Recently World Economic Forum has released Global Risk Report 2024.
What are the current global risks ?
Declining optimism - The global outlook is increasingly fractured across geopolitical, environmental, societal, economic and technological domains.
Geopolitical tensions - State-based armed conflict, now ranked as the #1 current risk by 23% of respondents ,was overlooked as a leading two-year risk two years ago.
National security considerations are starting to dominate government agendas.
Geopolitical recession - Dangers of unilateralism taking hold in national security considerations and the worsening humanitarian impacts of the ongoing conflicts.
Destabilizing consequences following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as in the Middle East and in Sudan are amplifying the global risks.
Supercharged economic tensions - The rise in the two-year ranking of Geoeconomic confrontation, from #14 last year to #9 today reflects unease about the path ahead for global economic relations.
Misinformation and disinformation - False or misleading content is complicating the geopolitical environment, affecting voter intentions.
It can sow doubt among the general public worldwide about what is happening in conflict zones
It can be used to tarnish the image of products or services from another country.
Societal fragmentation - Inequality in wealth and income is perceived as the most central risk of all, playing a significant role in both triggering and being influenced by other risks.
It is contributing to weakening trust and diminishing our collective sense of shared values.
Other societal risks - Societal polarization, Involuntary migration or displacement and Erosion of human rights and/ or civic freedoms.
Economic downturn and Inflation - Impacts of the cost- of-living crisis since 2022 contributed to Inequality becoming the top interconnected risk this year.
Super-ageing societies - Unfavourable demographic trends in Japan, South Korea, Italy or Germany will cause pensions crises and labour shortages in the long-term care sector.
Environmental risks - Extreme weather events, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, pollution are expected to become even more of a concern than they already are.
Technological risks - The role of Generative AI (GenAI) in producing false or misleading content at scale and the consequent societal polarization.
Biotech challenges - Intrastate violence from biological terrorism and adverse outcomes of frontier technologies involving accidental or malicious misuse of gene editing technologies, or even of brain-computer interfaces.
What can be done to manage the risks?
Strengthen the existing structures to tackle the challenges collectively confronting us.
Leaders across the public and private sectors, civil society, international organizations and academia must seize the baton to work openly and constructively with each other.
Deepening honest dialogue and act to mitigate the risks to rebuild trust and create stronger, more resilient economies and societies.
Expand the role of regional organizations in managing tensions like African Union.
Diversify supply chains to increase it’s resilience.
Foster multilateralism to address geoeconomic confrontations.
Develop strategic regional or bilateral ties with countries that offer complementarity in terms of sectoral strengths, natural resource endowments and skill.
Strengthen the domestic economy, such as financial sector development or investment in education, health and infrastructure.
