We protect economies with financial watchdogs. We protect national security with intelligence agencies. We track cyber threats with dedicated teams of experts. So why don’t we have an intelligence agency dedicated to protecting nature?

It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Conservation Without Borders recently floated the idea of a Biodiversity Intelligence Agency – an MI5 for nature. A unit tasked with tracking environmental crime, disrupting illegal destruction, and holding the worst offenders to account. Imagine an intelligence agency that could stop ecological damage before it happens, instead of reacting after the fact.

It got me thinking.

At The Frightened Face of Nature (FFON), we’ve explored the connection between intelligence and conservation for years – since we uncovered secret documents in the original M’s filing cabinet. Maxwell Knight – one of MI5’s most legendary spymasters aka ‘M’ was also a devoted naturalist. His life was spent observing, analysing, and anticipating threats, whether in wartime Britain or in the wild. (Did you know Ian Fleming’s fictional ‘M’ – James Bond’s boss – was in part based on his colleague Maxwell Knight?).

Knight understood something that still holds true today: the best intelligence work isn’t just about reacting. It’s about seeing the patterns before disaster strikes.

We don’t have that kind of forward-thinking protection for nature. We should.

Right now, environmental crime is a multi-billion-pound industry. Illegal logging, poaching, habitat destruction – it’s all happening in plain sight. Looting the world’s natural capital. And while activists, scientists, and conservationists (relying on donations) fight to hold the line, they’re often up against organised networks that operate like well-oiled machines.

We wouldn’t expect national security to be handled by volunteers. So why do we treat ecological security as an afterthought?

The National Archives is running an exhibition on MI5’s role in protecting the nation, reminding us how intelligence work has shaped history. If governments recognise the importance of preemptive action in national defence, surely it’s time we applied the same thinking to environmental protection?

Because make no mistake: climate collapse is a security crisis. A planet in freefall won’t sustain economies, governments, or societies. If we don’t start treating environmental destruction as an intelligence priority, we’ll always be playing catch-up.

Would a Biodiversity Intelligence Agency work? What would it look like? Could it shift conservation from a reactive struggle to a proactive force?

It’s an idea worth exploring. And it’s worth me pointing out that what worried Maxwell Knight more than anything was the demise of nature – that’s why he penned The Frightened Face of Nature and it remains the inspiration for the FFON blog.

What will you do now that you know?

Simon