The World Economic Forum (WEF) last week published its Global Risks Report 2018, to which both WMO and WCRP had provided input. The Global Risks Reports are each year released just before the WEF's Annual Meetings in Davos, Switzerland. They synthesize expert evaluations on risks threatening at a global scale society, economies, populations, and/or the environment, as well as on their interconnections and temporal trends. Representatives from WCRP and WMO had participated in a Global Risks Workshop (Geneva, 6 October 2017), the results of which fed into the report.
The 2018 issue and 13th edition of the Global Risks Report series prominently highlights threats and vulnerabilities related to extreme weather events, natural disasters, climate risks, and man-made environmental disasters amidst the overall range of risks humankind faces. Trend analyses demonstrate increasing risks to society within these environmental domains. Connectivity surveys relate such environmental threats to risks for food and water security as well as for social stability.
WMO Assistant Secretary-General Wenjian Zhang and WCRP staff member Mike Sparrow participated in the 2017 Global Risks Workshop that helped prepare for the 2018 Report. Together, the two climate and weather experts provided input on domain-related risks as well as their potential impacts on society, on behalf of their respective communites of thousands of climate and weather experts.
The full Global Risks Report 2018, as well as the corresponding WEF news announcement including a video of the Report's release press conference, can be accessed from the WEF homepages.
Photo "Haitian Village Devastated by Tropical Storm Hanna" by Flickr account "un_photo", CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.