Seem like things are coming at us fast? Are systems breaking faster than we thought?
You’re not the only one that’s worried about it.
Britain faces a national security crisis within just a few years due to the impending collapse of global ecosystems, spy chiefs have warned, but the government is refusing to publish their report in full.
A redacted 14-page document warns of severe food shortages, which could begin within five years, along with price rises, political destabilisation and the possible outbreak of war as countries compete for dwindling resources.
Crop failures, disease outbreaks and intensifying natural disasters could cause “geopolitical instability, economic insecurity, conflict, migration and increased inter-state competition for resources”, it said.
The joint intelligence committee, which oversees M15 and MI6, was responsible for the report, the Guardian reported. Members of parliament are demanding it be published in full.
The report by the joint intelligence committee and other government departments, revealed by the Guardian last October, shows that the UK will face catastrophic consequences from the collapse of key ecosystems in other countries. These include the Amazon rainforest, which scientists fear is reaching a “tipping point” triggered by deforestation and rising temperatures, which would turn the ecosystem from a huge absorber of carbon dioxide into a net source of carbon.
Food shortages would be almost certain to result from the decline of ecosystems overseas, the report found, as would a big increase in global migration, with the potential to fuel unrest. Among the most alarming findings was that armed conflict, which includes nuclear war, was also a potential consequence.
The report was due to be published at an event last October, attended by King Charles, in the Natural History Museum. However, at the last minute the publication was pulled, at the behest of Downing Street.
Ministers at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, also tried to have the report released at the Cop30 summit in Brazil, but that was also prevented. Insiders said this was due to the former adviser to Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney.
The Guardian revealed in February that the UK’s climate assistance to poor countries would be slashed, with a ringfence for nature spending scrapped, and projects from the Congo to Latin America and Asia losing out.
HM Government (UK) – Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and National Security:
