28/09/2019

THE GRETA THUNBERG PROBLEM, So Many Men Freaking Out About The Tiny Swedish Climate Demon

The Guardian - First Dog On The Moon

Is she the brainwasher or brainwashee?



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How Does Scott Morrison's Climate Declaration At The United Nations Stack Up?

The Guardian -  |

Checking the claims: the PM trumpets Australia’s policies as ‘responsible and achievable’. But what do experts say?


Fact check: Scott Morrison's UN speech about Australia's environmental achievements

Speaking in the US, Scott Morrison said he would drastically reduce plastic pollution and strongly defended Australia’s position on climate change. Does what he said stack up?

CLAIM: Australia will ban exports of plastic, paper and glass waste starting in 2020 and is leading on practical research and development into recycling.
  • REALITY: Morrison has made dealing with plastic waste the defining environmental issue of his prime ministership, having flagged the export ban in August. Jeff Angel, the director of the Total Environment Centre, says the PM’s interest and apparent commitment to the issue is unprecedented for an Australian leader.
    But experts say Australia is not yet a leader in recycling research and development (for evidence of leadership, try Finland). Most of Morrison’s commitments are aspirational ahead of a meeting of environment ministers in November. The government has promised $167m in recycling investment, but at last count just 12% of Australian plastic waste is recycled, according to government analysis.
CLAIM: Australia is taking real action on climate change. One piece of evidence: in 2012, it was estimated Australia would release 693m tonnes of emissions in 2020. As of 2018, this estimate had fallen to 540m tonnes.
  • REALITY: Projections of what Australia will emit have fallen, not actual emissions. Projections are estimates by government officials of how much carbon dioxide will be emitted at a certain date. Their estimate for 2020 has changed. That reduction has nothing to do with national policy.
    Actual emissions have gone up in almost every sector of Australia’s economy, with the exception of electricity generation (down 15.7% over a decade in the national grid covering the eastern states, as Morrison pointed out). Total national emissions have been rising year-on-year since the Coalition repealed the carbon price scheme in 2014.
CLAIM: Australia is responsible for just 1.3% of global emissions.
CLAIM: Australia will exceed its targets under the Kyoto Protocol and meet the commitment it made in Paris. It is making a “credible, fair, responsible and achievable contribution to global climate change action”.
  • REALITY: Australia is on track to meet its Kyoto targets, but this is more about setting unchallenging goals and using tricks of accounting than genuine emissions reduction. Its first Kyoto target was an 8% increase in emissions between 1990 and 2010. Its second target is a 5% cut below 2000 levels by 2020. Neither target was consistent with what scientists said Australia should be doing to play its part in addressing the problem.
    The same is true of the 2030 target, a 26-28% cut below 2005 levels. The government’s Climate Change Authority recommended     a minimum 45% cut over that timeframe if Australia was to play its part in a deal to limit global warming to less than 2C.
    Several analyses, including one from the government, have found Australia is not on track to meet even its existing Paris target.
CLAIM: Australia has reduced emissions by 367m tonnes of carbon dioxide more than required to meet our 2020 target under the Kyoto deal.
  • REALITY: This is true thanks to the government’s use of carryover credits from Australia beating its first Kyoto target (the 8% increase).
    Simply put, Australia set itself a target that allowed it to increase emissions and accepted a credit towards the next period of the Kyoto Protocol for staying below that increase.
    It now plans to use credits from the second Kyoto period towards meeting its Paris target. This is not allowed for in the Paris agreement and opposed by a number of countries, including New Zealand and European Union members.
CLAIM: Australia has the highest per capita investment in clean energy technologies of anywhere in the world. One in five Australian households has rooftop solar systems.
