@Risk

The food supplies of Afghanistan and nine African states are those most at risk and vulnerable to rising costs, based on results of the Food Security Risk Index 2010, released last week by Maplecroft.

The Index uses 12 criteria developed in collaboration with the World Food Programme to evaluate risks to the supply of basic food staples for 163 countries. These criteria include: the nutritional and health status of populations, cereal production and imports, GDP per capita, natural disasters, conflict, and the effectiveness of government.

Following these calculations, Maplecroft rated Afghanistan as least secure in food supplies, while also ranking the African nations of the Democratic Republic of Congo (2), Burundi (3), Eritrea (4), Sudan (5), Ethiopia (6), Angola (7), Liberia (8), Chad (9) and Zimbabwe (10) as “extreme risk.” In all, African nations make up 36 of the 50 nations most at risk in the index. (more…)

Ten nations are at “extreme risk” of losing access to clean, fresh water, according to the latest Water Security Risk Index, released by Malplecroft last week.

Those ten nations are: Somalia (1), Mauritania (2), Sudan (3), Niger (4), Iraq (5), Uzbekistan (6), Pakistan (7), Egypt (8), Turkmenistan (9) and Syria (10).

To calculate the water risk index, Maplecroft measured these four key areas surrounding the issue: (more…)

Earlier this month, Maplecroft released its Global Risks Index (GRI) 2010, which ranks 175 countries on the basis of the 26 most significant non-financial risks faced by international business.

The list of risks analyzed includes:  terrorism, conflict, macroeconomic risks, rule of law, resource security, vulnerability to climate change, natural disasters, human rights violations, poverty, and risks from pandemics and infectious diseases.

According to the GRI, 24 countries are at extreme risk.  17 of these 24 are from Africa, and in fact, Somalia (1), DR Congo (2), Zimbabwe (3) and Sudan (4) top the ranking. (more…)

The global risk analyst Maplecroft has released two new reports focusing on human rights in emerging markets.

Maplecroft’s Human Rights Risk Reports for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and N-11 countries (Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and Viet Nam), offer in depth analysis of human rights risks and cover several key areas, including human security, labor rights, civil and political rights, and access to remedy.

About 70% of the Fortune 500 use suppliers located in BRICS and N-11 countries, where tens of millions of the world’s poor live on less than a dollar a day. Even though these emerging markets may have legislation in place to protect workers, local regulatory and enforcement activity are sporadic, at best. That means companies have no choice but to be proactive, working to ensure that human rights are respected and labor standards are protected.
(more…)