperation in the planetary sphere.

Priority problems of mankind are:

the problem of peace and disarmament;
ecological;
demographic;
energy;
raw materials;
food;
use of the resources of the oceans;
peaceful exploration of outer space;
overcoming the backwardness of developing countries.

The essence of global problems and possible solutions

The issue of peace and disarmament- the problem of preventing a third world war remains the most important, the highest priority problem of mankind. In the second half of the XX century. nuclear weapons appeared and there was a real threat of destruction of entire countries and even continents, i.e. virtually all modern life.

Solutions:

Establishing strict control over nuclear and chemical weapons;
Reducing conventional armaments and the arms trade;
A general reduction in military spending and the size of the armed forces.

Ecological- degradation of the global ecological system, as a result of irrational and pollution of its waste of human activity.

Solutions:

Optimization of the use of natural resources in the process of social production;
Protection of nature from the negative consequences of human activity;
Environmental safety of the population;
Creation of specially protected territories.

Demographic- continuation of the population explosion, the rapid growth of the population of the Earth and, as a result, the overpopulation of the planet.

Solutions:

Carrying out thoughtful .

Fuel and raw- the problem of reliable supply of mankind with fuel and energy, as a result of the rapid growth in the consumption of natural mineral resources.

Solutions:

Increasingly widespread use of energy and heat (solar, wind, tidal, etc.). Development ;

food- According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and WHO (World Health Organization), from 0.8 to 1.2 billion people are hungry and malnourished in the world.

Solutions:

An extensive solution lies in the expansion of arable land, grazing and fishing grounds.
The intensive path is an increase in production through mechanization, automation of production, through the development of new technologies, the development of high-yielding, disease-resistant plant varieties and animal breeds.

Use of the resources of the oceans- at all stages of human civilization was one of the most important sources of sustaining life on Earth. At present, the ocean is not just a single natural space, but also a natural and economic system.

Solutions:

Creation of the global structure of the maritime economy (allocation of oil production zones, fishing and zones), improvement of the infrastructure of port industrial complexes.
Protection of the waters of the oceans from pollution.
Prohibition of military testing and disposal of nuclear waste.

Peaceful space exploration. Space is a global environment, the common heritage of mankind. Testing different kinds of weapons can threaten the entire planet at once. "Littering" and "littering" of outer space.

Solutions:

"Non-militarization" of outer space.
International cooperation in space exploration.

Overcoming the backwardness of developing countries- most of the world's population lives in poverty and misery, which can be considered extreme forms of underdevelopment. Per capita income in some countries is less than $1 a day.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….3

1. The concept of global problems of modern society…………………….5

2. Ways to solve global problems…………………………………………….15

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….20

List of used literature…………………………………………...23

Introduction.

The control work in sociology is presented on the topic: "Global problems of modern society: the causes of their occurrence and aggravation at the present stage of human development."

The purpose of the control work will be the following - to consider the causes of global problems of modern society and their aggravation.

Tasks control work :

1. Expand the concept of global problems of modern society, their causes.

2. To characterize the ways of solving global problems at the present stage of human development.

It should be noted that sociology studies the social.

Social in our life is a combination of certain properties and features of social relations, integrated by individuals or communities in the process of joint activity (interaction) in specific conditions and manifested in their relationship to each other, to their position in society, to the phenomena and processes of social life .

Any system of social relations (economic, political, cultural and spiritual) concerns the relationship of people to each other and to society, and therefore has its own social aspect.

A social phenomenon or process occurs when the behavior of even one individual is influenced by another or a group (community), regardless of their physical presence.

Sociology is designed to study just that.

On the one hand, the social is a direct expression of social practice, on the other hand, it is subject to constant change due to the impact of this very social practice on it.

Sociology is faced with the task of cognition in the social, stable, essential and at the same time constantly changing, analysis of the relationship between constant and variable in a particular state of a social object.

In reality, a specific situation acts as an unknown social fact that must be recognized in the interests of practice.

A social fact is a single socially significant event typical of a given sphere of social life.

Humanity has survived the tragedy of two of the most destructive and bloody world wars.

New means of labor and household appliances; the development of education and culture, the assertion of the priority of human rights, etc., provide opportunities for human improvement and a new quality of life.

