The Most Important Current Global Issues and of Pakistan

They are-

• Climate Change. The global temperatures are rising, and are estimated to increase from 2.6 degrees Celsius to 4.8 degrees Celsius by 2100. …
• Pollution. …
• Violence. …
• Security and Well Being. …
• Lack of Education. …
• Unemployment. …
• Government Corruption. …
• Malnourishment & Hunger.
• Water Contamination and Shortage: 2.1 billion people in countries undergoing urbanization have inaccessibility to clean drinking water as a result of pollution, poverty and poor management of resources. Water resources are depleted by agriculture and industry energy production. To put into perspective, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of the reduction of water around the world, with 75 percent of a given countries’ water used for this purpose and depleted by contamination. Fortunately, there has been a recent increase in efforts to develop technology to combat contamination and reduce the rate of water depletion.
• The Relationship between Education and Child Labor: Despite a surge in funding for some countries and increasing attention through social media, education continues to be a luxury around the globe. Reasons include gender preferences and poverty, and child labor — the use of children in industry. According to UNICEF, 150 million children participate in laborious activities dangerous to their health. As one can imagine, this work hinders a child’s ability to fully invest in education. Therefore it’s most challenging to bring education to sub-Saharan Africa, where the rates of children enrolled in primary education continue to stagger. In addition, fewer students successfully complete secondary education here.
• Violence: Violence is a global issue that exists in all shapes and sizes. Violence can be done towards a particular group like women or LGBTQ+ members, or it is an act that can be a result of a mentally disturbed mind. There is also violence in response to economic stress. All these varying forms of violence lead to attention on the safety and prevention of such acts. However, there isn’t much consideration on how an everyday person can help. In discussions about violence, the biggest questions to answer are: How is this violence used? How is it achieved/accessed? Do the media have a role? How much is the foundation for a particular act of violence is personal? What is the overall goal?
• Poverty: In 2015, the International Poverty Line was set to $1.90. This number means that a person is living in extreme poverty if they live below this line. According to this set line, more than 1.3 billion people are living in this extreme worldwide. This fact suggests that 1.3 billion people have difficulty obtaining food and shelter, regardless of the availability of homeless shelters and organizations. Current questions or topics to explore in an essay or research would be the cause of variation in wages on the international level, and the nature and initiatives that can be taken to solve this global issue at large.
• Inequality: On a global scale, the focus on inequality tends to be in terms of the distribution of wealth. According to a Global Wealth Report, 44 percent of global net worth is held by only 0.7 percent of adults. This suggests that there is a significant division between economic classes around the world. Recently, research has shown the effects that this economic divide has on communities particularly in health, social relationships, development and stability. For example, in a society where there’s a large gap between the rich and the poor, life expectancy tends to be shorter and mental illness and obesity rates are 2 to 4 times higher. In terms of social relationships, inequality on a larger level introduces more violence and crime.
• Terrorism: Terrorism like the bombing incidents of the last few years continue to claim the lives of innocents. It is a threat to the peace, security and stability of the world, so terrorism prevention methods have been implemented to illustrate what is wrong and should be/could be done to uphold justice. However, the basis of the threats, mindsets and the successes/failures of response efforts still need to be evaluated.
• Child Marriages: Child marriages are defined as the union between one or two individuals under the age of 18. One in five girls are married before the age of 18, and child marriages prevent children from becoming educated, can lead to severe health consequences and increased risk of violence. Legislation and programs were established in order to educate and employ children in these situations as child marriages do not have enough awareness on individual involvement or emphasis on the common causes for these marriages.
• Food: Poverty, economic inequality and water contamination mean inability to produce sufficient amounts of food to sustain a population. This can, in turn, lead to poorer health and decreased energy to carry out physical and mental functions, leading to more poverty. By 2050, the world would need to find food for approximately nine billion people as cost of production for food will rise in response to the increased amount of individuals. Thus, the United Nations established programs to ensure food security and technology companies make efforts to reduce food production costs.

