The Global Risk Report 2019

Question: Consider the following statements in reference to the Global Risk Report 2019:
1) The report consist worrying geopolitical and geo-economic tensions which can hinder the progress of world
2) This is based on the result obtained from latest Global Risk Perception Survey
3) It is published by International Monetary Fund (IMF)
4) Environmental threats are utmost worry for the third year in row
Choose the correct option:
(a) 1, 3 and 4
(b) 1, 2 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) All of the above
Answer: (b)
Related facts:

  • The Global Risk Report of 2019 is released by World Economic Forum. This is the 14th edition of this annual report which consists and discusses many Geo-political and geo-economic tensions and challenges in front of the world which needs collective will and measure to tackle it.
  • The report has results of the latest Global Risk Perception Survey of World Economic Forum in which nearly 1,000 decision makers from the public sector, private sector, academia and civil society assess the risks facing the world. The survey is divided into four parts.

About the report:

  • Environmental threats dominate the list for the third year in row both in terms of impact and likelihood. A report of World Wide Fund (WWF) last year mentions the environmental challenge- with loses in vertebrate species averaging a whopping 60% between 1970 and 2014.
  • Nine out of 10 respondents (90%) expect economic and political confrontations between major powers will worsen this year. Extreme weather and climate-change policy failures are seen as the gravest threats over a ten-year horizon. 88% of respondents agree of erosion of multilateral trading rules and agreements with growing economic confrontation.
  • 700 million people are estimated to have a mental disorder. Heath issues are one of the worrying threats in the world. Mental disorder and deadly disease have an upward trend. 30% women are experiencing intimate partner violence during their lives.
  • Estimates also suggest that 90% of the coastal areas will experience above average rise of sea level leading to loss of land and area. More people will be crammed into shrinking tracts of habitable urban space.
  • Spending on disaster recovery is almost nine times higher than on prevention. This shows the lack of preventive measures taken by governments to prepare and tackle the disasters and hence leads to heavy loss of human life and infra.
  • The gulf between urban and rural areas is increasing and has reached a tipping point. Human rights have severe seen severe scrutiny in society. Major cities are facing severe water crisis and lack planned measures to tackle with it.
  • Cyber attacks are also one of the top threats. Many data breaches have been witnessed last year both in public and private sectors. 82% of respondents expected the risk of cyber-attacks leading to theft of money and data to increase in 2019.
  • A “global risk” is defined as an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, can cause significant negative impact for several countries or industries within the next 10 years.

World Economic Forum:

  • Founded by Klaus Schwab in 1971 and Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, World Economic Forum is a not for profit organisation for Public Private Cooperation engaging foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Himanshu Shukla

Links:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/these-are-the-biggest-risks-facing-our-world-in-2019/
https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-risks-report-2019
https://www.zurich.com/_/media/dbe/corporate/knowledge/docs/the-global-risks-report-2019.pdf?la=en&hash=3247D2FC50454F84ADD5B799D71EEF1098221FAF
https://www.weforum.org/about/world-economic-forum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum