Born Free attends National Emergency Briefing on climate and biodiversity
The event at Westminster was attended by hundreds of MPs and Peers, as well as experts and charities. Dominic Dyer, UK Policy Advisor and Wildlife Advocate, attend on behalf of Born Free.
The climate nature crisis is a multi-pronged emergency that will impact all aspects of life from health care to food production and energy supply to national security.
Dominic Dyer, UK Policy Advisor & Wildlife Advocate
On Thursday 27th November Born Free was invited to participate in a National Emergency Briefing at Westminster Hall attended by hundreds of MPs, Peers, business leaders, scientists, academics, journalists and environmentalists.
The National Emergency Briefing was organised by climate activists and researchers, and was held to persuade political leaders of the need for urgent and drastic action on the interconnected climate and biodiversity crisis.
The briefing brought together leading scientists and experts from the fields of climate change, nature protection, health care, food production, energy supply, the economy and national security to report the latest evidence, clarify what is at stake and outline actionable solutions.
The briefing was opened by naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham and chaired by Professor Mike Berners-Lee.
The expert speakers painted a bleak picture of starvation, economic collapse, civil unrest and wars if we don’t take urgent action to limit further global warming and protect nature
Speaking on climate, Kevin Anderson, professor of energy and climate change at the Universities of Manchester said: “The choice is between deep, rapid and fair decarbonisation of modern society, and an organised technical and social revolution; or ongoing rhetoric and delay as temperatures rise which leads to revolutionary style change that will be both chaotic and violent.”
On nature, Nathalie Seddon, professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford, said: “We are facing a national emergency not only because the climate is changing, but because the living systems that protect the climate are breaking down.”
On food production, Tim Lenton, director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, said that a collapse in the Atlantic meridianal overturning current (Amoc) would leave London freezing in winters of -20C, “and yet the summers would still be hotter than today’s”, leading to a total collapse in agricultural production and a situation where the UK would be 100% reliant on food imports.
The briefing ended with a call for a “reset” of the national conversation on climate change and recognition of the state of the climate emergency and a for a World War Two level of leadership in response to the crisis. A failure to act will result in the UK becoming an “ungovernable state” characterised by a breakdown of infrastructure and widespread civil unrest.
Born Free will continue to engage with government on this issue, and all of the key issues outlined in our manifesto for the UK government, published in 2024.