Global challenges for humanity
– The Millenium Project
The 15 Challenges before us:
- How can sustainable development be achieved for all while addressing global climate change?
- How can everyone have sufficient clean water without conflict?
- How can population growth and resources be brought into balance?
- How can genuine democracy emerge from authoritarian regimes?
- How can policymaking be made more sensitive to global long-term perspectives?
- How can the global convergence of information and communications technologies work for everyone?
- How can ethical market economies be encouraged to help reduce the gap between rich and poor?
- How can the threat of new and re-emerging diseases and immune micro-organisms be reduced?
- How can the capacity to decide be improved as the nature of work and institutions change?
- How can shared values and new security strategies reduce ethnic conflicts, terrorism, and the use of weapons of mass destruction?
- How can the changing status of women help improve the human condition?
- How can transnational organised crime networks be stopped from becoming more powerful and sophisticated global enterprises?
- How can growing energy demands be met safely and efficiently?
- How can scientific and technological breakthroughs be accelerated to improve human condition?
- How can ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated into global decisions?
Reproduced by permission of The millennium Project
copyright (c) 2014, The millennium Project, Global Challenges for the Humanity
Our perspective
The Governments around the world are paying attention to uplifting the lives of people at the bottom of the pyramid and so are the businesses as they spot billion dollar opportunities in achieving such goals. For individuals, these are new career opportunities as well as guidelines for personal living to contribute to more dignified living for
These challenges cannot be addressed individually and solved one by one as they are interdependent and woven together by a complex web of interconnectedness and interdependency. Thus, these challenges are transnational in nature and trans institutional in solutions. To get there we must know the best practices in the world and improvise on them collaboratively working with governments, international organisations, corporations, universities, NGOs, and creative individuals.
Solving global challenges is perhaps the ‘best business opportunity’. And the innovation in these challenges is to make business out of them. There are several successful businesses around such challenges and here are just a few brief mentions:
- Social enterprises span a diverse range of industries and also types of business models (for profit, hybrids and non-profits). The list of 5 social enterprises below is a sample to help illustrate the variety of successful social enterprises.
- Sarvajal – for-profit social enterprise which creates franchises that provide clean drinking water to individuals living on less than $1 / day.
- VerTerra Dinnerware – manufactures stylish, sustainable and compostable disposable dinnerware made from banana leafs
- x-runner Venture – provides waterless toilets and waste management services to families that do not have standard toilets.
- Emerge financial wellness – a workplace-based financial wellness programme that partners with employers to help their workers plan their financial futures.
- Project Repat – upcycles t-shirts into more fun and fashionable clothing accessories while creating jobs for disadvantaged populations.
Indeed, in human history, disparity in entitlements not only existed, it was also mostly inescapable. For the first time in history, there is only a marginal difference in entitlement to the ‘technology of the times’ for the vast majority of people – smartphones and Internet. A world of opportunities has emerged for business organisations; no one should miss the knowledge of this opportunity.
Gazing through the crystal ball
How to best exploit it as a professional
- Pick a challenge for a target community in mind
- Connect with similar communities and seek out their modeling of technology, investment, user charges
- Fine-tune the implementation models for the specific conditions of your target community
- Internationally connect for technology, finances and expert resources while concurrently seeking finances from the community and financial institutions/corporates at home
