The forum has issued its Global Risk Survey citing a “critical period of intensified risks” in the year ahead.
Weapons top the list in terms of impact, but in the report’s top ten ranking three are environmental risks such as extreme weather, natural disasters or a failure to adapt to climate change.
This means a catastrophe of that nature is more of a potent threat than large-scale weapons, according to the report compiled by 1,000 global experts.
And the risks featured range from economical, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological.
The results were used to compile a risks perception survey that signalled there will be an “intensification” of global threats this year.
Major natural disasters and environmental catastrophes were ranked highly in terms of likelihood and impact.
Weapons featured highest in terms of impact.
After a year of heatwaves, wildfires and hurricanes “extreme weather” has been seen as the single most prominent risk for 2018.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has confirmed “experts are preparing another year of heightened risk”.
A WEF spokesman said: “When we asked nearly 1,000 respondents for their views about the trajectory of risks in 2018, 59 percent of their answers pointed to an intensification of risks, compared with 7 percent pointing to declining risks.”
The report found 93 percent of experts believe economic or political confrontations between major powers to intensify this year.
Roughly 80 percent except an increase in the risk of war.
But the report said: “Among the most pressing environmental challenges facing us are extreme weather events and temperatures; accelerating biodiversity loss; pollution of air, soil and water; failures of climate-change mitigation and adaptation; and transition risks as we move to a low-carbon future.
“However, the truly systemic challenge rests in the depth of the interconnectedness that exists both among these environmental risks and between them and risks in other countries.”