INTRODUCTION
The global environment is subject to numerous threats such as use of fossil fuels as an energy source, insufficient educational opportunities in developing countries, a rise in oceans’ levels, covid-19 and the global pandemic, dangers of poor countries remaining poor, civil war, globalization and lack of access to technology. This paper seeks to explore the two main threats that pose the greatest risk to the global population, factors that make it such a serious risk to the global environment, the role of human beings in aggravating the threat, as well as the initiatives that the global community might take to mitigate the worst effects of the environmental threat. The threats that are most critical to the global population are civil war and covid-19 and the global pandemic.
COVID-19 AND THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Why Covid-19 Is Such a Serious Risk
Before 2019, corona virus was unknown to many, but the spread from china to the rest of the world in a span of few months spelt doom and darkness to the world. Although the first corona virus was detected in 1965, the novel coronavirus outbreak in 2019 was termed as the worst pandemic seen in 100 years because of how fast the virus spreads. When news about covid-19 emerged in late 2019, it seemed like just a Chinese issue. However, in less than one year, the virus had spread to nearly every country in the world causing massive deaths (Kahn, 5). The virus caught the world unawares as there was no cure or medication to put the disease to check. Hospitals became overwhelmed and governments became confused on how to address the spread. Movement restrictions was the immediate action that most governments embraced to curb the deadly spread. The disease brought the world to a near standstill with no way forward.
Another reason why covid-19 is such a serious risk to the global environment is the Increased fatality rate. So far, covid-19 has killed more than 4.55 million people across the globe in less than two years (WHO, 4). Such mortality rate is wanting and a major cause for alarm given that there are other causes of deaths among the populations. If such a trend continues, the future remains uncertain as the disease can eliminate the human race.
Another reason why covid-19 is such a serious threat is because the virus keeps on mutating, making development of cure uncertain. There are various variants of the variant causing subsequent waves, with worrying trends and news that the new wave is riskier than the previous. Right now, the delta variant coronavirus is still wreaking havoc on the world populations, and the development of the jabs does not seem to stop and avert the crisis. The disease has spelt doom and uncertainty to the scientific and the general world community.
Covid-19 and the global pandemic is also a serious risk to the global environment because of the spread-over effects it has on the populations such as Economic stagnation due to lockdown and movement restrictions. Following the outbreak, many governments instituted measures like lockdown and movement restrictions that affected the world economy severely. Many companies closed down, sending workers home, further exacerbating the situation. Other effects of covid-19 is causing anxiety and stress related disorders, especially to relatives of coronavirus victims.
Role of Humans in Aggravating the Threat
Human beings are the main players in the causing the spread of covid-19. The deadly virus is a respiratory disease that spreads fast when people are congested together. Most governments have instituted social distancing measures to curb the spread, yet people are reluctant to observe such social rules. Other measures are such as requiring people to put on nose and face masks to minimize the spread, yet some people are non-compliant putting further at the risk of the disease. There have been progress that have been made in the scientific community whereby covid-19 vaccinations have been advanced. Nonetheless, people might be compliant in taking the jabs because of personal, cultural or religious beliefs, which is likely to accelerate the disease further.
Initiatives That the Global Community Can Take To Mitigate Covid-19 Effects
The global community can take initiatives to mitigate the worst effects through campaign and advocacy. Covid-19 jabs are available in wealthy nations while developing and low income nations have difficulties obtaining the jabs. The government can come together to help low income nations to secure the jabs or at least sell the jabs at subsidized prices. Also, the global community can take part in auditing the disease pattern and spread in order to map out the areas and regions with the greatest risks, identify whether there is a nation that contributed to the massive spread and take measures such as punitive measures to ensure that such does not happen in the future. Finally, the global community through its various bodies can take up advocacy campaigns to regions resisting the jab to ensure that such populaces understand the significance of taking part in jab, the impact that covid-19 has on the overall health of the populations among others.
CIVIL WAR
Civil wars is not a new phenomenon as earliest forms of civil war date as early as 45 bc in the antiquity Caesar wars and the great roman wars. Civil war refers to the war between inhabitants of the same country. Civil war is also known as the intrastate war because it is a war amongst organized groups within the same country. The goal of one group taking part in the civil war is to take control of the entire country or a region, or to change government policies. There are countless civil wars that have occurred and recorded, among them the American civil war, the English civil war, the Spanish war, the Chinese war, the Vietnam War, the Russian civil war and recently the Syrian civil war that is the most notable in the 21st century. Other countries are such as Myanmar conflict that started since 1948 and is the longest ongoing civil war in the world, the democratic republic of Congo and south Yemen war that started in 1986 to date (United Nations University, 6).
