Climate change: Longest Conflict Report warns Defence Force underprepared

Climate change: Longest Conflict Report warns Defence Force underprepared

Sydney : Australia’s failure to address climate change will cause a significant national security threat, according to a report by the Centre for Policy Development.
The report, called The Longest Conflict: Australia’s Climate Security Challenge, says Australia’s Defence Force is underprepared for climatic events like extreme heat, rising sea levels and more frequent natural disasters.It warns of escalating regional tensions over food and growing numbers of internally displaced people and refugees. The former head of the ADF, retired Admiral Chris Barrie, launched the report and blamed politics for the failure to take the issue seriously.
“Most of the people I work with in Defence actually get this; they understand about climate change, and they’re very enthusiastic to get to grips with it,” he said.
“The problem we’ve got is at the top level of politics in this country it seems to be a toxic term.”That’s bad news and they know it’s rubbish so let’s get real about it and start having a decent conversation.”The report says there is a perception the ADF has an “institutional reluctance to address this critical security challenge comprehensively”.
A new Defence white paper is due later this year, but senior Defence officials told the Centre for Policy Development climate change is unlikely to be seriously addressed.
“[It’s] very unlikely that the language of climate change will be used in the [Defence white paper] given the current political situation,” the report said.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login