By Elisa Martinuzzi
LONDON (Reuters) – Armed conflict is the top risk by 2025, a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday showed, a reminder of the world's deep rift as government and business leaders attend the annual meeting in Davos next week.
Nearly one in four of the more than 900 experts surveyed across academia, business and policy-making list conflict, including wars and terrorism, as the most pressing risk to economic growth next year.
Very bad weather, no. 1 concern in 2024, it was the second risk.
“In a world marked by growing diversity and growing risks, world leaders have a choice: promote cooperation and resilience, or face instability,” said WEF Executive Director Mirek Dusek in a statement accompanying the report.
“The odds have never been higher.” The WEF runs on Jan. 20 and Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on the same day and has promised to end the war in Ukraine, will address the meeting around January 23. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend the meeting and give a speech on Jan. 21, according to the organizers of the WEF.
Among other world leaders expected to attend the meeting are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.
Syria, the “dire humanitarian situation in Gaza” and the escalation of conflict in the Middle East will be highlighted at the meeting, according to WEF President and CEO Borge Brende.
Negotiators were discussing the final details of a possible ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday, following refugee talks in Qatar. The threat of incorrect information and disinformation was placed as the most serious global risk in the next two years, according to the survey, the same standard. as of 2024.
For more than 10 years environmental threats have dominated experts' risk concerns, research has shown. Extreme weather was the top long-term global risk, followed by loss of biodiversity, drastic changes in land systems and depletion of natural resources.
Global temperatures last year exceeded 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times for the first time, bringing the world closer to breaking the commitments governments made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
A global risk is defined by research as a situation that will adversely affect a significant portion of the world's GDP, population or natural resources. Experts were surveyed in September and October.
The majority of respondents, 64%, expect the multipolar, integrated world order to continue.