The increase in the scale and intensity of heatwaves across the UK has been increasingly noticeable over the past few years, with temperatures regularly rising above 30o, having a huge impact on health and wellbeing. Tragically, across five heatwaves in England last year, more than 1,300 people died as a direct consequence of extreme heat.
Heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and droughts are getting worse, and this is happening across the UK and abroad as recent events have shown. The frequency and intensity of these events are already affecting our hospitals, businesses, schools and homes. In its UK Food Security Report last year the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs noted that ‘weather conditions in recent years...have affected domestic food production'. However, combating extreme weather is not the only problem.
