Barriers to perception

<p>2011 Degrees of Risk_Defining a Risk Management Framework for Climate Security_Full Report</p>

<p>

There is an important distinction between nuclear weapons and climate change: public and

decision maker perception of the associated risks. From a risk management perspective, the diffi-

culty with climate change is that it will not result in instant annihilation. The effects of climate

change are more akin to the risk of nuclear winter: potentially an existential threat but not instantaneous,

nor generally understood. Without a basic recognition of the likelihood and potential

severity of climate change impacts, it is not possible to manage the associated risks rationally.

Such barriers to accurate perception of the risks of climate change fall into four categories:

uncertainty, the assumption of ample time to act, the assumptions of low risk for the rich and

low priority for the poor, and expert bias.</p>