1. A computer program product for invoking a global catastrophe on a population in a parallel evolutionary algorithm computing process, the computer program product comprising: a computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising a computer usable program code configured to: track forward progress of a population of candidate solutions across generations thereof, wherein the population is divided into a plurality of sub-populations across a plurality of computing entities that iteratively create new generations of the plurality of sub-populations of candidate solutions in search of a solution to an optimization problem; track local catastrophes invoked on the plurality of sub-populations by respective ones of the plurality of computing entities; at a current generation of the population, determine that forward progress of the population fails a set of one or more forward progress criteria; in response to a determination that the forward progress of the population fails the set of one or more forward progress criteria at the current generation, select parameter values that influence the global catastrophe, wherein the selection is based, at least in part, on the tracked local catastrophes invoked on the plurality of sub-populations, command the plurality of computing entities to collectively apply the global catastrophe to the plurality of sub-populations in accordance with the parameter values.