Global Risks 2014
The world is
big… or is it? Do global environmental,
economic, social, political or technological risks effect you? Where does your
company, your government or you expend capital to reduce risks?
Preparing to
teach my Emergency Management class, I read the World Economic Form’s, Global Risks
2014. The report analyzed the risks
facing the world and rank orders the more likely events. The report is an eye opener!!
The Global
Economic Form mapped 31 global risks, they categorized the risks into the
following categories: economic,
environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological. The following top 10
Global Risks are from the report:
No. Global Risk
1 Fiscal crises in key economies
2 Structurally high
unemployment/underemployment
3 Water crises
4 Severe income disparity
5 Failure of climate change mitigation
and adaptation
6 Greater incidence of extreme weather
events (e.g. floods, storms, fires)
7 Global governance failure
8 Food crises
9 Failure of a major financial
mechanism/institution
10 Profound political and social instability
What do you
think? I think the report is spot on. Why? Because
we have already seen the disruption a fiscal crisis can cause to the world. We
have not fully recovered from the 2008 crisis. Europe’s economy is still in
trouble, high unemployment, debt and possible deflation. Deflation is bad if
you have debt, because now you owe more than you borrowed!
For example, Hitler
capitalized on the weak economy of Germany to take power. Shortly after world war one, in the early
1920’s the Nazi party and Hitler were on a rise, however after the Nazis had a
few setbacks then Germany’s economy improved causing Hitler and the Nazi’s influence
to wane. 1929! The Great Depression, kind of like the recession of 2008, money
dried up, there was very little lending and some financial institutions
failed. Hitler and the Nazi’s were able
to capitalize on this and take power. Could
this happen again? Look at Al Qaeda,
they are capitalizing on structurally high unemployment, income disparity and
governance failure (related to fiscal issues).
The Global
Risks 2014 Report closes with the following:
Ultimately, leaders in
both the public and private sectors need to be able to ask themselves concrete
questions. The following checklist may provide guidance:
1.
What are the top five risks facing the
organization and what does its risk appetite suggest with respect to managing
them?
2.
What are the exposed assets, and how
vulnerable are they?
3.
What options can address these risks
relative to what is being done currently?
4.
What support is needed, and from whom?
Despite recent progress,
many leaders are still unable to answer these questions confidently.
We, the
Global inhabitants are at high risk. Climate
change is real, the causes for it you decide.
The sea is rising, droughts are staying around a long time… water
issues. The economies need to become
more secure by reducing debt and practicing sound monetary policies… another
bubble is out there, governments should not allow a bursting bubble drag them
down.
Interdependences,
remember a large disaster will cause economic issues, which will in turn lead
to unemployment, income disparity and conflict. A government
or private industry should plan for disaster with economic and security,
mitigation procedures and response capability.
In other words, money should be set aside to keep workers paid and
security should be flexible enough to move in after a disaster.
These
problems are scalable, they effect the planet to the individual. So take a look at Global Risks 2014. See what you can do for your country, state,
city, business and home.
Internet Reading:
Global Risks Report 2014
Emergency
Management Blog 1
Michael James
Smyth
No comments:
Post a Comment