If nature is a national security threat, we need to act like it
The Joint Intelligence Committee, which assesses raw intelligence gathered by British intelligence agencies, has concluded that the destruction of nature poses a direct threat to national security. The assessment, published in January after months of delay, warns of cascading risks from ecosystems on a pathway to collapse: conflict, migration, food insecurity, and intensifying competition for resources. It identifies the Amazon, among other critical ecosystems, as a system whose decline would rebound on Britain. The question worth asking is not whether the JIC is right. It is what follows if the JIC is right.