  • FACT: True on both counts, but there are signs Australia’s surging clean energy investment is falling off.
    Researchers from the Australian National University recently reported the per capita growth in clean energy in recent times has been nearly three times faster than the next fastest country, Germany.
    But recent data from industry group the Clean Energy Council and consultants at Bloomberg New Energy Finance show a drop in spending commitments this year.
    Dylan McConnell, from the University of Melbourne, says the boom in clean energy spending over the past two years has been largely driven by the 2020 renewable energy target. Most of the investment came in a rush at the end because the Coalition under Tony Abbott considered abolishing and ultimately reduced the target. Uncertainty over its future stalled investment for the better part of two years. Now the target has been met and the government does not plan to extend or replace it.
    Tristan Edis, a clean energy consultant and analyst, says the government has spent much of its time in power working against clean energy, having tried to abolish support for it under Abbott and deposing Malcolm Turnbull as leader when he tried to introduce a modest policy, the national energy guarantee, to extend support beyond 2020.
CLAIM: Australia is “doing the right thing by our neighbours” on the climate crisis, having committed to investing a further $500m over five years from 2020 for “renewable energy, climate change and resilience in the Pacific”.
  • FACT: Australia did commit $500m to climate projects in the region at the recent Pacific Islands Forum, though whether it qualifies as “further” is contestable: the money was drawn from the existing aid budget.
    Morrison’s claim that Australia is doing the right thing by the Pacific is not shared by several leaders at the forum in Tuvalu. Australia was repeatedly publicly rebuked over its stance on climate change during and after the talks, which almost collapsed due to Australia’s strong resistance to the final communique including references to phasing out coal, limiting global heating to 1.5C and announcing a strategy for zero emissions by 2050 from the final communique.
CLAIM: The Great Barrier Reef “remains one of the world’s most pristine areas of natural beauty” and Australia’s $2bn 2050 reef plan is based on the best available science.
  • REALITY: A recent five-year reef report by government scientists at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority found the outlook for the natural wonder had deteriorated from poor to very poor due to a range of threats, particularly record-breaking sea surface temperatures.
    Mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 led to widespread and unprecedented coral loss in the north and central sections of the reef. Habitat loss and degradation is affecting fish, turtles and seabirds. The authority has warned that without urgent global and national action on the climate crisis – the single greatest threat facing the natural wonder – the reef’s plight will not improve. But it is true that the parts of the 2300km reef ecosystem that have escaped coral bleaching, cyclones and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish are in good condition.
    The 2050 plan is based on thorough, decades-old science and sets out the challenges: the reefs face a “worrying outlook” if countries fail to limit global warming to 1.5-2C.
    It names climate change as the biggest threat to the reef’s future, but includes no additional plans to address what causes it, or to lift Australia’s climate target to what scientists say is necessary.
CLAIM: The argument between the major parties over whether you need to take action on climate change is settled in Australian politics.
  • FACT: Where to begin? Even casual observers of Australian politics are aware of the historic, decade-long divisions over what should be done in response to climate change, both between and within the parties. They remain.
    Countries including Britain, France, Germany and Chile, and the biggest state in the US, California, are promising net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. Labor also remains committed to this goal, though its pathway to get there is being reviewed after its election loss in May    .

