MPs on the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee will explore the impact of biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse on the UK’s national security on Monday 18th May, at 16.15pm.

The recently published National Security Assessment of global biodiversity loss warned that the degradation and collapse of global ecosystems threaten the UK’s prosperity and national security. Despite this, the assessment did not set out how the government intends to mitigate the risks.

MPs will hear from a Ministry of Defence adviser and leading academics and policy experts as they examine how the government could respond to the findings. The cross-party Committee is likely to delve into the reasons this report was commissioned and could ask why the government appeared reluctant to publish its findings.

Questions could explore how the assessment might influence the government’s priorities at the upcoming Biodiversity Conference COP17 and may examine how its findings align with international comparisons.

The Committee may also use this session to consider the potential advantages and harms of characterising biodiversity loss as a national security threat. MPs are likely to question what this assessment will mean for the UK’s domestic nature targets, many of which are currently off target.

Witnesses appearing before the Committe from 16.15pm onwards are:

• Lieutenant General (Rtd) Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE, Non-Executive Member for the Defence Safety and Environmental Committee, Ministry of Defence
• Laurie Laybourn, Leader, Strategic Climate Risks Initiative; Associate Fellow, Chatham House; Associate Fellow, Institute for Public Policy Research; and Visiting Fellow, Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter
• Dr Sarah Redicker, Interdisciplinary Researcher, University of Exeter
• Georgina Chandler, Head of Policy and Campaigns, Zoological Society of London

Click here to watch the evidence session live on parliamentlive.tv or to catch up later