Why Civil War Is Such a Serious Risk to the Global Environment
Civil war poses such a great risk to the global environment because it leads to massive displacement of people. When two opposing groups are fighting, the citizens bear the biggest blunt, which is synonymous to the old adage that when two bulls are fighting, the grass suffers. Citizens become internally displaced refugees in their country, women and children suffer, and the displaced people are concentrated in refugee camps. When people are concentrated in a camp, the living conditions are deplorable, hygiene conditions become wanting, which puts the environment at further risk.
Civil war is also a serious threat to the global environment because it cases deaths, injuries and disabilities. In the course of two opposing groups fighting, people lose their lives, others are injured and others become permanently disabled. Innocent people die as different groups strive to seize power for their selfish interest. For instance, the United Nations (1) records that more than 400,000 people have lost their lives and more than 5.6 million people have been displaced (United Nations University, 6). Thirdly, civil war poses risk to the global environment because it leads to starvation and malnutrition. When people are displaced, they are concentrated in camps and have no means of earning their livelihoods. As such, they are dependent on food aid, which is not forthcoming sometimes, and in some cases the aid does not cater into the nutritional needs of the displaced people. The impact of the disease have a spilling-over impact whereby victims of war suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other infectious diseases (United Nations University, 6). When people are concentrated in refugee camps, the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera and other hygiene related diseases are inevitable.
Civil war leads to loss of economic activities and livelihoods. People who used to earn their living such as farming are denied their livelihoods. For instance, farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been robbed off their agricultural activities as their crops were destroyed by militia fighting (United Nations University, 6).
Civil war also poses a serious threat to the global environment in that it results in property destruction. A sight of Syria exemplifies this reality whereby buildings lie demolished and abandoned. Towns that were once booming with business now lay desolate (UN, 3). The bombings cause noise pollution and the crumbled buildings lying in ruins are a source of environmental damage. Pictures of crumbled buildings as a result of bombings are disheartening as hopes of restoring such towns and reconstructing are dim.
There is a common adage that says that a picture is sometimes worth a thousand words. The above picture shows buildings that have been brought down as a result of bombing in Syria the city of Damascus lies in ruins. The sight of the man holding his head is a demonstration of how traumatizing and how destructive the war has been on Syria. The Syrian war is likely to cost more than 200 billion dollars to rebuild.
The Roles That Humans Have Caused
What may be said about civil war and the role of human beings in aggravating the threat is that the threat was started by people and can only be ended by people. For the above mentioned cases of civil war and others, people are central to the crisis. The crisis was started when ordinary citizens were protesting against the autocratic regime, but the government respond by killing protesters, leading to a division of two warring groups. The war is continued by people and it is targeted at people. Therefore, people are involved in civil war at left, right and center. Human egos of leaders who do not want to give up, coupled by the unrelenting thirst of others who want to seize power aggravates the situation as no one wants to back down or give up their ambitions, which makes an already dire situation worse.
Initiatives That the Global Community Can Take To Mitigate the Worst Effects of Civil War
When it comes to civil war, the global community is an active contributor of the escalation of civil war because different global actors take different sides. Or instance, in the case of the Syrian war, the interference of global actors has contributed to the prolonging of the conflict. For instance, Iran supports the government; president Bashar al-Assad alongside countries like Russia while western powers and Turkey support the opposition side. Civil war serves as an arena for world powers to show their might and antagonism (Homsi, 7). As such, there is need for the global community to take initiatives to mitigate the worst effects of civil war as an environmental threat.
One of the ways that the global community should take is to remain neutral whenever a country goes on civil war. If all countries remained neutral in the case of the recent Syrian civil war, probably it would not have lasted or such a long time as opposition would run out of resources and find for an amicable solution with the government, thereby ending the war.
Secondly, the global community should come together to look for a resolution to end the conflict by helping the country experiencing civil way to look for the most optimal solution that looks at the welfare of citizens who are innocent. Finally, the global community should engage in advocacy and campaigns through the various bodies such as the United Nations that deals with global peace. Since civil war does not happen overnight, the global community should take steps to preach peace to the warring communities to let them know that they can chose peace over war.
CONCLUSION
The current world is experiencing numerous threats to the global environment such as covid-19 and the global pandemic, massive pollution as a result of use of fossil fuels, civil war, globalization and the rise in oceans’ levels among others to mention a few. From the many threats, civil war and covid-19 are the most critical to the global environment because of their potential threat to extinction of humanity. Covid-19 spreads very fast and there is currently no cure for the disease. The killer disease has resulted in the deaths of more than 4.55 M people. The disease is contagious and spreads fast, and people contribute to its increase by refusing to wear face masks and keep social distance. Civil war is a major threat to the global environment because it leads to loss of lives, it is caused and exacerbated by people, and the global community plays a great role in its escalation by taking sides.
