The worst is yet to come; global threats for 2021
Do you think this pandemic is bad? According to scientists, it could have been much worse.
Threats come in all shapes, colours, forms and dimensions, both digital, biological and physical.
2020 was a wake-up call for global industries when it comes to IT-security and biohazard vulnerabilities. On top of that, governments are overwhelmed by demand for health care, infrastructure to distribute vaccines and other essential medical supplies.
Add a bit of economic turmoil caused by international trade wars and pandemically slashed GNP’s - you have the reciepe for a global socio-economic disaster.
“State treasuries” across this godforsaken cosmic golfball of dirt expands credit lines en-masse to help their frustrated and hungry populations, while hyperinflation, civil unrest and armed conflicts lurk in the background.
Let’s define the contours of this unkown beast known as 2021:
According to the The World Economic Forum, and their network of crystal ball gazing industrial strategists, the following threat-areas are identitified as critical:
Digital power concentration, digital inequality, cybersecurity failure, IT infrastructure breakdown
Extreme weather / climate action failure / human environmental damage / biodiversity loss / natural resource crisis
Infectious diseases / livelihood crisis
Weapons of mass destruction, interstate relations fracture
Debt crisis
Source: These are the world’s greatest threats in 2021.
Related news:
Antibiotic resistance: the next “plague”
According to the World Health Organisation, antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to global health, food safety and development. It is now estimated 700,000 people die each year as a result of drug resistant diseases, with this number predicted to increase to over 10 million deaths per year by 2050. It causes over 33,000 deaths a year in Europe alone.
Scientists now believe there may be transfer mechanisms between large numbers of bacterial species and environments where they previously believed there were barriers.
Source: Antibiotic resistance may spread even more easily than expected and Antimicrobial resistance: the next pandemic?
.. and nobody can even agree to name the current strains of SARS_COVID-19.
Economic turbulance you said?
Morgan Stanley projects strong global GDP growth of 6.4% for 2021—led first by emerging markets, followed by reopening economies in the U.S. and Europe—in a macro outlook that diverges from the consensus.
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