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AI Summary:
Source: “We define a global polycrisis as any combination of three or more interacting systemic risks with the potential to cause a cascading, runaway failure of Earth’s natural and social systems that irreversibly and catastrophically degrades humanity’s prospects. A systemic risk is a threat emerging within one natural, technological, or social system with impacts extending beyond that system to endanger the functionality of one or more other systems. A global polycrisis, should it occur, will inherit the five core properties of systemic risks—extreme complexity, high nonlinearity, transboundary causality, propensity to produce black swans, and deep uncertainty—while also exhibiting causal synchronization among risks.”
Source: “The term ‘polycrisis’ has broken into the lexicon of a growing circle of academics, policymakers, and the public. Herein, we compare conceptualizations of the term, raising questions about the key aspects of different definitions while stressing a convergence in critical features. We envision a polycrisis as a state in which multiple, macroregional, ecologically embedded, and inexorably interconnected systems face high – and advancing – risk across socioeconomic, political, and other dimensions. We differentiate the term from others widely used, such as cascading disasters, compound disasters, and recurring acute disasters. Further, we locate historical events along a spectrum of such critical moments, concluding with several concrete recommendations for communities seeking to build democratic resilience in the face of these ongoing stressors.”