Weather
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extreme weather changes on food availability, flooding and fires; and what measures her Department will take to ensure that the risks associated with extreme weather changes will be mitigated.
Answered by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government assesses climate risks through the Climate Change Risk Assessment process. Climate change is expected to result in warmer and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, and more frequent and intense weather patterns.
Our diverse and resilient food system, supported by domestic production and international trade, has historically responded well to localised production shocks. There is currently no indication that UK food security is at risk.
The Government is investing £10.5 billion in flood resilience between 2024 and 2036 to construct new flood and coastal erosion schemes and repair existing defences. Defra is strengthening its resource on wildfire and supporting MHCLG as the lead government department for wildfire through a cross-government programme of work covering risk assessment, prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. The Government is strengthening climate adaptation to ensure robust plans are in place to be resilient to a minimum of 2 degrees of global warming by 2050.
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