This (Just 20 of 6,600 Defra staff working on climate adaptation amid drought and wildfires, 12 August) is a shocking revelation from a government that has repeatedly assured us it understands the risk of the breakdown of nature and climate. Clearly not.
Families forced to deal with school closures, hospitals having to cancel appointments, wildfires continuing to tear through the country, and, so far, more than 2,700 deaths recorded from extreme heat. And yet adaptation remains a tiny corner of one department.
It’s not as though ministers haven’t been warned. The Climate Change Committee raises the alarm in every progress report it produces, urging the government to act. So what’s gone wrong? Have the impacts of ecosystem collapse and climate change become politically expendable to the government?
From a war on those pesky newts and bats to Andy Burnham’s endless game of ‘“will he, won’t he” over more oil and gas, this is Westminster fanning the flames of climate change. The communities facing firewaves, floods and extreme drought don’t want to hear what’s already taking place – they want to know what’s going to change. Saying that we’re “already acting” clearly does not match the scale of the crisis. Just ask the “UK’s first climate evacuees” on whom you reported in February.
Climate adaptation is a whole-of-government problem, not just for one desk at Defra. Why is there an AI minister around the Cabinet table, but no resilience and adaptation minister? Why don’t we have a dedicated commissioner with the authority to ensure that departments prepare for the risks of climate and nature breakdown, and to make sure that there is a public face for these issues so that communities are protected? And, crucially, why is no one asking these questions in government?
Dr Amy McDonnell
Co-executive director, Zero Hour
