A high dependency on imported fresh food, coupled with failure to act on climate breakdown, is risking national food security, according to a new report by MPs on the House of Commons Environment Audit Committee published today.

The MPs are also calling on the Government to manage risk of water security in cities via the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and set a default 100 litres per capita per day water consumption target as recommended by the Committee on Climate Change.

The MPs refer to the recent report by the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change on UK housing which concluded that efforts to adapt the UK’s housing stock to the impacts of the changing climate, for higher average temperatures, flooding and water scarcity, are “lagging far behind what is needed to keep us safe and comfortable” as the climate change risks grow.

The EAC’s report Our Planet, Our Health highlights the extent to which climate change could affect the health and well-being of the UK’s population. The Planetary Health inquiry considered the effect of environmental damage and climate change on health, food security, water resources, life in cities and air quality.

“More people are living in cities at risk from over-heating and water shortages"

Launching the report, Environmental Audit Committee Chair Mary Creagh MP said:

“Everything we do to the planet, we do to ourselves. The health of the planet matters because it affects what we eat and whether we can eat in future. We import nearly half of our fresh fruit and vegetables from countries at risk from climate breakdown.

“We are facing a food security crisis, exacerbated by uncertainty over the UK’s future trading position with the EU and the rest of the world. Ministers must now publish all the information they hold from Operation Yellowhammer on food security and likely costs in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

“More people are living in cities at risk from over-heating and water shortages, they’re breathing polluted air, eating more fast food and getting less exercise. What’s needed is a planetary health champion to put this agenda at the heart of government.”

Government accused of complacency over the risk to food security posed by climate breakdown

The Committee said it is “deeply concerned” about the impact of food price rises on the poorest people in the UK, particularly vulnerable groups like children and pensioners, and said the Government has ignored advice on food security from the Committee on Climate Change.

The Report accuses the Government of complacency over the risk to food security posed by climate breakdown, particularly in the context of Brexit. It calls on Ministers to publish immediately all information relating to food security and cost risks associated with a no-deal Brexit, in advance of the food security assessment due by the end of 2019.

The EAC says the Government should also accept advice from the Committee on Climate Change about food security risks and set out a plan for maintaining UK food security in a changing climate. Producing more food in the UK would reduce the current dependency on a handful of countries, a situation described as “risky”.

The report says environmental change is projected to have major impacts on global food systems, affecting UK food security and ability to deliver healthy, sustainably produced diets.

In the UK, food contributes up to 30 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions, with food waste totalling 10 million tonnes every year. In future, extreme temperatures and rising rainfall could increase disease among the UK’s livestock, with crops likely to be hit by more frequent water shortages.

Among the report’s key recommendations the Committee says that the Government should:

• Ensure its National Food Strategy recognises the risks to national food security from importing 40 per cent of the UK’s fruit and vegetables and explore policies to mitigate the risks and ensure that the UK delivers healthy diets to all income groups, particularly the poorest, especially in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
• Set annual targets to reduce food waste at every level of the food supply chain, consistent with the Government’s aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the very latest
• Set up a joint unit with a single point of accountability for planetary health at both ministerial and senior civil service levels and champion planetary health at forthcoming international meetings

Degradation of systems that support human life ‘unprecedented’

The report says that:

• Systems that support human life rely on a healthy natural environment
• Growing evidence that natural systems are being degraded to an extent unprecedented in human history
• Current rates of extinction are at 100 – 1000 times more than what is considered natural biodiversity loss
• Government's progress towards meeting the Aichi targets by 2020 falls woefully short

It also warns that climate change and other stressors have led to a significant reduction in pollinating insects which help pollinate a wide range of crops, including many fruits and vegetables that are vital for a healthy human diet.

Insect pollination is counted as an important form of reproduction for at least 87 types of common global food crops, accounting for more than a third of annual global food production by volume. The MPs note reports of a dramatic decrease in insect populations, with one witness describing insects as the "canaries in the coalmine…on the frontline of the extinction crisis."

The Report calls for Public Health England to broaden its key performance indicators to include climate resilience and adaptation measures to tackle emerging diseases with guidance to general practitioners and the pharmaceutical industry on Lyme disease, malaria, the zika virus and other tropical diseases which are novel in the UK.

Click here to download the full report