 The Coalition has no national target beyond 2030. Morrison said in the US he has no plan to change this.

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Morrison’s Colossal Bullshit

Climate Council*

Prime Minister Scott Morrison: UN Climate Change Speech "long on spin and short on fact".
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie: “Scott Morrison’s speech and his claim that Australia was doing enough on climate change was colossal bullshit."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has taken to the global stage delivering a speech to the United Nations in New York which was long on spin and short on fact.
“Scott Morrison’s speech and his claim that Australia was doing enough on climate change was colossal bullshit,” said the CEO of the Climate Council, Amanda McKenzie.
“Over the winter we saw bushfires burning across Australia while the Amazon rainforest and the Arctic were on fire. A major new report shows that suburbs in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne could experience serious sea level disasters every year on our current trajectory. Meanwhile, on this government’s watch, Australia’s pollution is rising year on year. To suggest we are doing enough is ludicrous and dangerous,” she said.
“Mr Morrison is out of touch with what is happening all around us. He is also out of touch with Australians who are really worried,” said Ms McKenzie.
“Mr Morrison told the United Nations that our children have a right to optimism. Perhaps they would feel more optimistic if he started to take the problem of climate change seriously,” she said.

FACT-CHECKING MORRISON’S SPEECH

 Morrison statement: “Now, Australia is also taking real action on climate change and we are getting results. We are successfully balancing our global responsibilities with sensible and practical policies to secure our environmental and our economic future.”
  • Fact-check: Australia’s Paris target is to reduce our emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. This is one of the weakest targets amongst developed countries. If other countries adopted Australia’s target the world would be heading for catastrophic climate damage. Rising emissions and worsening climate impacts are placing Australian lives, our economy and the natural environment at risk.
Morrison statement: “Australia is responsible for just 1.3 per cent of global emissions. Australia is doing our bit on climate change and we reject any suggestion to the contrary.”
  • Fact-check: Australia is the 17th largest polluter in the world, bigger than 175 countries.  We are the third largest exporter of fossil fuels in the world. 
Morrison statement: “By 2020 Australia will have overachieved on our Kyoto commitments, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 367 million tonnes more than required to meet our 2020 Kyoto target. Now there are few member countries, whether at this forum or the OECD who can make this claim.”
  • Fact-check: The reason for this is that Australia’s Kyoto targets were the second weakest in the world for the first commitment period (a target to increase emissions by 8% above 1990 levels) and the weakest in the world for the second commitment period (a target to reduce emissions by just 5% below 2000 levels by 2020). It isn’t hard to overachieve on dismal targets. The reality is today our emissions are going up and up – according to the government’s own data.
Morrison statement: “Our latest estimates show both emissions per person and the emissions intensity of the economy are at their lowest levels in 29 years.”
  • Fact-check:  Australia has the highest emissions per capita in the developed world. It is true that Australia’s emissions per capita have fallen more than most countries, but this is from an extraordinarily high baseline, and has largely been driven by rapid population growth. Even with this drop, we still have the highest per capita emissions in the developed world. Our emissions per capita are higher than Saudi Arabia, a country not known for its action on climate change. Ultimately, our international targets are not based on per capita emissions. 
Morrison statement: “Australia’s electricity sector is producing less emissions. In the year to March 2019, emissions from Australia’s electricity sector were 15.7% lower than the peak recorded in the year to June 2009.”
  • Fact-check: This is cherry picking. There are 47 sectors in the Australian economy, almost all of them are going up. This figure of 15.7% is only correct for the electricity sector in the east coast of Australia, not all of Australia. While emissions from electricity are down, and this is good news, this is despite the best efforts of the Federal Government to undermine the renewable energy sector. Also, emissions from electricity production account for only 33% of our total emissions. Overall, there has been a rise in emissions from other sectors such as transport. Australia’s emissions are increasing and have been for five years in a row. 
Morrison statement: “…it is important to note that Australia only accounts for around 5.5 per cent of the world’s coal production.”
  • Fact-check: This is spin, as it makes Australia’s contribution to climate change seem much smaller than it is. In reality, if you include Australia’s fossil fuel exports, we are the fifth largest emitter on the planet, after the US, China, EU and India. Australia is the world’s second largest coal exporter.
Morrison statement: “We are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.”
  • Fact-check:  This is woefully inadequate and not aligned to what the science says is necessary to tackle climate change. Australia’s emissions have risen every year for the past five years, across almost every sector of the economy. The Government’s commitment on paper might be 26-28%, but cheating with Kyoto credits effectively reduces our emissions reduction target to just 15%. 
Morrison statement: “And our Great Barrier Reef remains one of the world’s most pristine areas of natural beauty. Feel free to visit it. Our reef is vibrant and resilient and protected under the world’s most comprehensive reef management plan.”
  • Fact-check: In 2016 and 2017, the Great Barrier Reef was severely damaged through back-to-back bleaching events which killed half of all corals on the planet’s largest living structure. Australia’s current goal, if followed by other countries, would sign the death warrant of the Great Barrier Reef. 

 * The Climate Council is a community-funded climate change communications organisation. It  provides evidence-based advice on climate change to journalists, policymakers, and the wider Australian community.

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27/09/2019

Could Climate Change Fuel The Rise Of Right-Wing Nationalism?

The Conversation -  | 

When people feel threatened, they’re more receptive to politicians who espouse xenophobic rhetoric. Trybex/Shutterstock.com
Two trends have defined the past decade and both have been on display at this year’s session of the United Nations General Assembly.
One has been the escalating effects of climate change, which were the focus of the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit. Forest fires, floods and hurricanes are all rising in their frequency and severity. Eight of the last 10 years have been the warmest on record. Marine biologists warned that coral reefs in the U.S. could disappear entirely by the 2040s.
The other trend has been the surge of right-wing nationalist politics across Western nations, which includes Donald Trump’s election in the U.S., and the rise of nationalist political parties around the world.
Indeed, the first four speeches of the United Nations general debate were given by Brazilian right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro, Trump, Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and far-right Turkish President Recep Erdogan.
These two trends are rarely discussed together. When they are, their correlation is sometimes viewed as an unfortunate coincidence, since many nationalist politicians actively obstruct climate change solutions.
However, our new research suggests that these two trends may be closely related, and not in the way you might think. The effects of climate change – and the way it makes societies feel threatened – may be one of the elements fueling the rise of right-wing nationalism.

