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https://theconversation.com/climate-emergencies-threaten-our-collective-security-but-governments-are-flying-blind-into-the-storm-240814>
"You probably missed it, but a few months ago a report was published that
inspected how the UK government prepared for major emergencies. What it found
has profound implications for the whole country.
The report was written by the UK’s public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic
and explained how the pandemic was an example of what’s called a “non-malicious
threat”. These are major threats to our collective security that arise not from
hostile intent – like terrorism or war – but as a result of human error,
structural failure, or natural disasters. In this instance it was a novel virus
that jumped from animals to humans and then rapidly spread.
The pandemic affected everything. Its impact was so severe that it created what
the government calls a “whole-system civil emergency”, a rapidly escalating
crisis that significantly affected multiple dimensions of the UK’s security,
from the health system, through economic stability, to public trust. This was
the UK’s greatest security crisis since the second world war. Yet it had
nothing to do with armed conflict.
The inquiry found that successive governments grossly underestimated pandemic
threats. They were not given the same priority as security threats coming from
hostile action, like Russian aggression or terrorism. The subsequent tragedy
proved how much of a mistake this was. When it came to planning and responding
to whole-system civil emergencies, the UK government “failed their citizens”,
the inquiry said, before concluding that “fundamental reform” was needed.
We have worked on a new report that finds worrying similarities to another,
even greater “non-malicious threat” to security: climate change."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
