Time.news – No snow, no golf car in the shrouded woods, and not even Thomas Man’s enchanted mountain. For the second consecutive year, the World Economic Forum in Davos will take place in virtual mode due to the pandemic. The opening of the works is scheduled for this morning at 11, for an ‘online’ duration until Friday 21 January, with the intervention in video-conference by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the founder and executive president of the Forum, Klaus Schwab. .
On the table of the world ‘elite’ of leaders, industrialists and social ‘stars’ once again the ‘global challenges’, the global challenges which, this year again see Covid in the foreground, with its Omicron variant and, of course, the global recovery after two years of pandemic. The WEF will be the first global platform of the year to offer the opportunity to reflect on the “state of the world” for leading heads of state and government, CEOs and leaders of civil society and international organizations.
“Radically different pandemic experiences have exacerbated global divisions”, the Wef points out in a note noting that “vaccine inequalities, combined with new strains, have also slowed the international economic recovery“.” However – as the Global Risks Report 2022 clarifies – Covid-19 is only one of the critical global challenges that could become unmanageable unless world leaders prioritize proactive collaboration. “
“Consequently, the Davos agenda will focus on promoting concerted action among key stakeholders worldwide.” Schwab explains: “Everyone is hoping that in 2022 the pandemic and the crises that accompanied it will finally begin to recede. But great global challenges await us, from climate change to rebuilding trust and social cohesion. To address them, leaders will have to adopt. new models, look to the long term, renew cooperation and act systematically.
Agenda
The Davos Agenda 2022 is the starting point for the dialogue necessary for global cooperation in 2022. “Through special addresses and panels with leaders of the G20 economies and international organizations, the Davos Agenda 2022 will provide insights into a series of critical challenges.
Expected leaders
The intervention of many world leaders is expected: in addition to Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India will speak; Kishida Fumio, prime minister of Japan; Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations; Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission; Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia; Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia; Naftali Bennett, prime minister of Israel; Janet L. Yellen, Secretary of the United States Treasury; Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Nigeria.
They will also speak personalities from institutions, from the scientific world and politicians prominent as Christine Lagarde, president of the ECB; John Kerry, US Special Climate Envoy; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General; Anthony Fauci, virologist and director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the most listened to experts during the Covid epidemic; Paulo Guedes, Minister of Economy of Brazil, Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia.
The focus
Among the key sessions: Covid-19 – What are the prospects? (January 17); Technological cooperation in the fourth industrial revolution (January 17); Renewal of a global social contract (January 18); Addressing the vaccine equity challenge (January 18); Navigating the Energy Transition (January 19th); Accelerate and Increase Climate Innovation (January 19); ESG metrics for a sustainable future (January 20); Live from Space: The Next Frontier for Knowledge and Action (January 20); Global Economic Outlook (January 21); Building the Future Preparation (January 21).
The risks highlighted in the report
In the Global Risks Report, released on Tuesday, the WEF stressed that, in the third year of the pandemic, it is not Covid that is at the top of international concerns but rather the risks related to the climate, the growing social fractures and the cyber threat. According to the document, which will be on the table of world leaders at the Forum, 5 of the 10 greatest risks to the planet relate to the climate or the environment.
The report calls on world leaders to take long-term action by drawing up an agenda for the coming years. The threats in the short term, we read, are in particular extreme weather events, social divisions, humanitarian crises, the deterioration of people’s mental health, but also infectious diseases, the debt crisis and digital inequality.
In the medium term, however, in addition, the lack of action on the climate, the geo-economic comparison, the loss of biodiversity, the inability to guarantee cybersecurity and man-made damage to the environment. In the long run, there are geopolitical disputes over natural resources. In the ranking of risks by severity level, the first place is occupied by the lack of climatic action and the second by violent atmospheric events. In third place is the loss of biodiversity, in fourth the erosion of social cohesion and in fifth the humanitarian crises, that is, those linked to livelihood.
Covid is ‘only’ sixth
It is only in sixth place, in a ranking of 10 risks, that infectious diseases are found. Nevertheless, the WEF warns that “with the beginning of 2022, Covid-19 and its economic and social consequences continue to pose a threat to the world“.” The inequalities in access to the vaccine and the disparities that these cause on the economic recovery – the report continues – risk exacerbating social fractures and geopolitical tensions. In the 52 poorest countries, where 20% of the world population lives, only 6% of people have been vaccinated so far “.
“By 2024 – it continues – the economies of developing countries (excluding China) will have lost 5.5% of their GDP compared to the growth levels expected before the pandemic, while the advanced economies will have exceeded them by 0.9% and this will widen the global divide by creating tensions within and beyond borders that risk worsening the impact of the pandemic and complicating the coordination necessary to address common challenges, such as those relating to climate, digital security, the sustenance of populations and social cohesion “.
The risk of infectious diseases is followed by human-caused damage to the environment, natural resource crises, debt crises and, finally, geo-economic disputes.
The areas of ’emerging risk’ are cybersecurity, competition in space, a disorderly climate transition and migratory pressures. Each of these issues requires worldwide coordination for effective management.
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