The global environment is subject to numerous threats such as use of fossil fuels as an energy source, insufficient educational opportunities in developing countries, a rise in oceans’ levels, covid-19 and the global pandemic, dangers of poor countries remaining poor, civil war, globalization and lack of access to technology. This paper seeks to explore the two main threats that pose the greatest risk to the global population, factors that make it such a serious risk to the global environment, the role of human beings in aggravating the threat, as well as the initiatives that the global community might take to mitigate the worst effects of the environmental threat. The threats that are most critical to the global population are civil war and covid-19 and the global pandemic.
COVID-19 AND THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Why Covid-19 Is Such a Serious Risk
Before 2019, corona virus was unknown to many, but the spread from china to the rest of the world in a span of few months spelt doom and darkness to the world. Although the first corona virus was detected in 1965, the novel coronavirus outbreak in 2019 was termed as the worst pandemic seen in 100 years because of how fast the virus spreads. When news about covid-19 emerged in late 2019, it seemed like just a Chinese issue. However, in less than one year, the virus had spread to nearly every country in the world causing massive deaths (Kahn, 5). The virus caught the world unawares as there was no cure or medication to put the disease to check. Hospitals became overwhelmed and governments became confused on how to address the spread. Movement restrictions was the immediate action that most governments embraced to curb the deadly spread. The disease brought the world to a near standstill with no way forward.
Another reason why covid-19 is such a serious risk to the global environment is the Increased fatality rate. So far, covid-19 has killed more than 4.55 million people across the globe in less than two years (WHO, 4). Such mortality rate is wanting and a major cause for alarm given that there are other causes of deaths among the populations. If such a trend continues, the future remains uncertain as the disease can eliminate the human race.
Another reason why covid-19 is such a serious threat is because the virus keeps on mutating, making development of cure uncertain. There are various variants of the variant causing subsequent waves, with worrying trends and news that the new wave is riskier than the previous. Right now, the delta variant coronavirus is still wreaking havoc on the world populations, and the development of the jabs does not seem to stop and avert the crisis. The disease has spelt doom and uncertainty to the scientific and the general world community.
Covid-19 and the global pandemic is also a serious risk to the global environment because of the spread-over effects it has on the populations such as Economic stagnation due to lockdown and movement restrictions. Following the outbreak, many governments instituted measures like lockdown and movement restrictions that affected the world economy severely. Many companies closed down, sending workers home, further exacerbating the situation. Other effects of covid-19 is causing anxiety and stress related disorders, especially to relatives of coronavirus victims.
Role of Humans in Aggravating the Threat
Human beings are the main players in the causing the spread of covid-19. The deadly virus is a respiratory disease that spreads fast when people are congested together. Most governments have instituted social distancing measures to curb the spread, yet people are reluctant to observe such social rules. Other measures are such as requiring people to put on nose and face masks to minimize the spread, yet some people are non-compliant putting further at the risk of the disease. There have been progress that have been made in the scientific community whereby covid-19 vaccinations have been advanced. Nonetheless, people might be compliant in taking the jabs because of personal, cultural or religious beliefs, which is likely to accelerate the disease further.
Initiatives That the Global Community Can Take To Mitigate Covid-19 Effects
The global community can take initiatives to mitigate the worst effects through campaign and advocacy. Covid-19 jabs are available in wealthy nations while developing and low income nations have difficulties obtaining the jabs. The government can come together to help low income nations to secure the jabs or at least sell the jabs at subsidized prices. Also, the global community can take part in auditing the disease pattern and spread in order to map out the areas and regions with the greatest risks, identify whether there is a nation that contributed to the massive spread and take measures such as punitive measures to ensure that such does not happen in the future. Finally, the global community through its various bodies can take up advocacy campaigns to regions resisting the jab to ensure that such populaces understand the significance of taking part in jab, the impact that covid-19 has on the overall health of the populations among others.
CIVIL WAR
Civil wars is not a new phenomenon as earliest forms of civil war date as early as 45 bc in the antiquity Caesar wars and the great roman wars. Civil war refers to the war between inhabitants of the same country. Civil war is also known as the intrastate war because it is a war amongst organized groups within the same country. The goal of one group taking part in the civil war is to take control of the entire country or a region, or to change government policies. There are countless civil wars that have occurred and recorded, among them the American civil war, the English civil war, the Spanish war, the Chinese war, the Vietnam War, the Russian civil war and recently the Syrian civil war that is the most notable in the 21st century. Other countries are such as Myanmar conflict that started since 1948 and is the longest ongoing civil war in the world, the democratic republic of Congo and south Yemen war that started in 1986 to date (United Nations University, 6).
