by Charlie Edwards | Aug 29, 2008 | Conflict and security, Cooperation and coherence, East Asia and Pacific
When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister he hit the ground reviewing. From education to health, welfare to security no policy area was too large or small. One such area was national security where he promised both a review and a strategy, and he delivered both, if not exactly on time.
9000 miles away in Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will soon publish his long awaited review of national security. According to some analysts, one of the first things he will do is appoint Duncan Lewis as his national security adviser. Major General Lewis will co-ordinate Australia’s long-term security planning. Interestingly, one of Brown’s first decisions on becoming PM was to do away with a similar post in the Cabinet Office (Permanent Secretary on Security, Intelligence and Resilience) preferring instead to have three individuals at the same level: Robert Hannigan (security adviser to Gordon Brown) plus Jon Cunliffe and Simon MacDonald).
According to various internal and media reports Kevin Rudd is due to publish a ground-breaking national security statement this coming week. By the sound of it, the strategy will be pretty similar in nature and scope to the UK Government’s work. There is also a likelihood that that Kevin Rudd will outline some of the changes to the national security apparatus which many believe has focused too much on counter terrorism.
Australian public servants will also want to thank Ric Smith, who was put in charge of the review into Homeland Security. This could have been a major opportunity to rearrange bureaucratic deck chairs – and cause all sorts of problems – which the DHS is currently facing. Instead he has recommended against the creation of a department of homeland security, saving precious time and resources and a major headache for public servants and Ministers.
by David Steven | Aug 29, 2008 | Climate and resource scarcity, Middle East and North Africa, North America
All the buzz today is that Sarah Palin, Alaska’s governor, will be McCain’s vice president pick. Interesting to see how close she is to him on climate change…
Interesting, also, that the first rumours appeared to have popped up on a pro-Hilary and now pro-McCain website… and [update 1] are now being reported as untrue. With Romney now also said to be out, McCain is doing a masterful job of building up suspense… but [update 2] it’s now confirmed…
Update 3: She doesn’t like polar bears… but she is into creationism.
Update 4:This is what she said before she got offered the job:
[A]s for that V.P. talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that V.P .slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.
Oh – and she has a baby with Down’s Syndrome, who she took to work as governor so she could keep breastfeeding:
When we first heard, it was kind of confusing. It was very, very challenging. [But now,] it just feels like he fits perfectly. He is supposed to be here with us.
by Charlie Edwards | Aug 29, 2008 | Africa, Climate and resource scarcity, Conflict and security, Cooperation and coherence, East Asia and Pacific, Economics and development, Europe and Central Asia, Global system, Middle East and North Africa, South Asia
The new report on Humanitarian Implications of Climate Change: Mapping emerging trends and risk hotspots, which was carried out by CARE International, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Maplecroft is definitely worth a read.
The map below shows overall human vulnerability based on a combination of natural, human, social, financial and physical factors. Areas shown in darkest blue are likely to be most at risk if exposed to extreme weather, such as floods, cyclones and droughts, or other impacts of climate change.
From the report:
The study used GIS mapping to understand how the projected impacts of climate change will intersect with existing patterns of human vulnerability or so called disaster risk hotspots.
This allows the identification of current and future hotspots of climate change risk. The results illustrate the implications of climate change for humanitarian assistance so that policymakers can grasp the nature and scale of the challenge we face and humanitarian actors can begin adapting their response strategies to the realities of climate change.
