𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

A Lieutenant General has warned that price and availability of food in Britain will change unless the nation prepares for the impacts of extreme weather. Retired senior British Army officer Richard Nugee, who held several key posts during his 36-year military career, wants the UK to ramp up local production of food and slash the country’s reliance on foreign imports.

He will on Tuesday join Climate Minister Katie White, academics and security experts to assess risks of the climate and nature crises to national security. The first Climate and Nature Security Taskforce meeting will establish “the most significant climate and nature security risks facing the UK” following record-breaking heatwaves this summer, severe drought conditions, wildfires and rising flood risks.

Ret. General Nugee said climate change and nature loss “threatens the fabric of our society”.

He added: “The weather that we had this year led to one of the worst harvests that we’ve had for various food sources in this country that we;ve had on record. We rely on that. We import a huge amount of food anyway from countries that are also under stress as a result of climate change.

“There’s a very real possibility that the food we take for granted, either in terms of price or availability, is not going to be that in the future unless we try and plan our supply chains and think about growing our food differently in this country to be able to cope with the extreme weather – whether it’s droughts or floods.”

He called it “absolutely staggering” that the country has not built a reservoir despite huge population growth over the last 30 years.

The former military chief warned that trying to persuade Britons that climate change is a problem in the UK has been “very, very difficult” because it is “one of the least affected by climate change in the world”.

He added: “For too many people, it’s an over there problem. Somebody else’s problem. Tomorrow’s problem rather than today. I think this summer, which will be quickly forgotten by some, has given an example of how…we’re not exempt to climate change.

“But it’s very difficult for politicians to try to persuade people that there is a risk coming down the line that they can’t see and can’t feel.”

He hopes that the taskforce can help make the country more resilient by ensuring the country can withstand initial shocks if needed.

The taskforce will make independent recommendations to help shape the government’s approach to tackling national and international climate security challenges.

Ms White said: “I think the UK is incredibly well prepared for all the risks that we face at the moment but this is about looking at future risks. Clearly we saw over this summer that there were impacts in terms of the breadth of wildfires that we didn’t anticipate. We also saw huge impacts in terms of farmers and crops. We’re still having hosepipe bans in the south of England right now in autumn.”

By next summer, the taskforce will give the government recommendations about where and how the nation can improve its preparedness and resilience to security threats.

It comes as the head of the Army General Sir Roly Walker said politicians would be having a “frank conversation” with citizens to “consent to sacrifices” in preparation for conflict.

Sir Roly’s comments come as Russian acts of aggression have ramped up against the UK over its continued support for Ukraine fighting Moscow’s four-year-long invasion.