The word "stakes" can mean several different things depending on the context of the sentence and or story. In the paragraph you used, the word "stakes" is the same as the word "risk". It means the same in that context. I hope this helps.

"stakes" is a term originally from gambling which means the value of the "pot" or the amount that can be won. If the stakes are high, there is a lot of money to be one. Here, the stakes are describing what the outcome of the situation will be worth the effort you put in instead of talking about money. In general, you can replace the word "stakes" with "risks". Hope this helped :)