Crowdsourced backend of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential
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Denial of rights to students
Students can be denied the right to accessible education, the right to organize themselves at...
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Criminal offences against the environment
Green crime is the term now being adopted to cover a wide variety of illegal actions which harm...
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Misuse of electronic surveillance by governments
The use of electronic devices to obtain information clandestinely. The approach may be...
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Erosion of journalistic immunity
Pressure to make journalists reveal their sources of information may take the form of arrest,...
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Salvinia auriculata
Salvinia auriculata (water fern, Kariba weed, African pyle) is notorious for its...
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Gout
Gout is a type of arthritis in which uric acid crystals deposit in joints, causing sudden pain...
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Leveraged buy-outs
Junk bonds are securities that pay high interest because they are issued by companies with...
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Combat trauma
Acute and chronic war neurosis occurs in connection with life threatening experiences during...
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Shortage of fresh-water
The securing of an adequate water supply has become one of the most critical problems facing...
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Dermatomyositis
Dermatomyositis (DM) has its onset any time from childhood to late adulthood. There is weakness...
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Serial killings
Serial killings involve the premeditated murder of individuals over a period of years, a time in...
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Overdependence on few crop species
Although there are at least 20,000 species of edible plants worldwide, fewer than 150 are...
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Show trials
A show trial is a judicial travesty whose real purpose is to manufacture propaganda.
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Hypothyroidism
Hypothyroidism results when production of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland falls below the...
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Religious war
Religion has often been a useful pretext for internal or international conflicts. On the one...
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Overwork
Stated simply, KAROSHI means death from overwork. Overwork and excessive stress cause medical...
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Incorrect information
Incorrect information may arise as a result of error or intentional distortion. Errors may occur...
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Myotubular myopathy
Myotubular myopathy is a slowly progressive, but rarely fatal, disease of voluntary muscle....
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Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is any act of public defiance of a law, practice or policy of authorities, if...
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Simony
Sale or purchase of spiritual gifts or of positions of power in religious hierarchies. This may...
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Racism
Racism and racial discrimination are in practice used in a range of overlapping ways. The...
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Rosacea
Rosacea is a chronic inflammatory condition in which flushing of the skin in the areas of the...
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Tinnitus
This hearing disorder is characterized by ringing or whistling in the ear, or a succession of...
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Myelitis
The term myelitis is a nonspecific term for inflammation of the spinal cord. The spinal cord...
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Fast fashion
The average number of times a garment is worn before being discarded has significantly dropped,...
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Neurological rage
Rage is anger that has lost its purpose and gone out of control. It has less direction and focus...
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Bursitis
All joints have synovial sacs, or bursa, for the lubrication of that joint. Bursitis is...
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Soil erosion
Soil erosion is the deterioration of soil by the physical movement of soil particles from a...
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Dermatographia
Dermatographia, also known as “skin writing,” refers to a condition where lightly scratched skin...
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Inhaling of solvents and anaesthetic drugs
Inhalants are a diverse group of chemicals which produce psychoactive (mind altering) vapours;...
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Political instability
Lack of political continuity in the application of government tends towards sudden violent or...
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Underemployment
Underemployment exists, visibly, when persons who are not working full time would be able and...
The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential was initiated in 1972 following a collaboration between two international non-profits, the Union of International Associations (UIA) and Mankind 2000. It is the result of an ambitious effort to collect and present information on the problems humanity is confronted with, as well as the challenges such problems pose to societies' values, development strategies and concept formation.
The online version of the resource is currently undergoing significant transformation, and the publishing model is changing in exciting new ways. The main points are:
- Whilst the above NGOs remain equal copyright holders of the data, it is becoming possible for partners to re-publish any content on presentation sites under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA)
- Content of the database is being made centrally editable at edit.ewphp.org — to allow content changes on this site to propagate to any and all presentation sites
Please feel free to get in touch if you want to know more about the project, the ongoing transformation, or if you aspire to join the volunteer team as a database editor, presentation site developer or any other skill you feel might benefit the project!
News
- March 2016: An initial version of an API that allows retrieval and licensed re-use of the data is ready at demo.ewphp.org. We are currently working with selected developers, and a first public implementation of the API is taking shape as well. News about launch of both will follow soon!
- June 2015: Read the paper and presentation "Loop Mining in the Encyclopedia of World Problems" prepared for the 17th International Futures Conference "Futures Studies Tackling Wicked Problems" in Turku, Finland, 11-12. June 2015 — www.futuresconference.fi/2015