Main Global Issues, According to WEF 2022 Report
Humanity has been confronted with difficult situations in recent years, including pandemics, armed conflicts, and societal inequalities. To help with the reduction of a problem, one must be well-informed on present and emerging global risks. Change can be achieved via the combined efforts of multiple, knowledgeable and willing individuals.
Who can inform you about what is to come?
The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
The Forum brings together the world’s most powerful politicians, corporate leaders, cultural figures, and other influencers to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and was founded in 1971 as a non-profit foundation. It is self-contained, unbiased, and unaffiliated with any special interests.
The Forum seeks to exhibit entrepreneurship in the global public interest while maintaining the highest standards of governance in whatever it does. Everything it does is based on moral and intellectual integrity.
We have summed up the primary difficulties humanity needs to deal with by examining the WEF 2022 report on the top global risks we should be looking out for over the next 5 years.
Environmental risks dominate the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2022 — for both the short and long term. Specifically, climate change-related risks account for three of the top risks by severity in the next 10 years. Even though important action has been taken so far, the global pandemic and the financial crises it left behind pushed any climate change action progress back again, as the world is encouraged to deal with this big, short term issue of Covid-19 first, then go back to handling the long term yet extremely more severe issue of climate change. Governments are also reluctant to use their limited resources for climate-related actions when their healthcare system struggles to function properly.
Described as a critical threat to the world across all time spans— short, medium, and long term — social cohesion erosion is seen as among the most potentially damaging for the next 10 years. Social cohesion worsens upon rising divisions and polarisation in society, as income inequalities are exacerbated by the pandemic’s lopsided recovery, for example, with 51 million people projected to live in extreme poverty by 2030 while billionaires grow richer than ever. Erosion also lurks in the fissures created by opposing views on vaccines and face-mask mandates, and in the rallying cries for long-awaited racial justice in historically oppressed communities. Put simply, it’s the crumbling of civil society, fractured by divergent forces from within, and it is at an all-time high currently.
Issues with livelihood security and quality of life are included in WEF’s report and are considered critical in today’s global threats, as increasing numbers of people are suffering due to prolonged conflict, financial crises, and/or repeated natural disasters. Food insecurity, poverty, and associated inequality have all seen a worrying rise during COVID-19. Even as restrictions ease in some countries, vulnerable families have depleted their coping mechanisms, having used up their savings, sold their assets, or taken on debt. Without support, they will find it difficult to recover their lives and livelihoods.
At a time when we are confronting crisis after crisis, a situation in which a country is unable to repay its government debt is a flourishing concern. A country can enter into a debt crisis when the tax revenues of its government are less than its expenditures for a prolonged period, a phenomenon currently on the rise and met in various countries. But the rising total is important for two reasons. First, when debt rises faster than economic output (as it has been doing in recent years), higher government debt implies higher taxes in the future. Second, the debt must be rolled over at regular intervals. This creates a recurring popularity test for individual governments, rather as reality TV show contestants face a public phone vote every week. Fail that vote, as various euro-zone governments have done, and the country (and its neighbors) can be plunged into crisis. What is clear as this phenomenon is growing, is that the world needs to closely monitor asset prices and debt levels to preserve the health of an already fragile global economy.
Only 11% of respondents thought the globe will be marked by an accelerated global recovery by 2024, according to the WEF, while 89 percent felt the short-term prognosis would be turbulent, fractured, or progressively disastrous. A whopping 84 percent of those polled were pessimistic about the future. Pervasive pessimism could lead to a cycle of disillusionment, making it even more difficult to mobilize action. Furthermore, extreme cases of mental health deterioration might lead to an increase in suicide rates. Around 20% of the world’s children and adolescents suffer from mental illness, with suicide being the second largest cause of mortality among those aged 15 to 29. Mental health issues can have a significant impact on all aspects of life, including school or work performance, family and friend connections, and community participation. Depression and anxiety, two of the most common mental health illnesses, cost the global economy $1 trillion each year.
The first step is to educate yourself, the second is to accept what you’ve learned, and the third is to summon the confidence to act. Also, keep in mind that global concerns affect everyone on earth, not just you, so don’t let your fear prevent you from attempting to help.
Team Aligned: Agelos Latsi, Elena Alid, Ιωάννα Ταμβάκη
Sources:
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Global_Risks_Report_2022.pdf
https://www.fastcompany.com/90712209/why-global-leaders-are-terrified-about-social-cohesion-erosion
