In this week’s newsletter: From nature projects to biodiversity funds, key programmes will suffer as the UK aims to lower its international climate finance commitments by billions
T
he UK’s spy chiefs are accustomed to being listened to at the highest levels of government. Prime ministers and cabinets take notice when the joint intelligence committee (JIC), which directs MI5 and MI6, warns of threats to national security. Except, it seems, when it comes to the future of the planet.
Last year the JIC produced a hard-hitting report which, the Guardian revealed, found the collapse of globally important ecosystems around the world – including the potential shift of the Amazon from rainforest to savannah, the demise of coral reefs, and the loss of glaciers – would threaten the UK’s national security, through food shortages at home and the potential for conflict overseas.
In normal times, this kind of stark warning would spur a swift response from cabinet. Actions to protect and restore such vital ecosystems would follow. Instead, the UK government’s response has been to first suppress the report and then, rather than increase protection for ecosystems, make drastic cuts to the budgets for helping developing countries tackle nature loss and climate breakdown.
