Five Highlights from Davos 2007

Whether you like it or hate it, the World Economic Forum which has just finished in Davos is the most important meeting of global decision makers and influential characters. Issues debated and initiatives developed in the WEF usually represent the main global developments taht we will see in the nest few years. I have tried to compile to you the 10 most vibrant topics-from my perspective- that were discussed at Davos 2007 based on the various session summaries posted on the WEF website. This is presented in chronological order and not importance

1- The comprehensive response to terrorism: An important question that we all care about answering, so how does the WEF discuss it? New technology is in the forefront here. Michael Chertoff, US Secretary of Homeland Security said "it is the ability of an individual or group to leverage technology to cause a type and magnitude of destruction that would have been unthinkable a century ago". David cameron the expected new Prime Minister of UK (conservative) says "This is terrorism in which people want to kill as many people as possible at one go, and in the most spectacular way, using whatever weapons that they can get hold of, and they seek martyrdom in doing so. It is a different order of terrorism, and we have to understand that." Well, nothing useful thus far apart from doomsday projections. Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan, emphasized both the universal nature of the threat and the need to get at the root causes. "Terrorism is not linked to any faith," he said, "and it respects no borders." A major cause, he added, is a lack of opportunity, and a sense of hopelessness because of the failure to provide a means for resolving long-standing disputes. Gijs M. de Vries, Counter-terrorism Coordinator, Council of the European Union, Brussels, told participants that the EU is working to introduce biometrics and facial scanning into identity documents. "What is essential is that we create a global database of lost and stolen passports.

So, one thing is missing here..stop the humilation of people and you will have a much lesser threat! But who cares?

2- Security Implication of Climate Change: Actually Climate Change was the star of Davos 2007 with 17 sessions dedicated to this subject that has risen to the top of the global environmental agenda.

Alyson J. K. Bailes, Director, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Sweden, presented participants with numerous links between security issues and climate change. Fundamentally however, Bailes described a dilemma for security experts: in security theory, one usually thinks about who/what is causing the threat and how to stop it. But the environment is something we are trying to protect, rather than protect ourselves from. Bailes also highlighted the importance of certain rules of war intended to protect the environment – environmentally sensitive areas should not be targeted because of the effects thereon.

Ikram ul-Majeed Sehgal, Chairman and Managing Director, Pathfinder Group, Pakistan, presented his observations on the potential for conflict resulting from climate change. Sehgal noted the historical basis for many mass migrations, which are usually linked to the destruction of natural resources, as in the case of Afghan refugees currently in Pakistan. In addition, he noted the effects of recent earthquakes in Pakistan, which were aggravated by the deforestation of the mountain areas affected. According to Sehgal, if such environmental devastation continues, the potential for security-related conflicts will undoubtedly rise.

Peter Seligmann, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Conservation International, USA, presented certain examples of how climate change has caused conflicts. For example, the last year has witnessed conflicts between tribes around Mount Kilimanjaro, fighting over water holes for the first time in recent history. Seligmann emphasized the need to identify solutions that reach beyond carbon sequestration – there need to be real benefits to the local communities and their specific environments.

Sir Nicholas Stern, Head, UK Government Economic Service, HM Treasury of the United Kingdom, supported the premise that climate change will lead to significant population movements. The poorest communities are particularly affected, which may lead to political instability, as seen after Hurricane Katrina. To avert future disasters resulting from climate change, the threat must be expressed and understood by the population at large. Greater leadership and public discourse are key to making this happen, Stern stressed.

Obviously, a new real threat to deal with.

3- Who will run the Internet? important to all of us.

Vinton G. Cerf, Chairman of the Board, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICAAN), USA, told participants the technical challenges are vast, "We are running out of addresses," as the current limit is 4 billion. There is also the challenge posed as the Internet expands into countries with languages and characters that do not use a Latin-based character set.

"Unless we find effective ways to police the Internet to manage cyber crime," said John Markoff, Senior Writer, The New York Times, USA, "we won’t succeed" in governing the Internet. "Or, we’ll have to leave it like a bad neighbourhood and walk away." Markoff informed participants that a pirated copy of Vista [the new Windows operating system] is already on sale in China. He added, "Microsoft says that 30-50% of pirated copies of Windows come with trojans [destructive programs that masquerade as benign applications]." But today the number one abuse arises from botnets – software robots that enter computer systems and harness their capacities for the benefit of the botnet distributors, who can control networks remotely as well.

Cerf and Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Geneva, along with several participants, view the problems as an epidemic that requires a "global network extended beyond policing", as Touré put it. But, Cerf remarked, "in spite of all the turmoil, the Net seems to be working." However, computer operating systems need more attention. "We can make much more secure devices," he argued. At present, it is "like leaving the keys in the car for the bad guys to turn on for a joyride," he declared. Touré argued that there is a need for a framework for governments to sit together with the private sector, especially manufacturers, and come up with a solution.

There is a role for those in the business of domain registration – domains should be registered with a due diligence similar to the opening of a bank account – greater care must be taken "to determine just who is the owner," as Cerf put it.
"New gatekeepers, OEMs [manufacturers] and Internet café owners" can be activated to allow the good and block the bad," said Zittrain.

4- Enough is enough for the Israelis and palestinians: Some tough title but still worthless jargon from the Israeli side and promises not ready to be delivered preseneted by the Palestinian side. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority; Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee, said that the Middle East is in dire need of peace, with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict being one of the most serious that requires a solution.

"What is required now is for us to trace the beginning and the end of this peace process," he said. "Our hand remains outstretched to start the negotiation process. Fear and despair must be replaced by hope and forgiveness."

Tzipi Livni, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, said that a Palestinian state is "not an illusion" but something that is achievable.

"There is a Palestinian state at the end of the process…this is a step-by-step process that gives a political horizon," she said. "We must stick to the vision of two states living side by side, living together in peace."Shimon Peres, Vice-Prime Minister of Israel, said that the problems are solvable and appealed to the international business community to invest in the region, particularly in a proposed shared economic zone between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories.

"Companies are looking for emerging markets," Peres said. "If you are global you must be interested in the globality of peace."

5- Privacy: Your life as an open book: With Youtube and Ikbis running after our privacy, we should take good care. In this session Jonathan Zittrain, Professor, Internet Governance and Regulation, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, also a Young Global Leader, agreed, said: "If you are not afraid now, I hope you will be when you leave the room."

Showing a number of today’s popular peer-to-peer websites (including YouTube and MySpace, but also sites called "Angry Teacher", "Road Rage" and "The Bus Uncle"), Zittrain effectively demonstrated just what there is to fear: such sites may represent some form of instant fame (or infamy) but "the consequences are not at all predictable." One really alarming site, he believes, is RIYA, a site with automatic face recognition which, while enabling photos to be tagged for later identification, also enables tracking anywhere, demonstrating "the distributed power of the Internet to ‘out’ and label people and faces for the future."

Both Louis J. D'Ambrosio, President and Chief Executive Officer, Avaya, USA, and Arianna Huffington, Editor, Huffington Post.com, USA, seemed less anxious. "Should we be nervous?" D’Ambrosio asked rhetorically. "Yes, but we shouldn’t run and hide," he said, although he added that people put more information about themselves on YouTube and MySpace than they probably tell their priests. "And let’s not romanticize the past," he urged. People have always had access to highly private data in the course of their jobs and thus the potential of abusing their knowledge. "We are dealing with trade-offs," Huffington said. "Information is good, privacy is good," and photographs of politicians saying things they shouldn’t are good. And yet, these are not the major threat. "I want you to be less afraid," she said, because "the greatest threat we face is government and their tactic is to use fear," which can make people bypass reason.