How climate shapes culture
To understand how climate shapes culture, it’s important to step away from current events and consider the way the climate has influenced societies throughout human history.
Cultures can vary in what’s called their “tightness” – the strictness or flexibility of their rules and traditions, and the severity of their punishments for rule breakers.
The Fellahin people of Egypt, for example, were one of the tightest cultures that we analyzed. For centuries, they’ve enforced strict gender norms and strong expectations for how children should be raised.
When cultures feel threatened – whether by war, disease or economic upheaval – they tend to become tighter.
But ecological threats can be just as strongly connected to tightening.
In one analysis, we showed that rates of famine and land scarcity predicted cultural tightness in historical societies. The Fellahin people have faced a constant threat of flooding, and have endured frequent earthquakes, sand storms and rockslides.
The Fellahin have weathered centuries of environmental disaster. Brooklyn Museum
Centuries of climate catastrophe can also predict differences in the cultural tightness in societies today. In another study we found that nations that have endured the highest rates of drought, food scarcity, natural disaster and climate instability have the tightest cultures today.
Even within the U.S., the states most vulnerable to climate disasters have the tightest cultures. A 2014 study found that states like Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama – which have the highest criminal execution rates and corporal punishment rates in schools – also have the highest historical rates of natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods and hurricanes.
Evolutionary analyses suggest that cultural tightness can be functional – even necessary – in the face of climate disaster. It can make people more cooperative, and more likely to follow protocols, like rationing, during a drought.
But our latest studies examined a darker side of cultural tightness. We wanted to know whether tightness also made people less tolerant of minority religions, ethnicities or sexual orientation. In other words, we explored whether prejudice thrives in tighter societies.
This dynamic would have serious consequences for our understanding of geopolitical events. If climate anomalies such as hurricanes and forest fires have a “tightening” effect on cultures – and these catastrophes are happening more frequently – it might be driving more people toward politicians who espouse xenophobic, homophobic or racist rhetoric.

Environmental threat and prejudice
To test these ideas, we brought together a group of 19 researchers from eight different nations. With expertise in economics, psychology and anthropology, our team was well-suited to study the effect of environmental threats and culture on prejudice and political nationalism.
We ended up studying 86 historical societies, 25 modern nations and the 50 U.S. states, analyzing data on more than 3 million people.
The results were strikingly consistent across these populations. The cultures most vulnerable to climate threats had the strictest cultural norms, and the highest levels of prejudice against minorities. For example, in American states with histories of climate threat and cultural tightness, white respondents reported the highest levels of aversion to marrying someone who was black, Asian or Hispanic. Turkey and South Korea had the tightest cultures, and also showed the most aversion to living near someone who was a different ethnicity, sexuality or religion.
We next tested whether we could cultivate these social and political attitudes in a laboratory setting. We recruited 1,000 people from around the world. We had some write about a threatening event in their environment, including – but not restricted to – climate. Others wrote about a threatening event in their personal life. The final group wrote about what they had for breakfast.
Subjects who wrote about a threatening event in their environment reported the highest support for stricter societal rules and regulations. These same people also reported the most prejudice toward ethnic minorities. This study showed that even brief reminders of an ecological threat could have an effect on people’s political leanings and make them less tolerant.
Finally, we explored how these issues tied into modern elections. We recruited American and French individuals during their respective countries’ most recent presidential elections.
We found that voters who felt the most threatened were most likely to support harsher punishments for rule-breakers, more adherence to traditional norms and expressed the highest levels of prejudice. Voters who felt threatened were also most likely to vote for Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen, each of whom ran on law-and-order, anti-immigration platforms.

One feeds the other
According to just about every estimate, climate change will only worsen. Without serious and immediate reform, temperatures and sea levels will continue to rise, along with the risk of destabilizing climatic events.
The natural perils of climate change are evident to many people already. But our research underscores a less visible geopolitical peril. As climate change increases the level of environmental threat, cultures around the world may become tighter, and the exclusionary rhetoric of far-right nationalist politicians may sound more and more appealing.
Since far-right nationalists are notorious for ignoring climate change, the rise of these politicians may also exacerbate the effects of environmental threat. This may create a vicious cycle, in which the threat of climate disaster and far-right nationalism encourage one another over time.
In this way, bipartisan action on climate change may not just be necessary to save the environment. It may also be an important way to ensure values like free speech and tolerance are preserved in countries and cultures around the world.

