What are the implications of climate change for national and international security?
Climate change will have serious environmental, socio-economic and security consequences for both developed and developing countries alike. Chris Abbott was one of the first thinkers to articulate and explore these consequences. He demonstrated that they will present new challenges to governments trying to maintain domestic stability. Those agencies tasked with protecting and sustaining national security will need to adapt to better cope with a changing global environment; however, if governments simply respond with traditional attempts to maintain the status quo and control insecurity they will ultimately fail. Chris argued that the risks of climate change demand a rethink of current approaches to security and the development of sustainable ways of achieving that security, with an emphasis on preventative rather than reactive strategies.
Chris set out this thinking most clearly in his groundbreaking 2008 report, An Uncertain Future, which built on his earlier writings Global Responses to Global Threats and Beyond Terror.
Climate change will have serious environmental, socio-economic and security consequences for both developed and developing countries alike. Chris Abbott was one of the first thinkers to articulate and explore these consequences. He demonstrated that they will present new challenges to governments trying to maintain domestic stability. Those agencies tasked with protecting and sustaining national security will need to adapt to better cope with a changing global environment; however, if governments simply respond with traditional attempts to maintain the status quo and control insecurity they will ultimately fail. Chris argued that the risks of climate change demand a rethink of current approaches to security and the development of sustainable ways of achieving that security, with an emphasis on preventative rather than reactive strategies.
Chris set out this thinking most clearly in his groundbreaking 2008 report, An Uncertain Future, which built on his earlier writings Global Responses to Global Threats and Beyond Terror.