Nasty juxtaposition for 3-4 decades down the line

[SeaEagleFeather]

Brexit, the consequent lack of EU investment and this

"The UK is not prepared, the committee says, for the risks posed by climate change from flooding and changing coasts, heatwaves, water shortages, ecosystem damage and shocks to the global food system....

....The report from 80 authors is the most comprehensive yet on the potential impact of climate change on the UK.

Possibly this is too pessimistic of me, but the consequences of possible global population migrations in search of water / to escape water wars (if they happen) and the likely future economic problems in the UK plus the lack of planning seems very worrying.

Hopefully I'm wrong but I could see a scenario where either there is a massive influx of desperate people and the natives say No More Migrants and use force to back that up; or where they allow everyone in and the economy breaks ... the UK's health and benefits system is in parlous state already and there are some seriously deprived areas. Education will suffer. There certainly won't be any EU help, presumably, and it seems to me that a united approach is essential here.

On top of (possibly) all that, you have the damage to the economy and infrastructure of the storms, the crop problems, the pest problems and the water problems.

I just can't see how this is going to work out well without an awful lot of suffering unless there is some very long term and effective planning soon.

sea I'm with you on this. I'm no expert but take an interest in these issues and have been thinking along similar lines for a while.

Do you like your locusts honeyed or salted?

We won't have any honey, the bees will have been decimated by disease and global warming.

more seriously, water is only available freely in some countries. The middle east struggles and will struggle more with various countries siphoning off huge amounts of river water from rivers that pass through several countries like the Tigris and Euphrates.

At some point, unless there is exeptionally good unified planning (which isn't going to happen in the ME) large numbers of people will -have- to move or go under.

Food is going to be a huge problem yes .. combine climate influence with possible water problems (too much, too little) and it's a problem.

I don't think the UK will be able to rely wholly on its natural sea barrier because it's not impossible to pass and even if it were - the UK needs imported food. The production be threatened in the countries it's grown in directly (climate problems) or indirectly (population problems).

Perhaps the pieces of the jigsaw won't come together so bleakly though and I'm just worrying too much!

mmmm politicians have to appeal for votes and deal with current concerns too .... hard to plan for the longer term especially when it means fighting big business, who are highly resistant to change.

Oh dear eats another salted locust at least salt won't be in short supply

uff, another nasty thought. East Anglia used to have a weak form of malaria ... it might come back.

beng ds is still at primary school but I'm already nudging him in the direction of environmental engineering / climate change solutions . I'm hoping his love of problem solving, construction and gardening will continue.

Green issues are where the 'just build more schools/roads/houses' argument in response to UK population increase makes no sense to me. 'Just keep developing' to house ever increasing numbers of people with no thought to the environmental and quality of life costs of concreting over every little tiny green space left in cites, and building out onto greenbelt and flood plains after that. Not to mention the water, sewage, food and energy demands of every single extra citizen, whether they claim benefits or work for the sainted NHS.

Does nobody remember the late eighties and nineties when 'road-building' was a dirty word and continuing to concrete over the countryside was considered the height of stupidity in light of the body of evidence building up about the ecological consequences? I cannot get over the change as 'just build more' is chanted repeatedly as the solution to all overcrowding woes.

Interesting reading the potential climate change impacts.

Given that Scotland is expected not to suffer as badly (good supply of water, plenty of space, temperatures still bearable, increased agricultural areas.....), I wonder if that is one of the reasons why the powers-that-be in England doesn't want to let us go?

we need to look at Dutch Landscape Architecture where they are great at understanding control and storage of water

this is a biggie; really a biggie. Though even the Dutch will struggle a lot with increased sea levels. They're planning for the future though.

Also we'd need recovery plans for a quick but reasonably good reconstruction after large-ish events.

All this + other measures will take a lot of money and a great deal of organisation, which won't go down well with the electorate. A reduced economy isn't going to help one bit.

Bengal you're right .... sigh. Sleepwalking. As a lot of people sleep walked into the Brexit (not all!)

I think I'm suddenly in favour of a meritocracy. Or even a benign and effective dictatorship. BoJo and Farage - if that's the quality of heavily influential 'politicians' we've had, then oh dear.

People have too many kids in Britain. They should really stick at two kids max, but we've had threads about this before... if you tell them that, they'll tell you that it's their right to have as many kids as they want.

There were people who were doubting whether they could afford Child 3 or 4, and MN users would tell them, "Go on, have another one. You'll regret it, if you don't."

Even without migration, the population is ballooning. Britain has some of the largest families in Europe. There has to be a big change in views in the UK. But I don't see that happening at all!!!

OP I fear in the future BREXIT could well be looked back on as the beginning of the end for UK as a secure nation for these very reasons.

Our need to be part of a larger group to face global problems is only going to become stronger and stronger.

I'm generally an optimist but I feel this is the beginning of a downward slide.

seaweed and rice? Locust sushi?

This is sounding a bit like a Preppers thread.

Mumsnet Survivalist Branch?

Heh.

abolishing the department of climate change Just after the report came out. The remit is part of another department's now. Hope it doesn't get lost.