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The coronavirus crisis is expected to prompt the world to “wake up to long-term risks” such as climate change, collapsing asset prices and weapons of mass destruction, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The biggest concerns of world leaders for the coming decade are laid out in a new report from WEF, best known for hosting an annual leaders’ summit at Davos ski resort in Switzerland.
More than 800 business, government and civil society leaders were interviewed late last year about perceived risks in the coming years for the WEF 2021 Global Risks Report, released Tuesday.
Respondents were asked to rank 35 potential short, medium and long term risks. Infectious diseases and livelihood crises have been the two biggest concerns for leaders over the next two years, a sign of the severe and lasting damage expected to result from COVID-19 and government restrictions on economies.
Other “clear and present dangers” included extreme weather conditions and digital inequalities. The WEF report warns that COVID-19 risked widening the gap between the haves and have-nots in terms of access to technology and digital skills.
The perceived risks of greatest concern to executives over the next two to five years include bursting asset bubbles, IT infrastructure failures, price instability, commodity shocks and market crises. the debt.
In the second half of this decade, the greatest concerns are weapons of mass destruction, state collapse, loss of biodiversity, “unfavorable” technological advances and natural resource crises.
Executives were also asked to highlight the risks that they believed would be the most damaging, as well as those that were most likely. Climate change and the environment loomed large, but leaders seemed pessimistic that humanity was successfully acting to address their greatest concerns.
Failure to take action on climate change was seen as likely to have the greatest impact of all ‘infectious disease’ issues, reflecting the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But extreme weather conditions, inability to act on climate change, and damage to the human environment were also seen as the three most likely risks, according to the survey.
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“In 2020, the risk of a global pandemic has become a reality, which this report has been highlighting since 2006,” said Saadia Zahidi, WEF Executive Director.
“We know how difficult it is for governments, businesses and other stakeholders to deal with these long-term risks, but the lesson to be learned is that we all recognize that ignoring them doesn’t make them less likely to happen.
“As governments, businesses and societies begin to emerge from the pandemic, they now need to urgently shape new economic and social systems that improve our collective resilience and our ability to respond to shocks while reducing inequalities, improving health and protecting the planet. ”
The survey included 12 new risks from the previous report, updated to reflect emerging global trends and concerns in the wake of the pandemic.
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They include the collapse of systemically important industries, social security systems or multilateral institutions, the deterioration of mental health, the massive disillusionment of young people, prolonged economic stagnation, the fracture of international relations and a “backlash”. generalized ”against science.
Technology is also emerging as a growing concern, with digital inequalities, digital concentrations of power, and the failure of technological governance all added in 2020.
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