Water heads list of top 10 global risks
By Randall Hackley, Bloomberg
International conflict and water crises lead the list of top 10 global risks, according to a survey by the World Economic Forum ahead of this week’s meeting in Davos.
The 2015 report published last week highlighted the most significant threats expected over the next decade, according to almost 900 WEF members surveyed from July to September. Deemed the likeliest risk was interstate conflict followed by extreme weather events; the top global risk as ranked by impact was water crises, then infectious diseases.
With almost 2 billion of Earth’s 7 billion people lacking access to clean drinking water, about 14 percent of the population still defecating outdoors and a child dying every 20 seconds due to poor sanitation, water was also eighth on the likelihood list. Conflict was fourth on the impact ranking followed by failure to adapt to climate change. Joblessness or underemployment was fifth for likelihood, ninth on impact.