But there are a number of problems to which it is necessary to find an answer, a way, that solution, that way out of a disastrous situation.

So relevance control work is that now global problems - this is a multidimensional series of negative phenomena that you need to know and understand how to get out of them.

The control work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, a list of references.

We were greatly helped in writing the control work by such authors as V.E. Ermolaev, Yu.V. Irkhin, Maltsev V.A.

1. The concept of global problems of our time

It is believed that the global problems of our time are generated precisely by the all-penetrating uneven development of world civilization, when the technical power of mankind has immeasurably exceeded the level of social organization it has achieved and political thinking has clearly lagged behind political reality.

Also, the motives of human activity and its moral values are very far from the social, environmental and demographic foundations of the era.

Global (from French Global) is universal, (lat. Globus) is a ball.

Based on this, the meaning of the word "global" can be defined as:

1) covering the entire globe, worldwide;

2) comprehensive, complete, universal.

The present time is the boundary of the change of epochs, the entry of the modern world into a qualitatively new phase of development.

Therefore, the most characteristic features of the modern world will be:

information revolution;

acceleration of modernization processes;

compaction of space;

acceleration of historical and social time;

the end of the bipolar world (confrontation between the US and Russia);

revision of the Eurocentric point of view on the world;

the growth of the influence of the Eastern states;

integration (rapprochement, interpenetration);

globalization (strengthening interconnection, interdependence of countries and peoples);

strengthening of national cultural values and traditions.

So, global problems- this is a set of problems of mankind, on the solution of which the existence of civilization depends and, therefore, requiring concerted international action to solve them.

Now let's try to find out what they have in common.

These problems are characterized by dynamism, they arise as an objective factor in the development of society, and for their solution they require the combined efforts of all mankind. Global problems are interconnected, cover all aspects of people's lives and concern all countries of the world. It has become obvious that global problems not only concern all of humanity, but are also vital to it. The complex problems facing humanity can be considered global, because:

firstly, they affect all mankind, touching the interests and destinies of all countries, peoples and social strata;

secondly, global problems do not recognize borders;

thirdly, they lead to significant losses of an economic and social nature, and sometimes to a threat to the existence of civilization itself;

fourthly, they require broad international cooperation to solve these problems, since no state, no matter how powerful it may be, is not able to solve them on its own.

The relevance of the global problems of mankind is due to the action of a number of factors, the main of which include:
1. A sharp acceleration of the processes of social development.

Such acceleration clearly showed itself already in the first decades of the 20th century. It became even more evident in the second half of the century. The reason for the accelerated development of socio-economic processes is scientific and technological progress.

In just a few decades of scientific and technological revolution, more changes have occurred in the development of productive forces and social relations than in any similar period of time in the past.

Moreover, each subsequent change in the ways of human activity occurs at shorter intervals.

In the course of scientific and technological progress, the earth's biosphere has been powerfully affected by various types of human activity. The anthropogenic impact of society on nature has increased dramatically.
2. Population Growth. He posed a number of problems for mankind, first of all, the problem of providing food and other means of subsistence. At the same time, environmental problems associated with the conditions of human society have become aggravated.
3. The problem of nuclear weapons and nuclear catastrophe.
These and some other problems affect not only individual regions or countries, but humanity as a whole. For example, the effects of a nuclear test are felt everywhere. The depletion of the ozone layer, caused largely by the violation of the hydrocarbon balance, is felt by all the inhabitants of the planet. The use of chemicals used to control pests in fields can cause mass poisoning in regions and countries geographically distant from the place where contaminated products are produced.
Thus, the global problems of our time are a complex of the most acute socio-natural contradictions affecting the world as a whole, and with it local regions and countries.

Global problems must be distinguished from regional, local and local.
Regional problems include a range of acute issues that arise within individual continents, large socio-economic regions of the world or in large states.

The concept of "local" refers to the problems of either individual states, or large areas of one or two states (for example, earthquakes, floods, other natural disasters and their consequences, local military conflicts, the collapse of the Soviet Union, etc.).

