A Perfect Storm of War, Pandemic, Climate Crises and Global Dis-Governance: Unfolding Implications for Population Dynamics and Policies

The concurrence of powerful negative and unpredictable features in today’s world - war, pandemic and climate crises – coupled with a severe decline in the capacity of multilateralism to deal effectively with such issues, can be qualified as a “perfect storm”. These ongoing global crises constitute the most devastating scenario for humankind since World War II (WWII) and are sure to have enormous short and long-term consequences on population trends. This paper reviews the main aspects of this quandary and offers a preliminary reflection on their broader linkages with population dynamics and policies. The Russian invasion of the Ukraine added to the total of conflict casualties in the world, spiked a drastic increase in food prices that will most affect the world’s poor, and provoked a reshuffling of the geopolitical alignments that further destabilizes multilateralism on several fronts. The COVID-19 pandemic not only increased the number of deaths but also affected fertility. The timely discovery of effective vaccines curtailed the overall disaster, but also revealed and fortified nationalistic politics. The threat of planetary climate crises to existing life is widespread and incontestable. Analysis of its origins exposes dramatic inequalities among social groups, but also reveals the effects of a global economic model that morphed into ultraliberalism. The limitations of multilateralism to deal with these global issues is exemplified in respect to the issue of the climate crises. Ideologically-corrupted pathways to solution suggest that the current global storm may intensify before humankind moves effectively towards a more sustainable and equitable future. The relevance of recurrent population policy alternatives is reviewed in the concluding section.