Page 100 - Klaus Schwab - COVID-19: The Great Reset

Particularly at risk now are many countries in the Middle East
and Maghreb, where the economic pain was increasingly

apparent before the pandemic and with restless, youthful
populations and rampant unemployment. The triple blow of
COVID-19, the collapse in oil prices (for some) and the freeze in
tourism (a vital source of employment and foreign currency

earnings) could trigger a wave of massive anti-government
demonstrations reminiscent of the Arab Spring in 2011. In an
ominous sign, at the end of April 2020 and in the midst of the
lockdown, riots over joblessness concerns and soaring poverty

took place in Lebanon.

The pandemic has brought the issue of food security back with
a vengeance, and in many countries it could entail a humanitarian
and food crisis catastrophe. Officials from the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization predict that the number of people

suffering from acute food insecurity could double in 2020 to 265
million. The combination of movement and trade restrictions
caused by the pandemic with an increase in unemployment and

limited or no access to food could trigger large-scale social unrest
followed by mass movements of migration and refugees. In fragile
and failing states, the pandemic exacerbates existing food
shortages through barriers to trade and disruption in global food
supply chains. It does so to such a considerable extent that on 21

April 2020, David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World
Food Programme, warned the UN Security Council that “multiple
famines of biblical proportions” had become possible in about

three dozen countries, most notably Yemen, Congo, Afghanistan,
Venezuela, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria, Sudan, Nigeria and
Haiti.

In the poorest countries of the world, the lockdowns and the
economic recession happening in high-income countries will

trigger major income losses for the working poor and all those
who depend on them. The decrease in overseas remittances that
account for such a large proportion of GDP (more than 30%) in
some countries like Nepal, Tonga or Somalia is a case in point. It

will inflict a devastating shock to their economies with dramatic
social implications. According to the World Bank, the impact of

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