To be held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on March 18, 2009, with the theme "Responding to the global economic crisis".
After years of stable economic performance, the Dominican Republic will face difficult external conditions as a result of the US financial crisis and global economic downturn. Inflows of foreign direct investment and tourism arrivals could well decline.
New report identifies hard landing for China, collapse in asset prices, gaps in global governance and climate change as key risks ahead
Sheana Tambourgi, Director and Head of the Global Risk Network at the World Economic Forum, said: “Global Risks 2009 builds on the work of previous years and highlights the need for concerted action to mitigate risks that now more than ever are global in their nature and in their impact, as illustrated by the financial crisis. But the same is true for other risk areas; global risks require a multistakeholder response and cannot be appropriately tackled in isolation.”
On a quiet night in February, when winter temperatures plummeted below zero in North America, leatherback sea turtles the size of golf carts lumbered onto this tropical beach to lay their eggs.
Yet just a sandy stroll away, in the booming surf town of Tamarindo, runaway tourism development is turning the sea into an open sewer.
Water quality tests conducted by the country's Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) over the past year found fecal contamination far above levels considered safe by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).