UK warns global security threatened by climate crisis
IN SHORTThe UK has presented findings from a suppressed national security report to foreign ministers, warning that climate and nature crises, exacerbated by El Niño, pose significant threats to global security, defense, and economies. The report highlights potential for conflict, migration, and food shortages.
Key Numbers
£330 millionUK funding for Global Environment Facility
Who's Involved
Ed Miliband
UK foreign secretary presenting climate security findings
Richard Nugee
Retired general and security expert advocating for climate security focus
Keir Starmer
UK leader under whom climate security report was reportedly suppressed
Andy Burnham
UK prime minister backing Miliband's research presentation
↳ Why This Matters
The UK's warning underscores the growing recognition that climate change and environmental degradation are not just ecological issues but fundamental threats to global stability, potentially leading to conflict, mass migration, and economic disruption, impacting international relations and resource security.
Key facts
- UK intelligence report warns climate and nature crises threaten global national security, defense, and economies.
- El Niño, supercharged by climate breakdown, is expected to be the most intense in memory and will test global food systems.
- The report links the collapse of global ecosystems to increased conflict, migration, and food shortages.
- A full version of the Joint Intelligence Committee report, suppressed last October, has not been publicly released.
- The UK announced £330 million for the Global Environment Facility to protect nature in developing countries.
The UK has presented findings from a national security report to international foreign ministers, warning that the climate and nature crises, amplified by an impending intense El Niño, pose significant threats to global security, defense, and economies. Ed Miliband, the UK's foreign secretary, shared the intelligence chiefs' findings at a private meeting during the UN General Assembly in New York, highlighting potential for conflict, migration, and food shortages.
Miliband stated that the coming El Niño is set to be the most intense in living memory and will severely test global food systems, leading to climate shocks that compound across borders, threatening food and water security, displacing communities, and impacting markets and economies. He emphasized that climate change and nature loss are not solely environmental issues but defining challenges for foreign policy and national security.
The report, compiled by the UK's Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), was reportedly suppressed by Downing Street last October, just before its scheduled publication. While a redacted version was released in January under the Freedom of Information Act, ministers have resisted calls for the full report to be made public. Security expert Richard Nugee commented that governments should treat the climate crisis with the same urgency as threats from hostile states, noting its potential to affect food, energy, and water security, and to drive migration and recruitment by terrorist organizations.
In response to these findings, Miliband announced plans to appoint a special representative for climate security and establish a ministerial task force focused on the national security and resilience risks associated with climate and nature loss. The UK also pledged £330 million to the Global Environment Facility, an international fund dedicated to protecting nature in developing countries, to support efforts in safeguarding forests, oceans, and other critical ecosystems.