Extreme weather is biggest risk facing the world in 2017, shows WEF report

Of the top 5 most likely global risks, two are related to environmental concerns

An extreme weather event is the most likely risk the world could face in 2017, shows the World Economic Forum's global risks report, released on Wednesday. 

According to The Global Risks Report 2017, the other risks facing the world in order of likelihood are: Large-scale involuntary migration, major natural disasters, large-scale terrorist attacks and massive incidents of data fraud or theft. 

Of the top five most likely risks faced by the world, two are related to environmental concerns, one societal, another geopolitical, and one technological. Terrorism figures lower than environmental and societal risks, both in terms of likelihood and severity of impact. However, it is still the most likely geopolitical risk facing the world.

Link to full report: The Global Risks Report 2017

Environmental concerns dominate the risk list

An extreme weather event has been among the top five most likely risks faced by the world for the past four years. For three consecutive years -- from 2014 to 2016 -- it was the second most likely risk the world could face. In terms of severity of impact, in this year's report, an extreme weather event is ranked just below an event involving weapons of mass destruction.  

Environmental risks have been constant candidates in the report's list since 2011, with four out of five most likely crises highlighted in that year's report being environmental in nature. In fact, last year's report had three environmental risks in its list of most likely global risks — extreme weather events, failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and major natural catastrophes. Last year, an extreme weather event was the second most likely risk faced by the world. While a major natural catastrophe was the fifth most likely threat last year, this year's report has pegged it as the third most likely risk.

Further, out of the five threats likely to have the most impact in the event they occur, three are environmental, with a major natural disaster being the risk that would have the third most severe impact, and the possible failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation, which does not feature in this year's list of most likely threats, being the fifth most severe threat in terms of impact. 

Migratory crisis continues to pose a threat

A large-scale involuntary migration was the most likely threat faced by the world, according to last year's report. This year, however, it has moved down one rank. With the Syrian refugee crisis in context, and continuing efforts in Europe to manage and mitigate the influx of migrants, this is a threat which is likely to persist and is already occurring. While such a crisis has not been listed as one of the top five threats faced by the world in terms of severity of impact, the severity of its impact is still judged above average. Among other societal challenges, in this year's report, a water crisis figures as a threat that would have the third most severe impact if it were to occur, the same as last year's report.

Technological risks make a comeback

The last time a technological risk was assessed likely was in the 2014 report and it dealt with cyber attacks. This year's technological risk is data theft or fraud.  

However, while the likelihood of such a data theft is high, according to the report, the impact of such an event, in relation to the impact of other risks, would be below average in severity.