Extreme weather is the greatest threat to humanity according to 750 of the world’s rulers.
The World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risk Report on the world’s biggest threats is humanity’s destruction of nature holding the top five places on the list.
When 750 of the world’s power-holders list what the biggest threats to humanity are, the environment comes into focus:
Extreme weather events with major damage to property, infrastructure and loss of human life.
Failure to limit and adapt climate change by authorities and companies.
Larger loss of biodiversity and the collapse of ecosystems (on land and at sea) with irreversible consequences for the environment, resulting in severely depleted resources for humanity as well as for industry.
Major natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and geomagnetic storms.
Human-caused environmental damage and disasters, including environmental crime, oil spills and radioactive pollution.
Even when the most likely threats in 2020 are listed, the environment comes out on top: extreme heat, destroyed ecosystems, health problems due to emissions, lack of water and uncontrolled fires.
It seems that the world’s rulers have quickly opened their eyes to these threats in recent years. Two years ago, two of the biggest threats were considered to be environmentally related and last year they filled the top three. So these are the five biggest threats.
Leave a Reply