The world is in a polycrisis—the actualization of many risks at once, which overlap and interact, and affect entire systems. What is unique about this moment is that this polycrisis is now truly planetary in nature, as our environmental footprint has increased beyond safe limits.
This context calls for a radical rethinking of risk, beyond traditional approaches focused on single harms to single organizations, communities, or people, and towards the more comprehensive conception of systemic risk. ASRA defines “systemic risk” as the potential for multiple, increasingly severe, abrupt, differentiated yet interconnected, and potentially long-lasting and complex impacts on coupled natural and human systems.
Rapidly enhancing our ability to assess and respond to systemic risk is vital for achieving a safer future for people, the planet, and all living ecosystems. This report, Facing Global Risks with Honest Hope: Transforming Multidimensional Challenges into Multidimensional Possibilities, co-developed by the ASRA network members, underscores the urgent need for transformative change and sets out a bold guide to strengthen our ability to understand and tackle systemic risk.
The recommendations highlight that we have the agency to drive change by unlocking institutional innovation, reorienting financial flows, facilitating meaningful public participation, and catalyzing new social practices. Although we may not know the exact sequence of events that will lead to the next great global shock, we can start now to ensure our systems and societies are better equipped to mitigate, prepare for, adapt to, and even transform away from future crises.