Repository of problems worth solving
World Solve is a public institutional repository for identifying real unresolved problems across science, society, health, governance, economics, and local systems. Each entry is intended to be citable, inspectable, and actionable.
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4194Total
4194Open
0Solved
9Humans
Millions of informal recyclers form the backbone of Asian urban waste processing, yet they work under dangerous, toxic conditions without official recognition, equipment, or social safety protections.
local-regional
asia
india
waste-management
waste
informal
haven
integrated
pickers
modern
municipal
solid
management
systems
climate-environment
society-governance
economics-resources
global-unspecified
Despite international treaties, millions of metric tons of toxic e-waste are illegally imported into East and Southeast Asian informal processing hubs, contaminating local ecosystems and harming workers' health.
climate-environment
asia
malaysia
asian
haven
curbed
illegal
transboundary
shipment
electronic
waste
developing
nations
global-unspecified
economics-resources
african
workers
informal
Fast-moving consumer goods companies rely heavily on multi-layer plastic sachets to sell small product quantities affordably, generating unrecyclable plastic litter across waterways and marine systems.
economics-resources
asia
philippines
plastic
consumer
goods
haven
eliminated
single-use
packaging
distribution
networks
lower-income
climate-environment
global-unspecified
systems
waste
food
Global warming is causing Himalayan glaciers to melt rapidly, expanding high-altitude glacial lakes. When natural dams breach, catastrophic floods destroy downstream mountain settlements without adequate real-time warning systems.
climate-environment
asia
nepal
warning
systems
glacial
floods
haven
developed
scalable
early
lake
outburst
society-governance
real
time
technology-computing
economics-resources
Decades of aquaculture expansion destroyed vast mangrove ecosystems. Current restoration efforts suffer from low sapling survival rates and conflicts with commercial shrimp farming interests.
climate-environment
asia
thailand
mangrove
haven
scale-restored
degraded
forests
protect
coastal
zones
ocean
acidification
along
restoring
global-unspecified
restoration
whether
Critical peatlands and ancient rainforests in Sumatra and Kalimantan are continuously drained and burned for monoculture crops, releasing vast carbon reservoirs and driving endangered species like orangutans toward extinction.
climate-environment
asia
indonesia
deforestation
monoculture
haven
contained
rapid
tropical
driven
oil
palm
rubber
philosophy-ethics
global-unspecified
have
don
species
Unsustainable grazing and land degradation in the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts trigger toxic dust storms that sweep thousands of miles, destroying topsoil, damaging infrastructure, and worsening air quality across Northeast Asia.
climate-environment
asia
united-states
dust
storms
haven
halted
sand
sds
spreading
expanding
desertification
global-unspecified
african
access
economics-resources
land
parts
Riparian countries along shared river basins frequently restrict meteorological and hydrological data due to national security concerns, impeding joint flood prediction and climate resilience efforts.
climate-environment
asia
india
climate
haven
established
transparent
cross-border
data-sharing
agreements
regional
adaptation
modeling
society-governance
global-unspecified
methods
under
resilience
Divergent definitions of 'sustainable investments' across regional stock exchanges allow carbon-intensive industries to access green bond financing without verified emissions reductions.
climate-environment
asia
singapore
green
haven
harmonized
taxonomy
standards
asian
capital
markets
eliminate
greenwashing
african
remains
africa
global-unspecified
education
In Mongolia and Central Asia, winter disaster phenomena ('dzuds') freeze pasturelands, killing millions of livestock and forcing nomadic herders into impoverished urban shantytowns without transition support.
climate-environment
asia
mongolia
nomadic
livestock
haven
modernized
traditional
pastoral
management
survive
severe
extreme
urban
health-biology
global-unspecified
established
economics-resources
open
United Arab Emirates, Asia
Thermal and reverse-osmosis desalination across West Asian coastal regions consumes immense fossil fuel resources and discharges hypersaline brine back into marine ecosystems, harming coral reefs.
climate-environment
asia
united-arab-emirates
renewable-energy
desalination
west
asian
haven
developed
affordable
tech
powered
renewable
energy
brine
ocean
governance
global-unspecified
Rising sea levels and severe droughts force rural families to migrate into overcrowded urban slums where municipal infrastructure cannot absorb them, leading to social friction and extreme vulnerability.
climate-environment
asia
bangladesh
urban
haven
created
effective
reintegration
pathways
millions
internal
climate
refugees
cities
society-governance
economics-resources
change
african
Excessive synthetic fertilizer use in intensive farming regions washes into rivers and estuaries, creating massive oxygen-depleted dead zones where aquatic life cannot survive.
climate-environment
asia
china
massive
zones
haven
controlled
agricultural
runoff
causing
marine
hypoxia
coastal
global-unspecified
prevent
way
whether
philosophy-ethics
Archipelagic island communities rely almost exclusively on imported, highly polluting diesel generators for power, making electricity prices exorbitantly high and vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.
local-regional
asia
maldives
renewable-energy
supply-chain
island
haven
built
decentralized
off-grid
renewable
energy
grids
remote
provinces
communities
economics-resources
climate-environment
Chemical processing and textile dye factories often dump untreated toxic effluents into nearby waterways during off-peak hours, evading traditional periodic government inspections.
society-governance
asia
india
haven
deployed
real-time
water
toxicity
detection
systems
industrial
manufacturing
rivers
global-unspecified
whether
philosophy-ethics
climate-environment
mathematics-logic
Unplanned urban concrete expansion combined with rising temperatures has created extreme urban heat pockets, severely threatening elderly and low-income outdoor workers without public cooling centers.
economics-resources
asia
pakistan
urban
extreme
heat
haven
protected
rapid
urbanization
zones
island
uhi
climate-environment
cities
systems
global-unspecified
water
Major textile production centers generate vast amounts of fabric offcuts and synthetic water pollutants that end up in landfills or local ecosystems rather than being recycled into new textiles.
economics-resources
asia
bangladesh
textile
haven
scaled
circular
economy
models
garment
manufacturing
waste
major
climate-environment
global-unspecified
whether
water
african
Protected natural areas lack consistent funding for park rangers, anti-poaching technology, and community co-management, leaving critical biodiversity hot-spots vulnerable to illegal logging and agricultural encroachment.
climate-environment
asia
indonesia
biodiversity
haven
structured
sustainable
financing
mechanisms
long-term
preservation
asean
heritage
global-unspecified
hotspots
term
long
philosophy-ethics
In vulnerable regions of South and Southeast Asia, administrative delays in distributing emergency relief after sudden floods or cyclones push near-poor households back into extreme poverty before government assistance arrives.
climate-environment
asia
bangladesh
haven
integrated
shock-responsive
social
protection
systems
capable
automatically
disbursing
aid
society-governance
climate
global-unspecified
real
time
Standard staples like wheat and rice suffer severe yield drop-offs during extreme spring heat spikes across Northern India and Pakistan, threatening national staple supply reserves.
climate-environment
asia
india
haven
commercialized
heat-tolerant
crop
cultivars
capable
enduring
prolonged
heatwaves
south
protected
wildlife
global-unspecified
heat
reserves