Pakistan has faced major challenges in its socioeconomic situation over past seventy years. However, not all problems have been overcome. The key problems of today include: water scarcity; the lack of sustainable development projects; an increasingly unemployed youth population; the lack of focus on human development projects; a continuous reduction in the foreign exchange reserves; the increase in non-developmental expenditures; the increase in public debt; the unequal distribution of wealth; the rising deprivation in Baluchistan, interior Sindh, and Southern Punjab; unpleasant relations in the region, especially with the eastern and western neighbors; the poor condition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and the failure to effectively implement the local bodies system, which is considered the basis for democracy.

One of the major issues the country is facing is a shortage of water. It is necessary that work on small dams rather than going for big dams.

If these dams are not constructed, Pakistan will face a drinking water crisis and its agriculture sector will be destroyed. In Pakistan, agriculture has a deep connection with other industries, such as the textile and pesticide industries. Due to a lack of water, both agriculture and agriculture-related industries are on the brink of total collapse. The agricultural sector is affected by both the lack of water as well as the government’s neglect: such as not providing reasonable support prices or subsidies on fertilizers and seeds.

 Public debt is increasing because of which we must pay attention to the value of the rupee. Current debt of Pakistan is 85.5% of GDP. Aroid $ 204.77 billion is the current size of the debt

Air pollution is another major issue. The country’s climate is getting worse day by day, for which trees must be planted. The increasing severity of floods and silting of dams is leading to decrease in their storage capacity as a result of deforestation.

In the future, the water crisis will more serious than the load shedding crisis. While the load shedding crisis has been to overcome, our transmission lines are worn out which causes the entire power system to keep on tripping. Timely action is needed to address this issue so that the requirements of the growing population can be fulfilled. Today there continues to be load shading despite having no shortfall. Thus, even if we were able to generate more electricity, load shedding would still not be reduced because of the lack of capacity in the transmission system.

There is a lack of sustainable development projects in Pakistan. The number of youth in our country is constantly increasing, which means that unemployment is growing rapidly as well. That is why technical education needs to be provided. B-Tech education and other technical education should be made available to everyone. The maximum number of youth possible should be equipped with the skills they need to earn money abroad so that they can contribute to the gross national product (GNP).

The country’s current population is more than 210 million. The growing population has a negative impact on the country reserves and depletes resources. Unchecked population growth can be extremely detrimental to Pakistan’s development. For this, a family planning emergency must be triggered and must be enforced.

The country faces an unequal distribution of wealth. In Musharraf’s era, this phenomenon increased rapidly because most of the economic experts at the time belonged to the banking sector. This meant that the agricultural sector was ignored and the small and medium business sector was also affected. The rich became richer and the poor became poorer. Afterwards, the Pakistan Peoples’ Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz came into power which allowed this difference to be narrowed down. This suggests that democracy is a good option to achieve equal distribution of wealth. The local bodies system from Article 140 of the constitution states that power should be transferred to the lower levels of government. When this transition finally occurs, it will improve the condition of the public as well.

The country’s tax net needs to expand as only a small segment of the population pays tax. Landlords, civil and military bureaucracy, large companies, bank owners, and housing society owners are included in the elite of Pakistan and are given special privileges in the form of tax cuts to avoid certain taxes.

Our commercial banks should invest in the SME sector. Projects like the Benazir Income Support Fund will not end poverty, but may rather create a huge population of poor people that are dependent on social welfare. Dr Younus’s microfinance model can be implemented to revive the country’s economy.

Non-developmental funds should be reduced. Attention needs to be paid to issues like food security, education, and health. In our country, 3.5pc of the GDP is spent on health and 2.8pc goes to education (as per budget 2016-17). Both of these sectors need significant increase in budget.

If the democratic government including of Imran Khan plays more proactive as well as assertive role in foreign policy, it is likely that relations with Afghanistan and India would improve. Spending on defense could be reduced and this money could be applied to development projects, health, and education.

The most important thing that should be focused on is strengthening the democracy. In the past, most of the worst decisions took place under dictators. For example, if democracy had continued after Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the country would not have taken part in the Afghan war and in the Musharraf era, the load shedding problem would have not arisen. The country’s future possibilities for development and prosperity depend on the continuation of democracy in the country.