The UK is investing £331 million to help vulnerable communities tackle the impacts of climate change and nature loss, amid warnings that environmental instability is becoming a growing national security threat.
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced the funding package at the United Nations General Assembly, where he brought together foreign ministers from countries including Australia, Kenya and EU nations to strengthen international cooperation on climate and nature-related security risks.
The vast majority of the funding will go to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the multilateral fund supporting action to protect nature and address environmental threats. The four-year commitment, covering 2026 to 2030, will support sustainable agriculture and fishing, improve access to food and clean water, and help protect critical ecosystems including forests in the Amazon and Congo Basin.
The funding will also support measures to reduce environmental degradation, including deforestation and desertification, while helping communities become more resilient to droughts and flooding.
The UK is providing a further £1 million to the UN’s Climate Security Mechanism, which helps countries identify and respond to climate-related risks before they develop into conflict or humanitarian crises.
Miliband said: ‘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 Government said climate-related shocks can also affect the UK through global supply chains, financial markets and migration, potentially increasing pressure on food prices and businesses.
The package comes ahead of COP31 and is intended to strengthen international efforts to address the causes of climate-related insecurity while reducing its potential impacts on communities and economies around the world.
Photo: United Nations