UK has blind spot for climate threats says report: comment

"A scenario in which the UK’s climate radically shifts in the near future cutting the growing season by as much as two months is a critical national security threat, and makes the devastating impact of recent droughts and floods on farming seem trivial. The warnings here should be a wake-up call to a government that rightly says food security is national security, starting with the need to invest much more into building the resilience of British food production.

“Experts are clear though that there are limits to how much we can adapt. If we are to adequately feed ourselves, we have to provide leadership in moving to net zero emissions, the only way of preventing climate change from getting worse and reducing the risk of these tipping points occurring.”

The report highlights the possibility that the collapse of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre could reduce the UK growing season for arable crops by up to 60 days in some areas, and that this could occur in relatively short timescales. It is published in the aftermath of one of the worst harvests on record [2], and in the midst of reports that the farming budget that funds Defra’s new environmental land management schemes is under pressure [3].