Socio-economic global risks eclipse environmental risks in 2012: WEF

Perceived socio-economic global risks surpassed environmental risks when experts and industry leaders from around the world were asked to rank the most pressing risks of the coming decade, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2012.
Based on a survey of 469 experts and industry leaders, the report covers 50 global risks across five categories (economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal, and technological). The survey captures the perceived impact and likelihood for each risk over a 10-year time horizon using a five-point scale to indicate the severity of impact.
The Top 5 most likely risks were:
•Severe income disparity.
•Chronic fiscal imbalances.
•Rising greenhouse gas emissions.
•Cyber attacks.
•Water supply crises.
The Top 5 risks perceived as having the greatest impact over the next 10 years were:
•Major systemic financial failure.
•Water supply crises.
•Food shortage crises.
•Chronic fiscal imbalances.
•Extreme volatility in energy and agriculture prices.
When evaluating the risks from each category, researchers went a step further to see how they might interact with one another. “Three distinct constellations of risks that present a very serious threat to our future prosperity and security emerged from a review of this year’s set of risks,” the report concluded. These “risk cases” include:
1)Dystopia: The World Economic Forum found that links between fiscal, demographic and societal risks signalled a dystopian future for a large percentage of the world’s population. “Both young and old could face an income gap, as well as a skills gap, so wide as to threaten social and political stability.”
2)Poor safeguards: As the world becomes increasingly complex and interdependent, the capacity to manage systems that mitigate the risks arising from emerging technologies, financial interdependence, resource depletion and climate change is diminishing.
3)Connectivity: Given the existence of more than 5 billion mobile phones, coupled with Internet connectivity and cloud-based applications, daily life is more vulnerable to cyber threats and digital disruptions.