The UK has warned countries around the world that the climate and nature crises and the coming El Niño threaten their national security and defence, presenting foreign ministries with the findings of an explosive report suppressed under Keir Starmer.
Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, made a presentation to the foreign ministers of the EU as well as Kenya and other countries on Wednesday night at a private meeting during the UN general assembly in New York, based on the report by the UK’s spy chiefs that found the collapse of natural systems around the world would lead to conflict, migration and food shortages.
Miliband told the meeting, the first such discussion among foreign ministers, that the coming El Niño, which has been supercharged by climate breakdown, would test the world’s food systems as never before.
“We face an El Niño that is already set to be the most intense in living memory,” he said. “This will intensify climate shocks that compound and cascade across borders, threatening food and water security, displacing communities, putting pressure on markets and scarring economies.”
This year’s heatwaves, bad harvests and food price inflation showed governments what they were in for, he said, and must be dealt with at the highest levels. “Climate change and nature loss have never been issues for climate and environment ministers alone,” he said. “They are defining challenges for our citizens, our economies, our foreign policy and our national security.”
With the backing of Andy Burnham, the UK prime minister, Miliband presented the research that found the collapse of global ecosystems such as in the Amazon and Congo rainforests, driven by the climate crisis and the destruction of nature, would have impacts on national security around the world.
The joint intelligence committee (JIC) report, revealed by the Guardian, was scheduled to be published last October, but was suppressed on the eve of its launch by Downing Street. A redacted version was issued in January under the Freedom of Information Act, but ministers have continued to resist calls for the full report to be made public.
Richard Nugee, a retired general and security expert, told the Guardian governments must treat the climate as they would other threats to national security, such as sabotage by hostile states. “If a bridge is washed away, it has the same impact whether it’s done by [a foreign power] or the climate,” he said. “The climate crisis will affect food security, energy security water security, and lead to migration and potentially the recruitment of farmers to [terrorist organisations such as] Isis. Countries should absolutely be treating this as a national security issue.”
He said it was not surprising that the JIC report was suppressed and redacted, as it was “very rare” for security reports to be published.
Miliband will appoint a new special representative for climate security, as well as a new ministerial taskforce on “the national security and resilience risks of a changing climate and nature loss”, with military and security experts as well as climate scientists.
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He also announced £330m for the Global Environment Facility, the main international fund for protecting nature, that will go towards protecting forests, oceans and other critical ecosystems in developing countries.
The closed-door meeting among foreign ministers was convened after Miliband made a public speech on Monday at the UN general assembly that touched on the links between the climate and national security. Soon after taking office in July, the former energy secretary told the Guardian he would put the climate at the heart of UK foreign policy.
On Wednesday night, Miliband said: “The countries fit for the future will be those that see climate and nature as intrinsic to economic and national security. Countries that anticipate risks and invest in resilience before crises hit. Countries that seize the incredible opportunities the clean energy transition presents. Countries that don’t just see the connections but act on them.”
He added: “That is why the UK is placing climate and nature security at the heart of our national security and foreign policy decision-making.”
