A new podcast series is set to highlight the growing risks that climate breakdown and nature loss pose to national security in the United Kingdom.
The Rest Is Politics, produced by Goalhanger, will launch a four-part investigative series presented by Caroline Lucas, former Green Party leader and MP for Brighton Pavilion.
While there are many who question the extent of the climate crisis, the series, When Nature Becomes A Security Threat, is based on a suppressed government-commissioned report from the Joint Intelligence Committee, which brings together MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
This report, Global Biodiversity Loss, Ecosystem Collapse and National Security, warns that ecosystem collapse must now be treated as a core national security threat.
It found that several globally significant ecosystems, including the Amazon and Congo rainforests, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia’s coral reefs and mangroves, are on a pathway to collapse, with serious consequences for the UK’s stability.
Caroline will speak with experts from security, diplomacy, food systems, water, climate and geopolitics to explore the implications for Britain’s food supply, borders, infrastructure, economic stability and international standing.
The first two episodes focus on the national security risks posed by climate and nature collapse.
Episode 1 features Lt General Richard Nugee and former diplomat Arthur Snell, while episode 2, with Oxford Professor Paul Behrens, investigates the UK’s vulnerability to food shocks and a second government report warning that Britain’s food security is “at risk of catastrophic failure” as climate change, habitat loss and geopolitical instability converge.
Future guests include Sandra Postel, Oliver Hayes, Aminath Shauna and Alex Randall.
The series will also examine water scarcity and the impact of AI data centres on local water demand, as well as the reality behind headlines about borders and what climate and ecosystem collapse means for future security.
Caroline said: “For 40 years, I’ve been trying to persuade successive governments to take the climate and nature crises more seriously, but I have never read an official report as alarming as this one.
“Commissioned from the Government’s own intelligence community, its conclusions are chilling: threats to the UK economy, our food systems and our geopolitical stability.
“The fact that ministers tried to suppress its publication only makes it more urgent that people understand what it says. That is why I’m making this series.”
Tom Whiter, General Manager – Politics & Current Affairs at Goalhanger, added: “What makes When Nature Becomes a Security Threat so important is that it reframes the climate and nature crises not as distant environmental issues, but as immediate questions of national security, food resilience, geopolitics and public accountability.”
When Nature Becomes a Security Threat launches on 17 July, with new episodes released weekly via The Rest Is Politics feed.
