With rising economic strains on one side and ever moreenvironmental concerns on the other, the world could soon find itself in “theperfect global storm”, the World Economic Forum warned in a report on Tuesday.
“The world is more at risk as persistent economic weaknesssaps our ability to tackle environmental challenges,” warned the WEF, whicheach year hosts a massive get-together of decision makers and activists at theSwiss mountain resort in Davos.
In its Global Risks 2013 report, based on a survey of morethan 1,000 experts from industry, government, academia and civil society, WEFpointed out that crises and austerity measures were severely testing the globaleconomic system.
At the same time, it stressed, the world faced rising globaltemperatures and more extreme weather like catastrophic flooding in China andHurricane Sandy, which slammed into the East Coast of the United States in lateOctober.
The acute social and economic difficulties are making theworld more reluctant to address more long-term threats like climate change,while natural disasters wreak serious havoc on many economies, the reportcautioned.
“Two storms -- environmental and economic -- are on acollision course,” warned John Drzik, the head of Oliver Wyman Group and one ofthe experts surveyed for the report.
The experts, who were asked to rate 50 global risks,suggested the risk of growing wealth gaps was the most likely to materialise,followed by unsustainable government debt and rising greenhouse gas emissions.
They deemed however that major systemic financial failurewould have the biggest impact if it happened, followed by a major water supplycrisis and chronic fiscal imbalances.
The list of global risks “are essentially a health warningregarding our most critical systems,” said WEF managing director Lee Howell,who edited the report.
National resilience to global risks needs to be a priorityso that critical systems continue to function despite a major disturbance, headded in the statement.
In addition to the economic and environmental risks, the WEFreport also identified so-called “digital wildfires” as a top risk category.
“While in many ways a force for good, the democratisation ofinformation can also have volatile and unpredictable consequences,” itcautioned.
One example, it said, was the September riots provoked bythe crudely made anti-Islam film “The Innocence of Muslims.”
“As the media's traditional role as gatekeeper is eroded,”the world needs to find ways to put out such blazes, WEF said.
The third and final risk category in the 2013 report waslinked to what the WEF described as dangerous complacency towards healthconcerns like rising resistance to antibiotics.