Local problems arise in certain regions of states, cities (for example, conflicts between the population and the administration, temporary difficulties with water supply, heating, etc.). However, one should not forget that unresolved regional, local and local problems can acquire a global character. For example, the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant directly affected only a number of regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (a regional problem), but if the necessary security measures are not taken, its consequences may in one way or another affect other countries, and even acquire a global character. Any local military conflict can gradually turn into a global one if in its course the interests of a number of countries other than its participants are affected, as evidenced by the history of the emergence of the first and second world wars, etc.
On the other hand, since global problems, as a rule, are not solved on their own, and even with targeted efforts, a positive result is not always achieved, in the practice of the world community, they are trying, if possible, to transfer them into local ones (for example, to legally limit the birth rate in a number of individual countries with population explosion), which, of course, does not exhaustively solve the global problem, but gives a certain gain in time before the onset of catastrophic consequences.
Thus, global problems affect the interests not only of individuals, nations, countries, continents, but may affect the prospects for the future development of the world; they are not solved by themselves and even by the efforts of individual countries, but require purposeful and organized efforts of the entire world community. Unresolved global problems can lead in the future to serious, even irreversible consequences for humans and their environment. Generally recognized global problems are: environmental pollution, the problem of resources, demography and nuclear weapons; a number of other problems.
The development of a classification of global problems was the result of long-term research and generalization of the experience of several decades of studying them.

Mankind are those situations on the solution of which the further existence and development of civilization directly depends. The emergence of such problems is due to the uneven development of various areas of life and knowledge of people and the emergence of contradictions in the socio-economic, political and natural system of relations.

Thus, global problems are understood as those that affect the lives of all people on the planet, and the solution of which requires the joint efforts of all states. As for the list of these situations, it looks like this:

Poverty.
food difficulties.
Energy.
Demographic crisis.
Exploration of the oceans.

This list is dynamic, and its building blocks change as civilization progresses rapidly. As a result, not only its composition changes, but also the level of priority of a particular problem.

Note that every global problem of mankind has causes of occurrence, these are:

Increasing the use of natural resources.
Deterioration of the ecological situation on the planet, the negative impact of the development of industrial production.
Increasing disparity between developed and developing countries.
The creation of weapons that can destroy masses of people, thus threatening the existence of civilization as a whole.

In order to get acquainted with this issue in more detail, it is necessary to study in detail the existing global problems of mankind. Philosophy is just concerned not only with their study, but also with an analysis of the possible impact that they will have in one case or another on society as a whole.

Note that this situation is resolvable only if certain requirements are met. Thus, the prevention of a world war is possible when the pace of development of the arms race is significantly reduced, and a ban is adopted on the creation and demand for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Also, some of the global problems of mankind can be resolved by overcoming the cultural and economic inequality between the population of the countries of the West and the East, which are developed, and other, underdeveloped, states of Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Let us note that overcoming the crisis that has arisen between man and nature will be of great importance. Otherwise, the consequences will be catastrophic: complete and depletion of natural resources. Thus, these global problems of mankind require people to develop measures aimed at more economical use of the available resource potential and the reduction of water and air with various kinds of waste.

Also an important point that will help stop the impending crisis is a decrease in population growth in countries with a less developed economic system, as well as an increase in the birth rate in developed capitalist states.

Remember that the global problems of mankind and their negative impact can be overcome by reducing the consequences of the scientific and technological revolution in the world, as well as strengthening the fight against alcoholism, drug addiction, and smoking. AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases that undermine the health of nations as a whole.

Note that these problems require an immediate solution, otherwise the world will fall into a persistent crisis, which may entail irreparable consequences. Do not think that this will not affect us. It must be remembered that the change of the situation depends on the participation of each person. Do not stand aside, because these problems concern each of us.

Recently, you have been hearing more and more about globalization (from the English global world, worldwide), which means a sharp expansion and deepening of 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 those 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: 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, its recovery factor fluctuates between 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 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

At the present stage of the development of civilization, questions have arisen as acute as never before, without the solution of which the further progressive movement of mankind along the path of economic progress is impossible. Despite the fact that it is only a part of universal human activity, from its development in the XXI century. the problems of security and peace, the natural environment and, as well as moral, religious and philosophical values \u200b\u200bare more dependent.