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Morrison Warns Against 'Needless Anxiety' After Thunberg Climate Speech

Sydney Morning Herald - David Crowe

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned against fuelling "needless anxiety" among Australian children following a scathing judgment from Swedish activist Greta Thunberg about the danger of climate change.
Mr Morrison called for "context and perspective" in the climate debate after the 16-year-old activist condemned today's leaders for leaving the next generation with a ruined climate.
Greta Thunberg and Scott Morrison. Credit:Wires/Alex Ellinghausen
"You know, I want children growing up in Australia that feel positive about their future," the Prime Minister said.
"And I think it's important that we give them that confidence, that they will not only have a wonderful country and pristine environment to live in, but they'll also have an economy that they can live in as well.
"So I think we've got to caution against raising the anxieties of children in our country."
Mr Morrison made the remarks in New York on Tuesday while attending the United Nations General Assembly, after being criticised for not going to a UN summit on Monday on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Scott Morrison says there's a need for context and perspective when it comes to the climate change debate so children don't suffer needless anxiety.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne represented Australia at the summit.
Ms Thunberg told the UN gathering her generation "will never forgive you" if today's leaders do not scale back carbon emissions and prevent catastrophic increases in temperature.
"I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean," she said. "Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you. You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words."
Asked about her remarks, Mr Morrison said children should remember that Australia and others had rebuilt after existential threats in the past, citing the way the United Nations was created after World War II.
"Yes, we've got to deal with the policy issues and we've got to take it seriously, but I don't want our children having anxieties about these issues," he said.
"I say this as a parent, too: we've got to make sure that our kids understand the facts, but they also have the context and the perspective, and that we do not create an anxiety among children in how we talk about and deal with these very real issues."
Mr Morrison, who has two daughters, said he did not have deep conversations with the children about emission targets and the Paris agreement but did talk to them about fossil fuels.
"I encourage them to have a passionate, independent view about how they see the world, but I also give them a lot of context," he said.
"I don't allow them to be basically contorted into one particular view; I like them to make their own mind.
"But I also like to give them reassurance because the worst thing I would impose on any child is needless anxiety – they've got enough things to be anxious about.
"I've always liked kids to be kids. And we've got to let kids be kids.
"We can't have them growing up as mushrooms either, but at the same time I think we've got to get a bit of context and perspective into this."

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Scott Morrison Uses UN Speech To Slam 'Internal And Global Critics' Of Australia's Climate Change Policy

ABC News - James Glenday


Morrison defends Australia's action on climate change in UN speech (ABC News)

Key points
  • Scott Morrison tells the UN that critics "willingly overlook or ignore" Australia's work on climate change
  • Earlier, he suggested media was responsible for "misinformation" spread about his Government's climate policies
  • Seemingly referencing Greta Thunberg, Mr Morrison said "we should let our kids be kids"
Scott Morrison has used his biggest moment on the world stage yet to attack "internal and global critics" of his Government's climate change policies.
The Prime Minister has been slammed by scientists and a few business people for skipping a special climate conference in New York on Monday.
Some said the Government had so far failed to put forward a "credible climate or energy policy".
But during a wide-ranging address to the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Morrison hit back, claiming critics "willingly overlook or ignore" the work Australia has done to curb emissions.
"The facts simply don't fit the narrative they wish to project about our contribution," he added.
"Australia is doing our bit on climate change and we reject any suggestion to the contrary."
  Why the Coalition is misleading
on the Kyoto 2020 target
The Prime Minister pointed out that Australia is responsible for just 1.3 per cent of global emissions, said the country only accounted for 5.5 per cent of global coal production, and stated that $13.2 billion was invested in clean energy technologies in Australia in 2018.
He also declared the nation had "overachieved" on its 2020 Kyoto protocol targets and would meet its Paris emissions reduction goals too.
"We are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030," Mr Morrison said.
"This is a credible, fair, responsible and achievable contribution to global climate change action."
Earlier in the day he seemed to suggest the media was responsible for spreading "misinformation" about his Government's climate policies.
  Paris 2030: Will we make it?
"What I've found is when I've sat down with Pacific leaders is they've been quite surprised," he told reporters.
"Criticisms that have been made about Australia are completely false and they're completely misleading and people have had a prejudiced view."
"Where do they get their information from? Maybe they read it.
"Australia's got nothing to apologise for."

