Climate change a 'threat multiplier' for Australia's military

ABC News (Australia): A new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) says the military is not doing enough planning to cope with the problem of climate change. The study, titled Heavy Weather, found climate change was not being considered by the Defence Department in its national and regional strategic scoping, despite the potential regional instability caused by rising sea levels, migration pressures, and the spread of infectious diseases.

ASPI deputy director Antony Bergin says the ADF has already been stretched by a spate of weather-related domestic disasters such as bushfires and floods, and should be factoring in how it will deal with simultaneous extreme weather events at home and in the region.

"The military are very used to responding to a whole range of factors that impact on military operations, whether it be population, whether it be technology, whether it be economics," he said. "This report argues that climate change is simply another factor. Every Christmas now we see the military deployed to floods and bushfires in Australia.

 "The ADF of course have been heavily involved in deploying to regional disasters, but one of the points that the report makes is that Defence will need to factor in concurrent disasters. While we've been pretty good at dealing with offshore disasters without anything happening on the home front, I think we're now going to see the ADF really stretched in dealing with extreme weather events in the region and at home."...