The UK is among the five best countries in the world to “restart life” in the event of a sudden global catastrophe, a new study has found.
According to the researchers, a catastrophe “could arise from shocks, such as a severe financial crisis, the impacts of the climate crisis, destruction of nature, and even worse pandemic than Covid-19, or a combination of these”, says The Guardian.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In a study paper published in the journal Sustainability, the experts warn that human civilisation is in a “perilous state, with large and growing risks developing in multiple spheres of the human endeavour”.
The experts single out “only a handful of countries” as “places of refuge” - dubbed “collapse lifeboats” - that seem “protected even in the event of mass floods, drought or food loss”, Metro reports.
The rankings are based on countries’ ability to grow food for their population, protect their borders, maintain an electrical grid and preserve manufacturing ability.
And “islands in temperate regions and mostly with low population densities have come out on top”, says The Irish Times.
The best-rated nations were also found to have “higher levels of societal and technological ‘complexity’ within their borders, as well as lower temperatures that could offset the worst excesses of climate change”, Metro adds.
New Zealand tops the best places list, having “scored particularly well on population and geographical location”, notes The Independent.
The UK, meanwhile, gets a high rating for self-sufficiency, owing to its “abundant indigenous renewable and non-renewable energy sources, modern high-tech economy and large manufacturing capacity", and also “scored highly in its ability to protect its borders from unwanted mass immigration”, the newspaper adds
Study co-author Professor Aled Jones told The Guardian that “we weren’t surprised New Zealand was on our list”.
“We chose that you had to be able to protect borders and places had to be temperate,” he continued. “So with hindsight, it’s quite obvious that large islands with complex societies on them already [make up the list].”
But “we were quite surprised the UK came out strongly”, Jones added. “It is densely populated, has traditionally outsourced manufacturing, hasn’t been the quickest to develop renewable technology, and only produces 50% of its own food at the moment. But it has the potential to withstand shocks.”
-
Cloudbursts: what are the 'rain bombs' hitting India and Pakistan?The Explainer The sudden and intense weather event is almost impossible to forecast and often leads to deadly flash-flooding and landslides
-
What do heatwaves mean for Scandinavia?Under the Radar A record-breaking run of sweltering days and tropical nights is changing the way people – and animals – live in typically cool Nordic countries
-
Blue whales have gone silent and it's posing troubling questionsUnder the radar Warming oceans are the answer
-
Acid rain is back: the sequel nobody wantedUnder The Radar A 'forever chemical' in rainwater is reviving a largely forgotten environmental issue
-
Why is the world so divided over plastics?Today's Big Question UN negotiations on first global plastic treaty are at stake, as fossil fuel companies, petrostates and plastic industry work to resist a legal cap on production
-
Tuvalu is being lost to climate change. Other countries will likely follow.Under the Radar Sea level rise is putting islands underwater
-
Melting glaciers may lead to more volcanic eruptionsUnder the radar We're in for a boom
-
Europe's heatwave: the new front line of climate changeIn the Spotlight How will the continent adapt to 'bearing the brunt of climate change'?
