Displaying items by tag: World Economic Forum

Fears of a global food crisis are swelling as Russian attacks on Ukraine’s ability to produce and export grain have choked off one of the world’s breadbaskets, fuelling charges that President Putin is using food as a powerful new weapon in his three-month-old war. On 24 May world leaders called for international action to deliver twenty million tons of grain now trapped in Ukraine, predicting that the alternative could be hunger in some countries and political unrest in others, in what could be the gravest global repercussion yet of Russia’s assault on its neighbour. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where worries about the war’s consequences have eclipsed almost every other issue, speakers reached for apocalyptic language to describe the threat. 'It’s a perfect storm within a perfect storm,' said David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme. Calling the situation 'absolutely critical,' he warned, 'We will have famines around the world.'

The World Economic Forum annual meeting of 3,000 of the world's richest and most powerful people took place this week in Davos. One of the speakers was Greta Thunberg, who opened a debate entitled, ‘How to avert a climate apocalypse’. Attendees were not able to avoid climate change, as the theme was ‘Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.’ Meanwhile let us pray for Canadian residents cleaning-up after a monstrous winter storm that brought thirty inches of snow, causing chaos; for Australians dealing with the aftermath of severe thunderstorms, floods and hail the size of golf balls in different areas, while fire weather warnings cover parts of Western Australia; and for tens of thousands living near the restless Philippines volcano ‘recharging’ with fresh magma and toxic gas. The forum is asking all companies in Davos to commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.