Zack Polanski has called on Andy Burnham to publish in full the government's national security assessment on global biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, of which only a redacted version has been released.
The leader of the Green Party of England and Wales made the demand in a keynote speech at the Wild Summit in Bristol on Wednesday, according to advance extracts published by the Guardian and a report by Novara Media. In the extract, Polanski asks the prime minister to "release the full unredacted report from the joint intelligence chiefs". Sky News carried footage of the speech.
The assessment, titled Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security, was published on gov.uk on 20 January 2026 in redacted form, a date confirmed in Commons proceedings on 4 June. It was published by Defra; the Guardian and the BBC have reported that it was produced with the involvement of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which oversees MI5 and MI6, though the published document does not state that on its face.
The document carries a judgement made with "High" analytical confidence that "Global ecosystem degradation and collapse threaten UK national security and prosperity", and says every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse, defined as irreversible loss of function beyond repair. It names the Amazon rainforest, the Congo rainforest, boreal forests, the Himalayas and South East Asia's coral reefs and mangroves as particularly significant for the UK, and judges that severe degradation would highly likely produce water insecurity, reduced crop yields, fisheries collapse and novel zoonotic diseases. Without significant increases in food system and supply chain resilience, it says, it is unlikely the UK could maintain food security if ecosystem collapse drove geopolitical competition for food.
Novara Media reported that Polanski also called on Burnham to "tell the truth" and challenged him to introduce a Nature, Biodiversity and National Security Act "to put resilience at the heart of government". No such bill has been introduced.
The sequence that led to publication is on the parliamentary record. During a Lords debate on 23 February, the Liberal Democrat energy security and net zero spokesperson John Russell said "a nature security assessment was initially withheld and then only partially released following an FoI request", made by the think tank Green Alliance, and asked whether ministers would now publish it in full.
Replying for the government in that debate, the Defra parliamentary under-secretary Baroness Hayman of Ullock said: "It is important to note that this is a strategic tool and not a prediction of future possibilities." She said the way the assessment had been handled reflected standard national security planning for preparedness. A Defra minister told the Commons on 4 June that the assessment was a cross-government strategic analysis designed to inform planning for potential shocks, and did not make predictions or set policy.
Every recorded refusal to publish an unabridged version dates from the previous administration. Burnham became prime minister on 20 July, and Jenny Riddell-Carpenter took over as nature minister the following day. The extent and content of the redactions have not been disclosed.
A Labour spokesperson told the Guardian that this was the first government to take seriously the risks that climate change and nature loss posed to food security, economic resilience and national security, pointing to a first UK taskforce on those risks and to what the party called the largest nature-friendly farming budget in history.
Separately, a coalition of environmental groups has written to Burnham warning that the UK is on course to miss its target of protecting 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, and saying two-thirds of protected sites need "urgent repair". The letter was reported by the Guardian; its signatories have not been published.
Polanski's speech comes during the Holborn and St Pancras by-election campaign, with polling on 8 October following Sir Keir Starmer's resignation from the Commons. Polanski has said he wants to contest the seat but has not been selected: Camden Greens are due to choose between him and Councillor Hamza Chowdhury at a meeting on Thursday, with the candidate announced on Friday.
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