Government officials have warned in a new report that biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are posing a national security threat to the United Kingdom. 

What's happening?

The 14-page report listed "global ecosystem degradation and collapse" as a high threat to the U.K.'s national security and prosperity. It warned that the U.K. must shore up its food system and supply chains to ensure food security and compete with other nations for resources. 

According to the Guardian, the findings were compiled by the joint intelligence committee, which oversees the MI5 and MI6 spy agencies, though the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the only agency credited for the strategic assessment.

Why is this important?

As the cost of essentials rises and families try to make ends meet, biodiversity loss may feel like a far-off problem. However, critical ecosystems across oceans can impact life at home, making their health a pressing concern as the world is on the brink of a sixth mass extinction event. 

The strategic assessment identified the Amazon rainforest, boreal forests, Congo rainforest, the Himalayas, and South East Asia's coral reefs and mangroves — where ecosystem collapse is ongoing — as being "particularly significant" to the U.K.'s fortunes. 

"Severe degradation or collapse of these would highly likely result in water insecurity, severely reduced crop yields, a global reduction in arable land, fisheries collapse, changes to global weather patterns, release of trapped carbon exacerbating climate change, novel zoonotic diseases, and loss of pharmaceutical resources," the analysts wrote. 

What's being done about this?

According to the Guardian, using military intelligence techniques to assess worldwide biodiversity collapse was a novel approach. As U.K. officials debate how much assistance to provide to developing countries and how to curb the decline of nature, the report offers fresh insight into how environmental policies today can shape the world of tomorrow. 

"The assessment shows that we cannot expect to be able to destroy key ecosystems like the great forest basins, peatlands, mangroves or coral reefs without serious implications for our safety and prosperity. But that is what we are doing," said Zac Goldsmith, a climate and nature minister under Boris Johnson, who served as prime minister from 2019 to 2022. 

"The government has shifted its priority away from nature towards a very narrow focus on carbon, and we must hope this report forces a reversal," Goldsmith added. 

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