Davos WEF Names Top 10 Global Risks
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Academic
Davos Leaders Pick The 10 Most Heinous And Likeliest Global Risks
On the eve of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the organizers of the power summit make it a practice to warn their members–and all of us non-elites–of everything that can go wrong and is going wrong in the world. It’s a long list. WEF publishes it here, in its comprehensive report on global risk. What’s going to bite us in the ass: not inflation, nor deflation.
Nor any kind of risk from bank failures or technology change. I mean, yes they could, but not as bad as what else is out there. What’s likeliest and most impactful: involuntary mass migration.Fear of refugee flow from Syria and ISIS-held territories grew faster as a concern than any other of the 29 risks analyzed. Global elites suspect migration is more of an 18-month risk than a decade-worthy risk such as water shortage.
The WEF has published its risk report for 16 years and, though the list itself risks crying wolf, it’s an excellent barometer of fear with thought-provoking insights into the challenges ahead and good anecdotes from the front. Everyone’s experience is different. To paraphrase Tip O’Neill, all fear is local. Europe fixates more on fiscal crises and unemployment, Southeast Asia and Canada worry about energy prices, and Americans worry more about cybersecurity. But the big ones? We all share in those.
Here they are, in reverse order, the top 10 most impactful risks:
10. Profound social instability
9. Asset bubble
8. Spread of infectious disease
7. Fiscal crises
6. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
5. Energy price shock
4. Large-scale involuntary migration
3. Water crises
2. Weapons of mass destruction
1. Failure of climate change mitigation and adaption
And, in reverse order, the top 10 likeliest risks:
10. Illicit trade
9. Water crisis
8. Data fraud or theft
7. Unemployment or underemployment
6. Failure of governance
5. Natural catastrophe
4. Interstate conflict
3. Failure of climate-change adaptation
2. Extreme weather events (see #2, 6, 8)
1. Large-scale invountary migration
Source: Forbes
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