Editing Security (section)

===Resource security===
{{also|Food security|Energy security}}
"Resource security" refers to the political and [[commerce|commercial]] objective of ensuring that supplies of materials needed for the production of goods and the satisfaction of [[human need]]s can be reliably sustained into the future. It involves protecting the supply of such resources as water, energy, food and industrial [[raw material]]s from risks of [[resource depletion|global depletion]] and risks to national supply incurred by trade restrictions, government or terrorist interference or [[market failure]]s. While [[critical raw materials]] such as [[Rare-earth mineral|rare earth mineral]]s are an important focus of resource security planning, resource security covers a broader range of resources.<ref name=rsap />{{rp|5}} [[Food security]], ensuring that a reliable supply of, and access to, safe and [[Nutrition|nutritious]] food,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/|title=Hunger and food security|last=United Nations|work=United Nations Sustainable Development|access-date=2017-12-17|language=en-US}}</ref> and [[energy security]] are important aspects of resource security. Food security is gaining in importance as the world's population has grown and productive land has diminished through overuse and [[climate change]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/209369/icode/|title=Greater focus on soil health needed to feed a hungry planet|last=Food and Agriculture Organization|date=2013|website=fao.org|language=en|access-date=2017-12-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/|title=Only 60 Years of Farming Left If Soil Degradation Continues|last=Arsenault|first=C|date=2014|work=Scientific American|access-date=2017-12-17|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:GLOBAL WARMING AFFECTING GLOBAL AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY.pdf|thumb|[[Climate change]] is affecting global [[agriculture]] and [[food security]].]]
The [[UK government]] published a ''Resource Security Action Plan'' for England in March 2012, subtitled "Making the most of valuable resources",{{efn|Responsibility for resource policies and delivery is [[devolved]] to Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and therefore policy details may be different in these nations}} responding to concerns raised by businesses and business leaders such as the [[Confederation of British Industry]] (CBI) and the [[Engineering Employers' Federation]] (EEF), and work in this field undertaken by the [[House of Commons Science and Technology Committee]]. The action plan was an interdepartmental initiative for which the [[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]] (DEFRA) took the lead role as first point of contact for business enquiries.<ref name=rsap>DEFRA and BIS, [https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79be1640f0b670a8025174/pb13719-resource-security-action-plan.pdf Resource Security Action Plan: Making the most of valuable materials], published in March 2012, accessed on 5 February 2025</ref> 

Government and business concerns related to "a range of renewable and non-renewable resources", concentrating on those not already covered by [[energy security]] and [[food security]] measures, and especially sought to protect the supply of certain specific metals and materials under supply pressure. A generalised fear of resource insufficiency was felt to be inappropriate: thus [[Vince Cable]], then [[Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills]], spoke in December 2011 about a public policy approach to resource management:{{quote|It is over 200 years since the [[Thomas Robert Malthus|Reverend Malthus]] first predicted that [[population growth]] would inevitably outrun the capacity of the land to provide enough food. In the years since, the effects of human ingenuity and new trading routes have shown him to be wrong - though not entirely. Fish depletion is a classic Malthusian problem and is sadly resulting in some irreversible damage to [[fish stocks|stocks]]. The [[sperm whale]] was driven to near extinction by the demand for blubber to light the pre-electric world. But for the most part resource pessimism has been misplaced.<ref>{{OGL-attribution|Cable, V., [https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130104172435/https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/resource-security Oral statement: Resource security], published on 12 December 2011, archived by [[The National Archives]] on 4 January 2013, accessed on 26 January 2025}}</ref>}} Similarly the ''Action Plan'' notes that in general the issue of "resource security" is not concerned with "scarcity" of resources but with availability, supply constraints and the potential financial and environmental costs of opening up new sources of supply.<ref name=rsap />{{rp|7}}

EEF, the UK's manufacturers' representation organisation (now [[Make UK]]) issued a report in 2014 entitled ''Materials for Manufacturing: Safeguarding Supply'', along with an appeal to the government seeking action to protect the country's supply of essential materials. The report highlighted "over-reliance on [[China]] for strategic supplies" as a key issue. The EEF and other partners argued that an "Office of Resource Management" within government "could strategically co-ordinate action across Whitehall".<ref>Vallely, I., [https://www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk/content/news/government-warned-to-act-over-growing-risk-to-material-supply Government warned to act over growing risk to material supply], ''Manufacturing Management'', published on 8 July 2014, accessed on 13 February 2025</ref> The office would form part of the [[Department for Business, Innovation and Skills]] and maintain an overview of the risks to resource security.<ref>EEF: the Manufacturers' Organisation, [https://www.edie.net/materials-for-manufacturing-safeguarding-supply/ Materials for Manufacturing: Safeguarding Supply], published on 8 July 2014, accessed on 13 February 2025</ref>