A responsibility to prepare: Governing in an age of unprecedented risk and unprecedented foresight

Considering the unprecedented climate risks that threaten the world, this paper argues that all nations should develop and adopt a Responsibility to Prepare agenda. Nations must also adhere to the overarching principle of “climate-proofing” security institutions at the international, regional and national levels. That climate-proofing would include routinizing, integrating, institutionalizing and elevating attention to climate and security issues at these bodies, as well as establishing rapid response mechanisms, and developing contingencies for potential unintended consequences.

Such an agenda – focused as it is on reforming security institutions – would ensure that critical nontraditional challenges, such as climate change, are appropriately managed as global security risks, rather than as niche concerns. A practical fulfilment of the goals and principles articulated in this Responsibility to Prepare framework would increase the likelihood of a more stable global governance system in the face of rapid but foreseeable change.