Monday 18 May 2026,
16.15, Wilson Room, Portcullis House
The Environmental Audit Committee will explore the impact of
biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse on the UK's national
security on Monday 18th May, at 16.15pm.
The recently published National Security
Assessment of global biodiversity loss warned that the
degradation and collapse of global ecosystems threaten the UK's
prosperity and national security. Despite this, the assessment
did not set out how the government intends to mitigate these
risks.
MPs will hear from a Ministry of Defence adviser and leading
academics and policy experts as they examine how the government
could respond to the findings. The Committee is likely to delve
into the reasons this report was commissioned and could ask why
the government appeared reluctant to publish its findings.
Questions could explore how the assessment might influence the
government's priorities at the upcoming Biodiversity Conference
COP17 and may examine how its findings align with international
comparisons.
The Committee may also use this session to consider the potential
advantages and harms of characterising biodiversity loss as a
national security threat. MPs are likely to question what this
assessment will mean for the UK's domestic nature targets, many
of which are currently off target.
Witnesses from 16.15:
- Lieutenant General (Rtd) Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE,
Non-Executive Member for the Defence Safety and Environmental
Committee, Ministry of Defence
- Laurie Laybourn, Leader, Strategic Climate Risks Initiative;
Associate Fellow, Chatham House; Associate Fellow, Institute for
Public Policy Research; and Visiting Fellow, Global Systems
Institute, University of Exeter
- Dr Sarah Redicker, Interdisciplinary Researcher, University
of Exeter
- Georgina Chandler, Head of Policy and Campaigns, Zoological
Society of London
