British intelligence warns that climate and ecosystem collapse could drive conflict, migration, famine and economic instability. Yet governments continue to conceal the full scale of the threat.

Climate heating and the global collapse of nature confront humanity with the greatest security challenge yet, the British government has warned its closest allies.

In the wake of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, the UK privately briefed select European and African governments of the findings of a secret report by its intelligence services into the risks posed by accelerating climate change and collapsing ecosystems worldwide.

More wars, mass population movements, global price inflation and famines were among the key threats identified by UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in his confidential briefing on reports compiled by the British Joint Intelligence Committee, the body that oversees the UK’s defence and security services.

A heavily redacted part of the report, focusing on the global collapse of nature, was released after a long delay by the UK government in January 2026. The full report, especially details of climate impacts, has never been made public.

In his public remarks at the UN, Miliband said “climate and nature loss represent an urgent national security issue and demand action equal to the scale of the challenge…” He admitted that, previously, “climate change and the destruction of nature were treated as peripheral environmental issues” by government.

“I think you all know the picture, and it is gloomy, I warn you, but I’m just going to say some of it to you today because we need to be truth-telling about this:

Over 150 million hectares burned globally in the first four months of 2026 alone.

Record extreme heat causing widespread loss of life.

Nepal’s devastating floods happening due to glacial collapse and the coming El Niño, as (Australian) Prime Minister Albanese said, is already forecast to be the strongest in living memory.

And the nature loss crisis is just as acute, with ecosystems being degraded in every region of the........

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