The top five dangers facing the world are all now either environmental or technological, according to a major annual survey.
The World Economic Forum鈥檚 2019 has found that extreme weather, climate policy failure and natural disasters are the risks most likely to trouble us in 2019. All three are also ranked in the top five in terms of impact.
The fourth and fifth most likely are data fraud or theft, and cyberattacks.
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The report is based on an annual survey of risk perception by around 1000 business and political leaders worldwide. 鈥淭here has been a real shift towards environmental risks,鈥� said the report鈥檚 author Aengus Collins, head of global risks at the WEF. 聽Ten years ago the top five risks were asset price collapse, economic slowdown in China, chronic disease, gaps in global governance and retrenchment from globalisation.
Two other environmental risks 鈥� man-made environmental disasters and biodiversity loss or ecosystem collapse 鈥� are ranked sixth and eighth. All the environmental risks in the survey are considered to be both highly likely and high-impact.
The findings emphasise the growing realisation among the global elite that environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss are an 鈥渆xistential threat,鈥� said B酶rge Brende, president of the WEF.
The top five are the same as last year but in a different order, with climate change climbing from five to two after another year of stark warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change but little meaningful action worldwide.
These risks eclipsed many others that often get more attention, such as a new financial crisis, terrorism, interstate conflict and mass migration.
The risk with the biggest potential impact was rated to be an attack using weapons of mass destruction, but this is also considered the least likely to actually happen.
The technological risks also need to be taken more seriously, said Brende. 鈥淚t is hard to overstate how reliant we are on technology and how rapidly technologies are evolving. Our networked societies are very vulnerable.鈥�
The issues raised in the report will be aired at the WEF鈥檚 annual meeting in Davos next week, traditionally seen as a problem-solving forum for the global elite.
