Download the full ‘How to Transform Defence for Sustainable Human Safety 10 Talking Points for a Difficult Conversation‘ booklet [PDF]
Download the ‘Summary for 10 Talking Points‘ [PDF]
The Transform Defence project wants to see sustainable human safety put at the heart of fit-for-purpose 21st century foreign, defence, security and international development policy-making.
It argues that we must question the limits of 20th-century national self-interest if we are to fully address the single greatest threat to our collective survival – runaway climate change.
But as we are warned of ‘Code Red for Humanity’ with the 6th mass extinction underway, the most socially and economically damaging threat to our collective global safety – climate change – is but a poor relation when set alongside other ‘conventional’ threats.
Purpose & Audience
The purpose of this publication is to start as many conversations as possible in as many fora as possible whether you know nothing, something or a lot about international relations or foreign and defence policymaking.
We have been working on this topic for a few years now and the more we read and the more we write, the clearer it is to us that – for myriad reasons – there is next to no meaningful public or political discussion about the absolute lack of leadership vision on how nations re-imagine international relations in the era of climate chaos, pandemic and now, again, the use of nuclear weapons in war.
It’s not unlike discussing how we get to zero-carbon future without discussing growth, or god forbid, capitalism. So it is with foreign and defence policy in the era of climate chaos.
We are not from the international relations discipline, rather the international development structural campaigning sector. This is why we seek to not only describe the problem but also offer some practical routes forward.
As we are now in the eye of several entangled storms – climate change, pandemic, wars and rampant inequality – we hope we can draw some attention to this hugely important topic from civil society and advocacy organisations; public figures and opinion formers; UN departments; governments with an open enough mind to hear us out; Green New Deal advocates.
While we work on specific calls such as an IPCC Special Report into the role of the global military on climate change; concrete proposals for cuts to military budgets to help plug SDGs and climate finance gaps and a high-level UN debate on Carbon Neutral Peace and Defence, these are all but steps along the way to something bigger.
How we transform defence for sustainable human safety is the debate we need to start – and sooner rather than later. Climate chaos demands absolutely every aspect of human life and activity must be reassessed. Defence is no different and on this, our leaders need to ‘up their game’ to say the least.
Transform defence for sustainable human safety 