Children's climate anxiety being 'facelessly exploited'
During his address, the Prime Minister revealed he received many letters from children concerned about their future.
He said he welcomed "their passion, especially when it comes to the environment".
Mr Morrison also seemed to make a direct reference to Swedish teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg's highly-publicised address to world leaders on Monday and recent global youth climate strikes.
PM's Climate Summit snub sends strong message to neighbours
"We should let our kids be kids — teenagers be teenagers," he said.
"We must respect and harness the passion and aspiration of our younger generations, rather than allow others to compound or, worse, facelessly exploit their anxiety for their own agendas."
The Prime Minister also seemed to reject a warning from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said on Tuesday he feared the world could soon experience a "great fracture" and become divided between the United States and China.
Mr Morrison said that the planet was "complex and contested" but added that Australia would continue to work with its "great and powerful friends".
"Many fatalistically see a polarised world where countries feel pushed to make binary choices," he said.
"Australia will continue to resist this path."


Greta Thunberg delivers scathing speech at UN climate summit (ABC News)

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26/09/2019

Climate Change Could Stretch Our Capabilities, Defence Force Chief Speech Warns

ABC News - Melissa Clarke

The speech, obtained under freedom of information, was prepared for General Angus Campbell. (AAP: Andrew Taylor)
Key points
  • The Defence Chief's speech warns of the threat climate change poses to Australia's military and deployments
  • The speech was prepared for General Angus Campbell for an invitation-only event in regional NSW
  • It stated that climate change disasters have required more Australian personnel than the Afghan war
Increasingly frequent natural disasters caused by climate change could stretch the capability of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), according to a speech prepared for Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell.
It warns of climate change prompting more disaster relief efforts, as well as more peace-keeping missions, given it says climate change has "the potential to exacerbate conflict".
The speech, obtained under freedom of information, was prepared for General Campbell to deliver to an invitation-only retreat in regional New South Wales in June for managers from government departments and agencies.
It's not clear how closely he followed it, with General Campbell characterising his presentation as "extemporaneous" but drawing on "key facts and vignettes" from the written speech.
The speech notes that Australia is in "the most natural disaster-prone region in the world" and that "climate change is predicted to make disasters more extreme and more common".
It sets out the level of commitment required from the ADF to respond to climate change-related events compared to more traditional deployments.
"Australia sent around 1,000 troops to support Operation Fiji Assist [after Cyclone Winston], about 1,600 ADF personnel assisted after Cyclone Debbie hit Queensland and earlier this year, close to 3,000 troops helped North Queensland clean up after the floods," the written speech states.
"At the height of our involvement, we had about 1,500 troops in Afghanistan.
"The number of troops deployed on disaster relief missions can, at times, be a significant commitment for Defence.
"Deploying troops on numerous disaster relief missions, at the same time, may stretch our capability and capacity."
The global effort to combat climate change has been discussed at the United Nations in New York this week. (AP Photo: Evan Vucci)


Warming unprecedented in 2,000 years
As well as missions to assist after natural disasters, climate change could see the ADF drawn into more conflicts around the world, the speech warned.
It considers the Syrian civil war, setting out how climate change-induced drought "added enormous pressure" to existing problems.
"Defence may also be increasingly called upon to support stabilisation, governance or peace-keeping activities."
The written speech also set out how the Federal Government's actions on climate change could affect relationships with Pacific island nations, given they are asking Australia to do more to reduce emissions.
"It could impact our ability to influence their choices for support in the region."

Labor's Pat Conroy said whether or not the speech was delivered remains irrelevant. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Labor's spokesman for the Pacific, Pat Conroy, described the speech as the most significant from Defence in a decade, whilst noting General Campbell's insistence he spoke off-the-cuff at the event.
"It doesn't actually matter whether it was given or not," he said.
"This was the final speech, signed off by all of Defence, including the Chief of the Defence Force, as their official views at this forum on climate change as a national security threat."

An island's race against time
The Carteret Islands were the first place in the world to require population relocations due to climate change, with predictions they would be submerged by 2015.
The Department of Defence declined to clarify what General Campbell said, however prior reporting of the presentation included remarks identical to the written speech.
"If this is in a prepared speech for an outside event, you can guarantee Defence is giving this same advice to Government," Mr Conroy said.
"I'm heartened that the ADF is thinking about this seriously, as they should, and projecting into the long term.
"[The] Government is clearly not taking it seriously, otherwise you wouldn't have a very weak 2030 target that they have no hope of achieving."
The Federal Government last year signed the Boe Declaration, a Pacific-wide declaration stating that climate change is the single greatest threat to security in the region.
However, the Coalition was slammed at last month's Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Tuvalu over its refusal to take stronger action to combat climate change.

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