4. Risks to natural capital, including terrestrial, coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems, soils and biodiversity (more action needed) 5. Risks to domestic and international food production and trade (more action needed) 6. New and emerging pests and diseases, and invasive non-native species, affecting people, plants and animals (research priority). In reviewing the 2018 NAP, the Climate Change Committee commended the water sector for long-term planning and the Environment Agency for an ambitious risk management strategy with respect to flooding and erosion, but warned, ‘England is not prepared for even a 2°C rise in global temperature, let alone more extreme levels of warming’.75
Anxiety and human resilience For many people, the acceptance that we have already changed the climate and are unprepared for future climate impacts is a source of anxiety. Psychotherapist and researcher Caroline Hickman notes that this anxiety should not be seen as a pathology, but rather as a reasonable and healthy response to the existential threat of climate change.76 In a 2019 study of two communities that have engaged deeply with climate change – climate scientists and campaigners – Rosemary Randall and Paul Hoggett found that activists had developed communities of support to deal with the emotional toll of environmental campaigning, whilst the hyper-rational culture of science served as a defence mechanism for many researchers, but left those who expressed feelings of grief or loss professionally isolated.77 Force of Nature – with Clover Hogan At the age of 16, Clover Hogan found herself representing young people at COP21, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Paris. As she engaged with activists
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