Extreme weather and disinformation: WEF Global Risk Report

The world is becoming increasingly unstable due to climate change, demographic changes, technology and geopolitics. Those are the changing 'structural forces' listed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its latest Global Risks Report. 

The annual report aims to analyze global risks over one-, two- and 10-year time-frames, to support decision-makers in balancing risks over the short and long term. 

The bad news is that there is a predominantly negative outlook for the world over the next two years - and that is expected to worsen over the next decade.

The report was published on Wednesday against a backdrop of worrying geopolitical and geo-economic tensions and climate concerns.

"Everyone is concerned about extreme weather, about mis- and disinformation, about the rising cost of living," WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi told CGTN Europe. 

"But it's really very gloomy when we look at the two-year outlook. Mis- and disinformation [is the] number one risk globally, followed by extreme weather, followed by a lot of concerns about societal polarization and fracturing."

The top five risks that respondents deemed to be most likely to cause a global material crisis in 2024 are: extreme weather; AI-generated misinformation and disinformation; societal and/or political polarization; a cost-of-living crisis; and cyberattacks.

The report also suggested that major events from 2023, such as conflict in Gaza and climate change, could bring further globally destabilizing shocks in 2024.

More than half (54 percent) of respondents anticipate in the short term there will be some level of instability and a moderate risk of global catastrophes. Over the next decade, 63 percent of respondents expect a stormy or turbulent outlook and less than 10 percent expect a calm or stable situation.

"With the slightly more positive signals between the United States and China, the concerns around geoeconomic confrontation have fallen down the rankings," said Zahidi. "But when it comes to inter-state conflict, that has definitely gone up - that's at number five in the two-year time-frame."

The report says that localized strategies, breakthrough endeavors, collective actions and cross-border coordination all play a part in addressing the risks and fears.

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