The significance of global problems especially increased in the second half of the 20th century. It is they who significantly affect the structure of the national and. Historically, the world economy as a whole has developed by the beginning of the twentieth century. as a result of the involvement in world economic relations of most of the countries of the world. By this time it was finished territorial division of the world, the world economy has formed two poles. At one pole were industrialized countries, and on the other - their colonies - agricultural raw material appendages. The latter were drawn into long before the establishment of national markets there. The involvement of these countries in world economic relations actually took place not in connection with the needs of their own development, but was a product of the expansion of industrialized countries. The world economy formed in this way, even after the former colonies gained independence, for many years preserved the relationship between the center and the periphery. This is where the current global problems and contradictions originate.

As a rule, huge material and financial resources are required to solve global problems. The main criteria for classifying a particular problem as a global one is considered to be its scale and the need for joint efforts to eliminate it.

Global problems- discrepancies between the most significant planetary needs and the possibility of their satisfaction by the joint efforts of mankind in a certain period of time.

Examples of global problems of the world

Global problems of mankind - these are problems that affect the vital interests of the entire population of the planet and require the joint efforts of all states of the world to solve them.

In modern conditions, global problems include:

Other global problems are also emerging.

Classification of global problems

Exceptional difficulties and high costs for solving global problems require their reasonable classification.

According to their origin, nature and ways of solving global problems, according to the classification adopted by international organizations, they are divided into three groups. first group constitute problems determined by the main socio-economic and political tasks of mankind. These include the preservation of peace, the cessation of the arms race and disarmament, the non-militarization of outer space, the creation of favorable conditions for world social progress, and overcoming the developmental lag in countries with low per capita incomes.

Second group covers a complex of problems revealed in the triad "man - society - technology". These problems should take into account the effectiveness of the use of scientific and technical progress in the interests of harmonious social development and the elimination of the negative impact of technology on humans, population growth, the establishment of human rights in the state, its release from the excessively increased control of state institutions, especially over personal freedom as an essential component of human rights.

Third group represented by problems associated with socio-economic processes and the environment, i.e., the problems of relations along the line of society - nature. This includes solving the raw material, energy and food problems, overcoming the environmental crisis, covering more and more new areas and capable of destroying human life.

The end of the XX and the beginning of the XXI centuries. led to the development of a number of local, specific issues of development of countries and regions into the category of global ones. However, it should be recognized that internationalization played a decisive role in this process.

The number of global problems is growing, in some publications of recent years more than twenty problems of our time are named, but most authors identify four main global problems: environmental, peacekeeping and disarmament, demographic, fuel and raw materials.

The scale, place and role of individual global problems are changing. The environmental problem has now come to the fore, although until recently the struggle for the preservation of peace and disarmament occupied its place. Changes are also taking place within global problems: some of their components lose their former significance and new ones appear. Thus, in the problem of the struggle for peace and disarmament, the main emphasis began to be placed on the reduction of means of mass destruction, the non-proliferation of mass weapons, the development and implementation of measures for the conversion of military production; in the fuel and raw materials problem, a real possibility of the exhaustibility of a number of non-renewable natural resources has appeared, and in the demographic problem, new tasks have arisen associated with a significant expansion of international migration of the population, labor resources, etc.

It's obvious that global problems are closely interconnected. For example, the severity of the food problem is exacerbated by the outpacing growth of population compared to the growth of agricultural production in many developing countries. To solve the food problem, it is necessary to use the resource potential of industrialized countries or international organizations that develop and implement special assistance programs. Consideration of the impact of global problems on the formation of the world economy requires their detailed analysis and assessment from the standpoint of both individual countries and the world community as a whole. Features of the world development of the second half
20th century consist in the fact that it has become a constant factor influencing all spheres of economic activity. Economic activity has spread to such territories and areas that were previously not accessible to man (the World Ocean, the polar zones, outer space, etc.).

The accelerated development of productive forces, the planned nature and global scale of technical progress, if not supported by a perfect management mechanism, can lead to irreversible negative consequences. In particular, the unevenness in economic development between countries will increase even more, the gap between the levels of material and spiritual culture of mankind will increase, there will be an imbalance in the biosphere, environmental degradation can lead to the impossibility of life on Earth.

This food crisis requires the development of a joint international strategy for the production, redistribution and consumption of food. Even with the current methods of tillage, according to the calculations of British experts, it is possible to provide food for more than 10 billion people. All this indicates an extremely unproductive use of cultivated land.

