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Disaster Mode: Activated

Disaster Mode: Activated

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 Defence has a tradition of short-termism when implementing climate related policies, routinely seeking to deprioritise resilience initiatives to overcome budgetary shortfalls. In this instance, Generals sight the likelihood of a significant climate related disaster as low while environmentalists might argue otherwise. Is there a trend of failing to recognise or plan appropriately and what are the unintended consequences of a worst-case scenario. Armed forces across the NATO Alliance are faced with the challenge of both adapting to modern conflict but also the need to resilience challenges caused by climate change. Financial pressures have created a tendency to plan against short-term disasters rather than plan for enduring climatic change. While this allows forces to prepare and react to events such as tsunamis, flooding, drought, and wildfires, it ultimately results in a lack of investment in organisational resilience and masks the potential impact of longer lasting scenarios such as desertification. In this episode, guests Dr Duraid Jalili (King's College London) and Dr Fanny Thornton (PIK Institute) reflect upon how climate related disasters increase global instability and and the associated risk of not preparing for these boundary agnostic catastrophes. Finally, they highlight the importance of climate understanding to Defence, outlining how militaries must draw on existing sources in academia and industry to better predict the risk. Join hosts Dr Sarah Ashbridge and Lt. Col. Ali Beard to find out more. The views of all speakers represent their own opinions based on their individual experiences. All views belong to the individual speakers and do not reflect the official position of their employers or the IMCCS This podcast has been created thanks to the sponsorship and partnership of Frazer-Nash and the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE). This product has also been enabled by the production services of Two Jacks Communications and project management services of S A Consultancy (Yorkshire). Resources recommended by Episode 4 guest speakers: - Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac. 2020. The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. - Thomas Homer-Dixon's defence commentary, full publishing record available online at: https://homerdixon.com/library/ - Thor Hanson et al. 2009. "Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots." Conservation Biology 23 (3): 578-587. - Madeline Beattie et al. 2023. "Even After Armed Conflict, the Environmental Quality of Indigenous People's Lands in Biodiversity Hotspots Surpasses That of Non-Indigenous Lands." Biological Conservation 286. - Strategic Command (UK). 2022. Sustainable Support Strategy. - Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). 2023. Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. - Christophe Hodder – See Stockholm International Peace Research Institute profile and LinkedIn profile. - Dr Richard Millburn MBE, staff profile available on the King's College London website: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-richard-milburn - Damon Centola et al. "Experimental Evidence for Tipping Points in Social Convention". Science 360. - Volkerrechtsblog. 2025. 'Systemic Impacts and Structural Shifts: Climate Change and the Role of the ICJ Advisory Opinion'. Volkerrechtsblog: International Law and International Legal though [Symposia article]. - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany - Adelphi Research, Germany - E3G, UK and Belgium - International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), USA - EcoPeace Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and USA - Climate Change & (In)Security Project, University of Oxford and Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research (CHACR)
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