The UK must support overseas farmers through climate finance if it is to continue importing non-native food that is under threat from climate change-fuelled migration, the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit has warned.
The caution comes as the body published an analysis that revealed £3bn worth of UK food, including rice, tea and mangoes, is imported from 20 countries experiencing high levels of displacement, fuelled by flooding and other environmental disasters.
Pakistan, which is the second-biggest supplier of rice to the UK, exporting £120m worth last year, experienced three times its usual rainfall in August 2022, which scientists concluded was ‘likely’ caused by climate change.
The resulting floods were said to have killed 1,700 people, displaced millions, caused billions of dollars of damage, harmed crops and resulted in nine million Pakistanis sliding into poverty, the Climate Change Impacts on Food and Migration report found.
It also showed that the country had the second-highest number of people internally displaced by disaster anywhere in the world in 2023, at 1.2 million.
The UK provides support to Pakistan through climate finance – directly and via global multilateral funds.
However, Gareth Redmond-King, head of international programme at the ECIU, warned that floods and droughts were forcing farmers overseas to leave their homes and head to cities, which “not only breaks apart communities but raises questions about a growing threat of who is going to farm the food we have to import, like rice”.
“We saw during the recent floods in Pakistan how farmers fled the land,” he said. “The price of rice shot up.
“If we are to continue to import the foods from abroad we can’t grow here, the UK is increasingly going to have to support these farmers through climate finance.
“Ultimately, unless we reach net zero emissions we don’t stop climate change, and these threats to our food security will continue to worsen.”
Rice is said to be bought by 88% of British households, but the average price paid for the Pakistani-derived grain in 2022 and 2023 leapt by a third.
Other report findings showed that in 2024, 15% of the UK’s food imports – 6 billion kg, worth £8bn – came directly from nations with low ‘climate readiness’ – those that are highly exposed to climate impacts but are also underprepared.
“As climate shocks hit harvests and force people to move, well-designed aid and climate finance that strengthens the resilience of livelihoods is an insurance policy,” said Professor Tobias Heidland, research director international development at the Kiel Institute.
“Smart financial support that helps people adapt and stay secure will be far cheaper than cleaning up after crises hit. Climate adaptation strategies should not merely preserve the status quo but support countries in making their citizens more productive.”
Camilla Toulmin, senior associate at the International Institute for Environment & Development claimed that recent aid cuts risked the UK going from being a “climate-finance champion to retreating from its international responsibilities – eroding its friendships and soft-power across the world”.
“Ostensibly to shore up our nation’s security by boosting military spending, reductions in ODA [official development assistance] mean cuts to investment in building a fairer, more stable and resilient world,” she said.
“Our security as a nation cannot rely on guns, bombs and boots on the ground. With global climate changes bringing more intense rainfall and volatile food systems, our own food security is increasingly at risk.”
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