Issued by: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

UK Foreign Secretary warns of growing national security risks posed by climate change and nature loss at UN General Assembly and announces funding package.

• Ed Miliband brings together foreign ministers at UN General Assembly to strengthen action on climate and nature-related security threats.

• UK announces new funding from Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations to help vulnerable communities access food and clean water, and protect critical ecosystems, delivered through the Global Environment Facility.

• Funding committed to the United Nations’ Climate Security Mechanism to help prevent climate-related instability and conflict, reducing the risk of shocks feeding though to UK food prices, supply chains and security.

The UK has announced a package of support to address the growing security risks posed by climate change and nature loss, benefiting millions of people around the world and helping protect critical ecosystems, including forests in the Amazon and Congo Basin.

£330 million of UK funding for the Global Environment Facility - the world’s leading multilateral fund for protecting nature and tackling environmental threats - will support sustainable agriculture and fishing, helping ensure some of the world’s most vulnerable people have secure access to food as well as clean water.

UK funding will also reduce environmental degradation, including desertification and deforestation, and strengthen resilience to droughts and flooding.

The Foreign Secretary has warned that climate change and biodiversity loss are now a national security threat as well as an environmental one, with climate-fuelled droughts, extreme weather and pressure on food, water and financial resources increasing the risks of instability, conflict and displacement around the world.

Climate shocks beginning in one country can rapidly travel through supply chains, financial markets, and migration patterns to other countries, directly impacting British consumers.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Ed Miliband convened foreign ministers, including those from the EU, Australia and Kenya, to strengthen cooperation on climate and nature-related security risks and drive collective action to address their root causes.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the event:

"I want to set out why I have convened us today.

"Climate change and nature loss have never been issues for climate and environment ministers alone.

"They are defining challenges for our citizens, our economies, our foreign policy, and our national security.

"This year, once again, the impacts of climate change have been unprecedented and devastating - lethal heatwaves, drought, fires, and flooding accelerated by glacial melt.

"Impacts that hit people’s daily lives and livelihoods as never before.

"We face an El Nino that is already set to be the most intense in living memory.

"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.

"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.

"That is why the UK is placing climate and nature security at the heart of our national security and foreign policy decision-making."

The UK is also providing £1 million to the UN Climate Security Mechanism, which helps countries identify and respond to climate-related risks before they escalate into conflict and humanitarian crises.

The £331 million package builds momentum ahead of COP31 and demonstrates the UK’s commitment to addressing the causes and consequences of climate and nature-related insecurity, and reducing the risks that instability, food insecurity and extreme weather pose to British households and businesses.

Background

• The Foreign Secretary convened the Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue on Climate Change and Ecosystem Degradation as National Security Risks during the United Nations General Assembly.

• The UK’s funding pledge to the Global Environment Facility is for the 4-year ‘GEF9’ period 2026-30 and is part of already announced ODA allocations.

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