Solving the problem of developing countries requires overcoming their economic and scientific and technological backwardness, and this is associated with the evolution of the economic space, which will lead to radical socio-economic transformations, the elimination of backward forms of land use and the rise of agriculture based on the introduction of scientific methods of its management.

In this situation, Russia and the countries should pay attention first of all to preserving and increasing the potential of fertile agricultural lands, increasing the productivity of agricultural production, as well as systems for storing and distributing products.

The problem of military spending

After graduation World War II gigantic efforts are being made by the world community to preserve peace and disarmament. However, mankind still spends huge amounts of money on weapons. Military spending hinders economic and technological development, increases and promotes inflation, distracts people and from solving pressing social problems, increases external debt, and has a negative impact on international relations and their stability.

The negative impact of military spending on the economic development of the country can be long-term. Excessive military spending of the past years is a heavy burden on countries with a low level of development of the economic space, which at the present stage of the world economy include many developing countries.

At the same time, zones of regional and local conflicts have arisen and are expanding, provoking external intervention, increasingly with the use of military force. Participants in such confrontations already possess or in the near future may become possessors of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. This forces many countries to maintain a high level of military spending in their budgets.

At the same time, the reduction of military potential, especially in the largest states, such as Russia, faces many complex issues, because the military-industrial complex represents thousands of enterprises and millions of people employed in them. In addition, the world arms trade is still one of the most profitable types of business, which annually brings our country an income of 3-4 billion dollars.

Under the conditions of economic instability, limitations and lack of the necessary funds, the reduction of the armed forces and disarmament in Russia gives rise to additional economic and social problems. Disarmament and reduction of military production in a number of cases does not lead to the release of funds, but requires significant material and financial resources.

Thus, ensuring security and maintaining peace on the planet is possible with close cooperation between countries, reasonable use of available resources aimed at eliminating the general military threat and nuclear war.

The development of the productive forces of the world economy requires not only a constant influx of material and fuel and energy resources, but also the use of significant monetary and financial resources.

The transformation of the world economy into a single market for goods, services, labor, capital and knowledge leads to a higher stage of internationalization (globalization). The single world market creates a volume of economic space and plays an extremely important role in servicing the restructuring of national economies. At the same time, it can contribute to the deepening of disproportions in the world economy.

Global goals of humanity

The priority global goals of humanity are as follows:

in the political sphere - reducing the likelihood and in the long term the complete elimination of military conflicts, preventing violence in international relations;
in the economic and environmental spheres - the development and implementation of resource and energy saving technologies, the transition to non-traditional energy sources, the development and widespread use of environmental technologies;
in the social sphere - raising the standard of living, global efforts to preserve people's health, the creation of a world food supply system;
in the cultural and spiritual sphere - the restructuring of the mass moral consciousness in accordance with today's realities.

Taking steps towards the realization of these goals constitutes a strategy for the survival of mankind.

Emerging Global Issues

As the world economy develops, new global problems arise and will continue to arise.

In modern conditions, a new, already formed global problem is space exploration. Man's spacewalk was an important impetus for the development of both fundamental science and applied research. Modern communication systems, forecasting of many natural disasters, remote exploration of minerals - this is only a small part of what has become a reality thanks to space flights. At the same time, the scale of financial expenditures necessary for the further exploration of outer space today already exceeds the capabilities of not only individual states, but also groups of countries. Exceptionally expensive components of research are the creation and launch of spacecraft, the maintenance of space stations. Thus, the cost of manufacturing and launching the Progress cargo spacecraft is $22 million, the Soyuz manned spacecraft is $26 million, the Proton spacecraft is $80 million, and the Shuttle space shuttle is $500 million. The annual operation of the International Space Station (ISS) costs about $6 billion.

Enormous capital investments are required for the implementation of projects related to the exploration and prospective development of other planets of the solar system. As a result, the interests of space exploration objectively imply broad interstate cooperation in this area, the development of large-scale international cooperation in the preparation and conduct of space research.

Emerging global problems currently include study of the structure of the Earth and control of weather and climate. Like space exploration, the solution of these two problems is possible only on the basis of broad international cooperation. Moreover, the management of weather and climate requires, among other things, the global harmonization of the behavioral norms of economic entities in order to minimize the harmful impact of economic activity on the environment everywhere.