Although the editors of the Collins English Dictionary chose “permacrisis” as the word to refer to the state of affairs in 2022, it suits 2023 as well, given the turn of events in the world this year.
Permacrisis, according to Collins, is an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially resulting from a series of catastrophic events that have seen people living through crises including war, inflation, climate change, and political instability.
Wars and conflicts over the last few years have caused immense human suffering and had an enormous global impact. We’re shocked and anguished by the loss of life and the pain and suffering of so many people around us. All of us fear for the future, as the destruction directly or indirectly affects us.
Although we all long to live in peace and never see the death and devastation that war can bring, unscrupulous leaders are engineering situations of conflict that cause hardship to humans.
Unfortunately, 2023 will be added to the war years, as it will go down in history as very deadly and destructive, possibly spilling over into future years.
Look at events this year; although some of them have been carried over from last year—wars and conflicts, inflation, climate change, and political instability - all are explosive in their own right.
There has not been a single day this year without the images of the horrors of war. Russia's war on Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has been described as "more dangerous” than anything Europe has seen since the end of World War II.
The humanitarian situation in the south of Gaza is dire and unsafe following the outbreak of war in early October between Israel and Hamas. Intense bombardment and fighting have killed thousands of people including children and uprooting over 1.8 million - around 80 per cent of the total population of the Strip.
About one million people are being pushed to relocate to the south, where living conditions were already overcrowded and desperate even prior to the current conflict.
A World Food Programme report attributes wars and conflict as the biggest driver of hunger, with 70 per cent of the world's hungry people living in areas afflicted by war and violence.
"Events in Ukraine are further proof of how conflict feeds hunger - forcing people out of their homes, wiping out their sources of income, and wrecking countries’ economies," it points out.
Economic inequality remains a significant challenge, with developing countries disproportionately affected, including by the effects of monetary tightening in the advanced economies.
Now look at the climate chaos and environmental degradation. They are further crisis multipliers. The climate crisis is one of the leading causes of the steep rise in global hunger.
With ever-worsening climate emergencies, record heat, and growing competition over dwindling resources, people are forced to move, and vulnerabilities and insecurities skyrocket.
According to a UN report, the world was on course for a rise of up to 2.9C, far above the levels agreed at COP21 in Paris. Under the landmark Paris accord, countries agreed to limit global temperature rises to well below 2°C and ideally to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
If we fail to hold warming to that level, as scientists have long said, it will no longer be possible to avoid many of the more dire consequences of climate change.
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