Emerging Risks in the 21st Century

Every day, people face a variety of risks that may result in damage to what they value: their life, their health, the lives and health of others, their property, or the environment. Some of these risks affect individuals but have only an isolated impact on society. Others, however, may be on a much larger scale and their effects may spread much further. This report is concerned with the latter, more specifically with those risks that affect the systems on which society depends “ health, transport, environment, telecommunications, etc. Five categories of such risks are addressed: natural disasters, industrial accidents, infectious diseases, terrorism, and food safety.