Global Risks Report 2012

Mardi 24 janvier 2012 2 24 /01 /Jan /2012 21:10

Global Risks Report 2012

We are living in a new world of risk. Globalization, shifting demographics, rapidly accelerating technological change, increased connectivity, economic uncertainty, a growing multiplicity of actors and shifting power structures combine to make operating in this world unprecedentedly complex and challenging for corporations, institutions and states alike.

Uniquely placed to catalyse a response to this new landscape, the World Economic Forum is launching a platform to better understand, prepare for and respond to complex, interdependent risk. Find out more about the Risk Response Network.

Economic imbalances and social inequality risk reversing the gains of globalization, warns the World Economic Forum in its report Global Risks 2012. These are the findings of a survey of 469 experts and industry leaders, indicating a shift of concern from environmental risks to socioeconomic risks compared to a year ago. Respondents worry that further economic shocks and social upheaval could roll back the progress globalization has brought, and feel that the world’s institutions are ill-equipped to cope with today’s interconnected, rapidly evolving risks. The findings of the survey fed into an analysis of three major risk cases: Seeds of Dystopia; Unsafe Safeguards and the Dark Side of Connectivity. The report analyses the top 10 risks in five categories - economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological - and also highlights "X Factor" risks, the wild card threats which warrant more research, including a volcanic winter, cyber neotribalism and epigenetics, the risk that the way we live could have harmful, inheritable effects on our genes. Key crisis management lessons from Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters are highlighted in a special chapter.

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Former Reports :

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2011, Sixth Edition has identified economic disparity and global governance failures as central risks in the global risk landscape, exacerbating and driving a range of other risks.

The report identifies economic imbalances and unfunded liabilities as containing the seeds of potential future fiscal and financial crises and urges concerted coordinated action to manage them.

The Global Risks Report 2010 features numerous warnings of the long shadow of the financial crisis. The result of extensive input throughout the previous year by experts from business, academia, and the public sector, Global Risks 2010 highlights a number of slow-moving risks exacerbated by the financial crisis and global economic downturn, and stresses the continued need to further enhance global resilience to risks. Global governance gaps, an issue already to the fore in Global Risks 2009, continues to be at the nexus of global risks and the need for coordinated global action is increasingly urgent.