The World Economic Forum has published its Global Risks Report 2020.
For the first time in the survey’s 10-year outlook, the top five global risks in terms of likelihood are all environmental and include:
* Extreme weather events with major damage to property, infrastructure and loss of human life;
* Failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation by governments and businesses;
* Human-made environmental damage and disasters, including environmental crime, such as oil spills, and radioactive contamination;
* Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse (terrestrial or marine) with irreversible consequences for the environment, resulting in severely depleted resources for humankind as well as industries;
* Major natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and geomagnetic storms.
For 2020, the report forecasts a year of increased domestic and international divisions and economic slowdown. The report says that collaboration between world leaders, businesses and policy-makers is needed more than ever to stop severe threats to our climate, environment, public health and technology systems.
The percentage of respondents who think a risk will increase in 2020:
* Economic confrontations = 78.5 percent
* Domestic political polarization = 78.4 percent
* Extreme heat waves = 77.1 percent
* Destruction of natural resource ecosystems = 76.2 percent
* Cyberattacks: infrastructure = 76.1 percent.
A full copy of the Global Risks Report 2020 can be found at the World Economic Forum’s website.