2021: moving from crisis management to recovery

As the year from hell draws to a close, Next Generation Risk Management’s winter reflection is that we desperately need bold changes and ideas as we move from crisis management to rebuild in 2021.

According to the official statistics, as of December 6, the authorities in 217 countries have reported approximately 67 million Covid‑19 cases and 1.5 million deaths since China reported its first cases to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to CNN.

But the impacts from COVID-19 are far-larger than just the number of cases. World economies have entered a devastating “COVID recession,” minorities and vulnerable communities have suffered disproportionately, while non-state actors — including terrorist groups and organized criminal organizations — have benefited from the rising number of recruits and increasing mis and disinformation on a multitude of technology platforms. This has been aided by heightened unemployment, failing businesses, rising food insecurity and government inefficiencies and inadequate or unimaginative preparedness planning.

Meanwhile, despite leading the crisis management effort, many large cities across the world have unfortunately been found wanting around risk-based preparedness efforts such as stocking health supplies, the number of hospital beds, the transparency of their decision-making, the development of reliable and understandable risk management techniques and in their failure to protect the most vulnerable communities.

Our amazing scientists and the rapid-speed development of vaccines has offered us hope for 2021 that we can move from crisis management to recovery. But this opportunity needs to be backed-up by bold innovation and change.

From green shoots to resilience

The specter of climate change looms large across the world. Yet again it is the vulnerable who face the most significant risks. Cheap housing is often located in areas at most risk from climate change, while poorly integrated communities often face heightened health risks from rising temperatures. But big businesses also need to prepare for these risks: physical, reputational and supply-chain-climate issues all pose existential risks.

There is growing mis and disinformation around the safety of the vaccines. This is a sad…