1 Our future Challenges
There is nothing safe in the world. Even some things that may be ahead are now very, very likely. If we think of anything that could happen in the short term of maybe five years or less, then such future challenges can for the most part be ignored by most individuals and organizations. This would be fatal for the future of all animal and plant species on planet earth. However, any credible long-term planning should really include an awareness of the following:
2 Climate change
There are many reports and scientific studies that can check the harmful effects of human activities on climate. According to the Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), "global warming is unequivocal" and "human influence on the climate system is clear." In turn, this will have "widespread impacts on human and natural systems," with any attempt to limit climate change that requires "substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions." The situation is so critical that governments must be committed to taking some kind of action. The human beings will be affected in one way or another by all those consequences derived from the climatic change. In fact, even if you do not believe the scientists or their reports, at some point you will have to accept the reality and feel the consequences of everything that could happen.
3 Peak Oil
In the last two years, the global depletion of oil has fallen somewhat with the appearance of renewable fuels. In addition, the United States and other developed nations have begun to significantly exploit unconventional oil reserves, with technologies specially developed for that purpose. For example Fracking technology. It has even increased the supply of oil and a reduction of the cost of this. Due to the dynamics of the oil business today, common concerns regarding future oil supplies have declined significantly. However, oil in any form remains a finite resource that will be exhausted at some point. But long before that, the production of this hydrocarbon will continue to fall, and at some point the situation will be reached when the supply of oil does not meet world demand; at least, if governments and companies around the world decide to adopt more vigorously new technologies related to renewable energy sources.
4 Peak of water
Nowadays, many regions in the world have problems accessing drinking water. For this reason some scientists have predicted that in the next few years there could be a Peak of water. This means that demand for fresh water will begin to outstrip supply. In turn, this will have serious implications for food production, human health and the environment in general.
5 Food shortages will increase
Food production is suffering considerable stress thanks to many factors such as climate change. Even today, about one person in nine on planet Earth does not have enough food to eat, and unless one takes quite radical action, a much larger proportion of the human race will not be affected by scarcity of food in the coming years.
6 Lack of resources in the world
Natural resources are running out day after day. The continuous growth of the human population and the industrial and economic expansion is collapsing the few available natural resources. Even by taking major measures on material recycling, the scarcity of natural resources is going to present itself as a very serious challenge in the coming decades.
7 Viruses, epidemics, etc.
A pandemic is a disease that spreads across a wide geographical area, could even expand around the world; they also have the power to affect a large proportion of the population. Scientists have estimated that there are cycles of repetition for these pandemics. In the past many of these diseases affected the world's population with disastrous results. For example, it is estimated that between 40 and 50 million people died in the Spanish flu pandemic from 1918 to 1919, between one and two million in the Asian flu pandemic from 1957 to 1958 and one million in the Hong Kong pandemic pandemic influenza. "However, thanks to the development of new drugs and the application of more demanding health standards throughout the world, no pandemics have been known with this type of results.
8 Antibiotic resistance. An increasing problem
The world has managed to halt the spread of infectious diseases and pandemics through the development of antibiotics. But over the years, people throughout the world have been exposed to new microorganisms that are able to resist the action of antibiotics. Therefore, the solution that some could give is to develop new antibiotics, but according to sources reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) for more than thirty years no new antibiotics have been developed and according to this organization has warned: without urgent action we are heading to a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries will kill again. " Such future killers will include infections developed during surgery, which means that the traditional surgical procedures that are currently routine is likely to become very risky in the future.
9 The population is aging every day
New technologies and new medical treatments to fight diseases have brought good things to the population of the elderly in the world. However, this is not the same for all countries. Nowadays, there is the phenomenon known as: Aging of the population. "This is where the older age groups constitute a growing proportion of the population, as reported by the New England Centenarian Study in developed countries people older than 100 are the fastest growing segment of the population.The second fastest growing group is then people over 85 years old.
The aging of the population will have more visible consequences for the public health policy as well as the provision of social assistance. In the coming decades, retirement ages, therefore, will surely have to increase and governments should implement better policies that can help a gigantic population. Some experts have even said that: One thing we can be quite sure of is that "gray power" is on the rise.
10 Religious tensions
Religious tensions will increase during this 2nd century. The world has a number of necessary challenges that the authorities of each country must face with coherent policies that can guarantee peace in each of their territories. Therefore, the challenges that governments must face in order to approve mechanisms that facilitate the scientific and human development of the population should not be underestimated and this implies rejecting or ignoring many religious traditions. That said, governments are struggling to implement laws and policies on a variety of issues (from genetic engineering to life extension and women in authority) that may not sit easily with significant proportions of their population and can find each their religion or other fundamental belief system.