This week, the Global Challenges Foundation released its annual report on Global Catastrophic Risks. CSR experts Dr. Natasha Bajema and Andrea Rezzonico contributed to the report, and its mission of addressing the complex intersections of diverse global catastrophic risks.
The report is a wake-up call. It delves into key existential risks we are facing in the 21st century including weapons of mass destruction, catastrophic climate change, ecological collapse, pandemics, asteroid impacts, supervolcanic eruption, misuse of artificial intelligence, black hole formations, and more. The last chapter illustrates how some of these threats, including climate change, ecological disruption, biological hazards, technological change, and nuclear proliferation, can directly and indirectly cascade or intersect with one another. A systemic and dangerous gap exists in collective action for mitigating the complex intersections across these risks and for managing the impact of disruptive technologies.
For this reason, world leaders urgently need to reimagine multilateralism through a converging-risks lens and work to prevent global catastrophic risks as part of an interconnected system rather than in separate silos of governance.
This is a must read. The Global Challenges Foundation is also following the report with dialogue and action, including its New Shape Forum on October 12-13, featuring CSR’s Erin Sikorsky discussing climate security and many other great guests. We recommend you read the report here and sign up for the forum here.