Extract from ABC News
Climate disasters like bushfires and floods will become more regular and severe as climate change continues. (ABC News: James Carmody)
In short:
The danger of climate change has led to calls for a radical overhaul of how the federal government is planning to manage climate threats.
The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group's latest report says the threat is so serious now that an "emergency mobilisation" is needed.
The group has called for greater cuts to emissions more quickly and for more pressure to be placed on industry to reduce carbon pollution.
A group of former national security leaders says the federal government needs to radically overhaul the way it plans for climate threats, warning that Australia is totally unprepared to deal with the cascading and existential risks that climate change presents to the region and the world.
The starkly worded new report by Australian Security Leaders Climate Group (ASLCG) — which includes former Australian Defence Force chief Chris Barrie — says that climate change presents such a serious security threat that it demands an "emergency mobilisation" in response.
"Today, unimaginable new climate extremes confront us: record-breaking droughts and floods, cruel heatwaves, unstoppable bushfires, broken infrastructure, and coastal inundation. Worse is to come," it says.
"Responding adequately to the climate threat is fundamental to the survival of the nation."
The report warns that climate change is certain to trigger an increasing number of natural disasters of growing scale and intensity which are likely to overwhelm the federal government's capacity to help communities survive and recover.
"Great pressure will be placed on the Australian Defence Force, and emergency and disaster relief agencies, to pick up the pieces in the face of accelerating climate impacts," it reads.
"Higher levels of warming will stretch them beyond their capacity to respond. Inadequate action by Australian governments has left our nation poorly prepared to face global warming's consequences, and Australia remains 'missing in action' on climate security risks."
The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group said the federal government needed to be better prepared for the risks of climate change to help protect communities and rebuild them after disasters. (Supplied: Victoria State Emergency Service)
The ASLCG says the federal government must make sharper and faster cuts to emissions, as well as pressing the largest polluters to collaborate on driving down carbon pollution.
They're also calling on the government to establish a new climate threat intelligence branch and early warning system to assess the impacts with "brutal honesty," while improving planning for the disruptions climate change will bring.
The group says the intelligence branch should be housed within the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) and that it should provide a declassified briefing to parliament ever year, so Australians are more aware of the emerging dangers.
It's also calling on the government to bolster support to countries across the region to help them prepare for climate impacts, and work with them to protect food production and energy security in the face of climate pressures which could render large swathes of the tropics almost "unliveable".
Admiral Barrie said that the latest climate science showed that large parts of northern Australia "could become uninhabitable within 30-40 years, threatening military bases, communities, and the economy.
"Yet there is little recognition of this level of threat to Australia, leaving the nation severely exposed to the devastating costs," he said.
He also warned that climate change was also likely to stoke a "deepening regional food and water crisis that will destabilise nations and cause the mass displacement of people."
Admiral Barrie said the security threats from climate change dwarfed those posed by China, and the government had to set it priorities correctly.
"All the billions of resources being put into confronting China will not help one iota in dealing with the greatest threat to our future security in Australia and the region — and that is climate disruption."
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