London: Failure to mitigate adverse impact of climate change is the biggest risk facing the world this year with greater damage potential than even the weapons of mass destruction, says a WEF survey.
On the economic front, "deflation" is the risk of highest concern for doing business in India, said the Global Risks Report 2016, released here on Thursday by the World Economic Forum (WEF) ahead of its annual meeting in Davos next week.
It showed there is an increased likelihood for all risks, this year -from environment to geopolitics, technology to society and economy.
"The risk with the greatest potential impact in 2016 was found to be a failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation," WEF said, adding that an environmental risk has topped the ranking for the first time since the survey was launched in 2006.
"This year, it was considered to have greater potential damage than weapons of mass destruction (2nd), water crises (3rd), large-scale involuntary migration (4th) and severe energy price shock (5th)," WEF said.
However, the number one risk in 2016 in terms of likelihood is large-scale involuntary migration, followed by extreme weather events, failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation, interstate conflict with regional consequences and major natural catastrophes.
As per the country-level data on how businesses perceive global risks in their countries, deflation was on the risk with highest concern for doing business in India.
Globally, 'unemployment and under-employment' emerged as the most widespread risk of highest concern for doing business, followed by energy price shock and cyber attacks.
Talking about food security risk in the context of climate change, WEF said the most climate-vulnerable countries often heavily depend on agricultural productivity to sustain economic growth and development.
"But the recent years have also shown the climate vulnerability of G-20 countries such as India, Russia and the US - the breadbasket of the world - and other large industrial producers of agricultural commodities," WEF said.
About India and China, the two most populous nations, it said both are currently committed to self-sufficiency in cereals and should they have to abandon these policies of self-sufficiency, the consequences will be felt globally in the form of tighter international markets and higher prices.
At the same time, it also stressed on an urgent need to reduce food wastage and said the current estimates suggest around one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted along the food value chain, with a direct economic cost of $750 billion per year.
"Excluding land-use change, the annual emissions footprint of food produced but not consumed is around 3.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), more than the total national emissions of India," the report said.
On international security risks, it said, "India, while currently occupied with pressing domestic issues of internal conflict and social inequality, is also a key actor to watch as the Asian security landscape adapts to a post-Western world."
The report has been developed with the support of Strategic Partners Marsh and McLennan Companies and Zurich Insurance Group.
WEF also said that without improved governance at the global and national levels, the world risks sleepwalking into widespread chaos or major war.
