Australia ‘must lead in solving global risks’
Canberra, March 22, 2020 – Australia needs urgently to develop a plan to meet the mounting catastrophic risks which threaten the future of human civilization.
This call was made by a new organisation, The Commission for the Human Future, set up by concerned Australians to tackle the complex of threats, such as the corona virus, which now face us.
Commission chairman Professor John Hewson AM said “We are driven by the need to alert Australians to the nature and complexity of ten very serious interacting risks that now confront all human societies, and to develop and apply solutions to them.
“Australia has been slow to act on even major threats like climate change. There is now an opportunity for us to show world leadership in addressing global catastrophic risk. We cannot afford to keep being caught unawares by these predictable crises.”
The impact of coronavirus pandemic and global recession, coming hard on the heels of a bushfire crisis and one of the worst droughts on record shows how catastrophic risks are now piling up in the Earth system, the Commission says.
These risks[1] include:
- Resource loss and depletion
- Extinction of species and decline of the Earth’s life support systems
- Weapons of mass destruction
- Climate change
- Famine and food scarcity
- Global poisoning by human chemical emissions
- Release of uncontrolled and dangerous new technologies
- Uncontrolled population growth and the rise of vulnerable megacities
- Pandemic disease arising from ecological destruction, population growth and mass transport
- Widespread mass delusion about these threats and how they interact.
As a first step in tackling the existential emergency facing humanity the Commission will host an online Round Table on March 28, by courtesy of the Australian National University.
Leading experts from across the country will identify risks and propose integrated solutions and policies for tackling them. Conclusions will be shared with governments, industry, media and the community.
Commission secretary Emeritus Professor Bob Douglas says “The purpose of the round table is to consider how Australia can lead in the management of intersecting catastrophic risks to humanity – several of which are neither widely understood nor being seriously addressed anywhere in the world.
“We will consider all the main threats and how they may affect our future; how Australia can most effectively help to limit them; potential new opportunities that may arise; and how to monitor our progress.”
More information:
Professor John Hewson AM, ph +61 412 261 463
Em. Prof. Bob Douglas AO, ph +61 409 233 138, email bobdouglas [at] netspeed.com.au
Julian Cribb FRSA FTSE, ph +61 418 639 245, email jcribb [at] grapevine.com.au
More details on global risks and The Commission: http://humansforsurvival.org/
[1] The risks and their potential solutions are described in Surviving the 21st Century (Springer 2017) by Australian science writer and Commission member Julian Cribb.
NB: A catastrophic risk is one that threatens human society at global level, an existential risk is one that threatens human existence.
Comments
Bruce Haigh (not verified)
25 March, 2020 - 12:42
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Foreign Affairs
Fund: CSIRO, University Research, ANC,SBS.
Break up Murdoch's holdings.
Nationalise water and energy supply and distribution
Introduce a banking act
Rod Holesgrove (not verified)
25 March, 2020 - 14:04
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Global strategies for survival of life on Earth
So much good stuff along the lines of solving global risks was done for the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio and the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 in Johannesburg . The resulting documents- Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Statement on Sustainable Development provided road maps for a Sustainable future. Unfortunately the implementation of the recommendations has been largely ignored by governments and the media, much to our cost
Geoff Holland (not verified)
1 April, 2020 - 00:06
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Threat to Liberal Democracy, Civil Rights and Human Rights
I am sure you are trying to keep things simple with 10 major threats, but maybe don't be too attached to that.
The threat to Liberal Democracy and erosion of Civil Rights, if not Human Rights, is a serious threat due to
1. the rise of the Surveillance State (yes in part due to new technologies but more than this), and
2. the temptation to implement autocratic regimes in the context of intensifying crises - eg in Hungary, Poland and US in response to growing refugee influx (or perception of)
3. impending Crisis of Capitalism which will tempt the Security Apparatus and government, dominated by the corporate sector and capitalist elites attempting to maintain an increasingly dysfunctional and untenable status quo.
Geoff Holland (not verified)
1 April, 2020 - 00:17
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Population
"Uncontrolled population growth" I suggest is not an appropriate way of describing the situation as the rate of global population growth is already slowing. UN and other population research centres present multiple scenarios, but all agree global population will peak and begin to decline some time in the future - perhaps by 2100 at around 11 billion people. What we need to do is to provide incentives (non-coercive!) for families to have fewer children - for example, financial incentives to limit to two children or less. We could perhaps aim for a peak of 9 billion.
Peter Miller (not verified)
25 April, 2020 - 09:21
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Population Growth
No 'incentives' are needed to slow pop growth; Studies in some African countries show that if schooling is free and compulsory(to the age of about 18yrs) for girls andx boys, the average number of babies born falls from about 6- 8 per woman to 2.
Denise Traynor (not verified)
22 April, 2020 - 06:32
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A new paradigm
If COVID19 has taught us anything it has taught us that another way is possible. In the past few weeks have managed to avoid many of the old patterns of behaviour that were the leading causes of climate change, and the sky hasn’t fallen. Clogging up the skies and roads has given way to telecommuting in work and study. Endlessly pursuing the next fashionable piece of clothing, hair or other material possession has been replaced by gardening, craft, cooking from scratch and entertaining ourselves with more domestic activities. No wonder politicians are clamoring to prematurely restart our economies; we are quickly discovering that most of that economic activity was nonessential in the first place.
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