The new report from the American agency which predicted the coronavirus pandemic in 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) .- Officials from the National Intelligence Council of the United States, the same people who predicted in 2017 that the world would be shaken by a health crisis like the coronavirus, presented this week a disturbing new scenario of the future. In a report released on Thursday, they assured that the Covid-19 pandemic it has worsened economic inequalities, affected government resources, fueled nationalist sentiments and there is more of it.

These assessments are included in the document “Global Trends”, a book that this government body produces every four years and which, in this edition, aims to help politicians and citizens to anticipate the economic, environmental, technological and demographic forces which are likely to shape them. the world for the next 20 years.

The paper focuses on the impact of the pandemic, which it calls “The biggest and most unique global upheaval since World War II, with health, economic, political and security implications which will have consequences for years to come ”.

“Nationalism and polarization have increased in many countries. Measures to contain and manage the virus have reinforced global nationalist tendencies as some states have turned in on them to protect their citizens and sometimes blame marginalized groups. The response to the pandemic has fueled partisanship and polarization, ”the text states in one of its sections and then also details that it has highlighted the extreme inequality between countries and the lack of agreement to establish cooperation sincere international.

He also points out that epidemic “slows down poverty reduction and bridges gender inequalities” and it also reverses “years of progress against malaria, measles, polio and other infectious diseases.”

For their part, in the future, specialists from the US intelligence agency have indicated that in the next 20 years, the world population will continue to increase, reaching about 9.2 billion by 2040, but the rate of growth will slow down in all regions year after year, resulting in general aging.

“Many countries will find it difficult to continue to build or even maintain decades of meaningful improvements in education and health,” provides for the report which also ensures: “Looking to the future, long-standing, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases will continue to put individuals and communities at risk. The incidence of new pandemics is also likely to increase due to the increased risk of animal pathogens infecting humans and factors that allow their spread, such as human mobility and population density. “

Finally, on climate change, he explains: “Effects of climate change and environmental degradation are likely to exacerbate insecurity food and water resources in poor countries, increase migration, precipitate new health challenges and contribute to the loss of biodiversity ”, which, according to professionals, will force even large urbanizations to relocate.

“Over the next 20 years, the physical effects of climate change will cause higher temperatures, rising sea levels and extreme weather events that will affect all countries. The costs and challenges will fall disproportionately on the developing world and overlap with the degradation of food, water, health and energy security, ”the text added.

The data from this report is particularly interesting since in its previous edition, that of 2017, this US government agency warned that something like the current pandemic could occur as long as human and animal health are increasingly interconnected. and would cause the emergence, transmission and distribution of many infectious diseases.

“Unresolved gaps in national and global health systems to control the disease will make it more difficult to detect and manage outbreaks. infectious diseases, which will increase the potential for disease outbreaks in places far from their point of origin, ”he said.

THE NATION