Video: Dr Matt Boyd presents highlights of NZ’s vulnerability and resilience to nuclear war and other global catastrophes. You can download a PDF version of this presentation to access all links. Blog Summary/TLDR The CSER Conference On the 17–18th Sept 2024 I joined a diverse set of researchers and analysts converging on the University of … Continue reading "Lessons from the Cambridge Conference on Catastrophic Risk 2024"

TLDR/Summary Purpose New Zealand imports nearly all its engine fuels, except for small amounts of biofuels. Therefore, the NZ Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is: Seeking specialist services to undertake a Fuel Security Study on fuel security requirements for New Zealand out to 2035. The findings from the Fuel Security Study will feed … Continue reading "NZ’s Fuel Security Study: An opportunity to ensure survival"

Matt Boyd, Sam Ragnarsson, Simon Terry, Ben Payne, Nick Wilson TLDR/Summary In the wake of a global catastrophe that severely disrupted liquid fuel trade, New Zealand would face significant challenges in sustaining food production. The nation consumes over 3.7 billion litres of diesel annually but has only 21-days’ supply onshore at any time.

NZCat Main Report for 2023 is now available here (PDF, 118 pages). The report is v1.0, a resource and repository about nuclear war, trade isolation, and other major global risks. It brims with boxed resilience nuggets and examples. Webinar Presentation of highlights from the Main Report (30min) &

Through 2023 the NZCat team researched and engaged stakeholders and experts on Aotearoa NZ’s vulnerability and resilience to nuclear war and other global catastrophes. On 25 October 2023 we held the NZCat Project Webinar, comprising a 30min overview of the work, followed by an insightful in-depth expert panel discussion.

NZCat Project Team : Matt Boyd, Ben Payne, Simon Terry, Sam Ragnarsson, Nick Wilson SUMMARY / TLDR This blog provides brief highlights of the NZCat Interview Study, which consulted diverse experts to estimate the vulnerabilities and resilience options for Aotearoa NZ in the face of a Northern Hemisphere nuclear war.

This week Adapt Research’s Matt Boyd had a conversation with journalist Peter Griffin of BusinessDesk. The pair had a wide-ranging discussion about global catastrophic risk and what this means for NZ. Topics include risks from AI, biothreats, climate change, nuclear or great power war, volcanoes, and the gaps in New Zealand’s risk management system.

TLDR : Massive volcanic eruptions can impact global climate and severely disrupt global critical infrastructure. These eruptions are more frequent than previously thought, can have more impact than previously thought, and at lower magnitudes than previously thought. New Zealand (NZ) is less likely to suffer direct effects of climate disturbance, but is highly vulnerable to trade disruption.

This is a link-post to results of a recent survey. In an election year, there is a huge opportunity for New Zealand political parties to clearly state their policies for ensuring a safe and secure New Zealand in the face of long-term and global catastrophic risks, which plausibly harbour almost all the actual risk to the country. Do the main parties support a US-style Global Catastrophic Risk Management Act?

TLDR/Summary Two recent risk assessments In this post I briefly discuss two recent government publications on risk, these are: The UK National Risk Register On 4 August the UK released its 2023 UK NRR. This document is publicly facing, though aimed at practitioners, businesses and academics, and highlights 89 threats that are detailed in the … Continue reading "Rethinking Risk: Towards a More Comprehensive Security Strategy for New Zealand"

The NZCat Team has a vision for a secure New Zealand, resilient to large scale global disruptions and catastrophic risks. We’ve been researching anticipatory governance of risk, the process of effective national risk assessment, and we’ve published peer-reviewed research on specific risks such as pandemics, nuclear war, massive volcanic eruption, and risks from artificial intelligence.