healthy environment is the bedrock of national security. It’s not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of fact, as outlined in a new UK report detailing the risks, impacts, and likelihood of global ecosystem collapse, published in the UK. Alarming in its content, but even more so for the lack of media coverage it generated. Buried under an avalanche of sticky customer-friendly clickbait and ever-increasing and outrageous sabre rattling by politicians sitting in their white houses and capital cities.

You would be forgiven for thinking that the report came from radical eco-warriors, hell-bent on protecting the natural world. Or hyperbolic environmental NGOs looking to convert alarm into action. Or from emerging academics trying to land a new paper and make a name for themselves with grandiose statements.

However, the report was in fact published by the UK government’s intelligence officials, people not often prone to exaggeration. Entitled ‘Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and national security,’ this national security assessment sets out the stark risks of biodiversity and ecosystem collapse, and the impacts upon food security, migration, conflict and our economy. The looming consequences of destroying the very fabric of nature that we all depend on.

As Western Allies strengthen military preparedness, they should also match this focus with unified, urgent action to prevent the collapse of vital natural systems. Without environmental health, security is impossible; this must be recognised as clearly as any headline threat of war.

The report’s takeaways are abundantly clear. “Nature is the foundation of national security” and “Ecosystem degradation is occurring across all regions. Every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse.”

The report reframes how environmental change is seen, moving beyond the expected conservation and climate change narratives, and placing national security at the heart of concerns and the need for multilateralism and united action.

If the ecosystems we rely on collapse, our economy, prosperity, food security, and geopolitical stability will be at risk. The report places natural ecosystems at the centre of global concerns – trade, migration, food production, and conflict.

It puts it in black and white, no uncertain terms. “…it is unlikely the UK would be able to maintain food security if ecosystem collapse drives geopolitical competition
for food.”

It highlights the global scale of biodiversity decline – marine ecosystems are overexploited, forests are being lost, freshwater systems are under increasing stress, soil fertility is declining, and coral reefs are subject to mass bleaching.

These ecosystems aren’t just collections of beautiful animals, plants, and scenery. Nice to see but not much more. Together, they provide the vital services that make our society possible. Food production, water filtration, flood defences, carbon storage, disease regulation, climate stabilisation and more. If they collapse, they can’t do these things for us, and we collapse too.

If current trends continue, the tipping points of collapse are potentially just decades, if not years away. Breakdown would devastate fisheries, agriculture, water systems, and drive supply shortages, price spikes, economic stress, and accelerate migration and conflict.

Food security is central to this issue. Not least in our ocean. Our fisheries and most other ocean industries depend on a healthy and thriving ocean. We cannot take for granted the remaining abundance of our seas. This is to be conserved, protected, and restored. Not just because we love the sea, but because the collapse of fish stocks and ocean resources would spell doom for jobs, businesses, and coastal communities.

This also isn’t an issue to pit environmentalists against fishers, or NGOs against governments. It is one that must unite us in the face of the ever-growing threat of losing the very foundations of life.