Why Civil War Is Such a Serious Risk to the Global Environment
Civil war poses such a great risk to the global environment because it leads to massive displacement of people. When two opposing groups are fighting, the citizens bear the biggest blunt, which is synonymous to the old adage that when two bulls are fighting, the grass suffers. Citizens become internally displaced refugees in their country, women and children suffer, and the displaced people are concentrated in refugee camps. When people are concentrated in a camp, the living conditions are deplorable, hygiene conditions become wanting, which puts the environment at further risk.
Civil war is also a serious threat to the global environment because it cases deaths, injuries and disabilities. In the course of two opposing groups fighting, people lose their lives, others are injured and others become permanently disabled. Innocent people die as different groups strive to seize power for their selfish interest. For instance, the United Nations (1) records that more than 400,000 people have lost their lives and more than 5.6 million people have been displaced (United Nations University, 6). Thirdly, civil war poses risk to the global environment because it leads to starvation and malnutrition. When people are displaced, they are concentrated in camps and have no means of earning their livelihoods. As such, they are dependent on food aid, which is not forthcoming sometimes, and in some cases the aid does not cater into the nutritional needs of the displaced people. The impact of the disease have a spilling-over impact whereby victims of war suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other infectious diseases (United Nations University, 6). When people are concentrated in refugee camps, the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera and other hygiene related diseases are inevitable.
Civil war leads to loss of economic activities and livelihoods. People who used to earn their living such as farming are denied their livelihoods. For instance, farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been robbed off their agricultural activities as their crops were destroyed by militia fighting (United Nations University, 6).
Civil war also poses a serious threat to the global environment in that it results in property destruction. A sight of Syria exemplifies this reality whereby buildings lie demolished and abandoned. Towns that were once booming with business now lay desolate (UN, 3). The bombings cause noise pollution and the crumbled buildings lying in ruins are a source of environmental damage. Pictures of crumbled buildings as a result of bombings are disheartening as hopes of restoring such towns and reconstructing are dim.
There is a common adage that says that a picture is sometimes worth a thousand words. The above picture shows buildings that have been brought down as a result of bombing in Syria the city of Damascus lies in ruins. The sight of the man holding his head is a demonstration of how traumatizing and how destructive the war has been on Syria. The Syrian war is likely to cost more than 200 billion dollars to rebuild.
The Roles That Humans Have Caused
What may be said about civil war and the role of human beings in aggravating the threat is that the threat was started by people and can only be ended by people. For the above mentioned cases of civil war and others, people are central to the crisis. The crisis was started when ordinary citizens were protesting against the autocratic regime, but the government respond by killing protesters, leading to a division of two warring groups. The war is continued by people and it is targeted at people. Therefore, people are involved in civil war at left, right and center. Human egos of leaders who do not want to give up, coupled by the unrelenting thirst of others who want to seize power aggravates the situation as no one wants to back down or give up their ambitions, which makes an already dire situation worse.
Initiatives That the Global Community Can Take To Mitigate the Worst Effects of Civil War
When it comes to civil war, the global community is an active contributor of the escalation of civil war because different global actors take different sides. Or instance, in the case of the Syrian war, the interference of global actors has contributed to the prolonging of the conflict. For instance, Iran supports the government; president Bashar al-Assad alongside countries like Russia while western powers and Turkey support the opposition side. Civil war serves as an arena for world powers to show their might and antagonism (Homsi, 7). As such, there is need for the global community to take initiatives to mitigate the worst effects of civil war as an environmental threat.
One of the ways that the global community should take is to remain neutral whenever a country goes on civil war. If all countries remained neutral in the case of the recent Syrian civil war, probably it would not have lasted or such a long time as opposition would run out of resources and find for an amicable solution with the government, thereby ending the war.
Secondly, the global community should come together to look for a resolution to end the conflict by helping the country experiencing civil way to look for the most optimal solution that looks at the welfare of citizens who are innocent. Finally, the global community should engage in advocacy and campaigns through the various bodies such as the United Nations that deals with global peace. Since civil war does not happen overnight, the global community should take steps to preach peace to the warring communities to let them know that they can chose peace over war.
CONCLUSION
The current world is experiencing numerous threats to the global environment such as covid-19 and the global pandemic, massive pollution as a result of use of fossil fuels, civil war, globalization and the rise in oceans’ levels among others to mention a few. From the many threats, civil war and covid-19 are the most critical to the global environment because of their potential threat to extinction of humanity. Covid-19 spreads very fast and there is currently no cure for the disease. The killer disease has resulted in the deaths of more than 4.55 M people. The disease is contagious and spreads fast, and people contribute to its increase by refusing to wear face masks and keep social distance. Civil war is a major threat to the global environment because it leads to loss of lives, it is caused and exacerbated by people, and the global community plays a great role in its escalation by taking sides.
