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‘Polycrisis’ threatens planetary health; UN calls for innovative solutions

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Environmental, technological and social challenges are colliding to create a global polycrisis. This confluence of issues is in turn placing increased pressure on the already existing environmental challenges of rapid climate change, rampant pollution and biodiversity loss — ultimately threatening planetary health and human well-being. That’s according to the recently published global foresight report by U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Science Council. The document underscores multiple threats that lie over the near horizon, ranging from the deployment of geoengineering technology to the public’s diminishing trust in science, all of which could deepen the polycrisis. “The main message coming out of this report is that we have interconnected issues that we need to look at,” says Andrea Hinwood, UNEP’s chief scientist and a report lead author. “We need to ensure that we are integrating the way we’re approaching these problems.” The document identifies eight “critical shifts” — emerging issues and potential threats that could amplify, accelerate and synchronize the polycrisis. These disruptive changes include the ongoing devastation of the natural world, competition for global resources, misinformation and diminishing trust in institutions, widening inequalities, mass forced displacement and the rapid advance of AI. This foresight exercise was built on the views of hundreds of experts, regional stakeholders and youth worldwide. Out of 280 “signals of change” identified by experts, the report highlights 18 that could have dramatic effects (both negative and positive) in the near and distant future on planetary health and human well-being. These 18 signals hold the potential…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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