As part of our blog series responding to the National Emergency Briefing on Climate and Nature, we are exploring each of its key themes between now and the end of January. The briefing makes clear that responding to the climate and nature emergency requires rapid, coordinated action across many siloes, and we’re here to show you how it can be done.
A couple of months ago, I wrote about the justice dimensions of food systems: https://oneplanet.com/there-is-no-food-justice-without-the-justice/. Since then, the National Emergency Briefing on Climate and Nature has made it clear that our entire food system is on the edge of failure, and with it, our national security.
The briefing shared that;
- three of the UK’s five worst cereal harvests have occurred this decade,
- we import 40-50% of our food from climate-stressed regions,
- about one-third of food price inflation in 2023 was driven by extreme weather.
When people can’t afford food, societies destabilise. This isn’t a future depicted in a dystopic fiction novel, it’s happening right now, in the UK.
The briefing makes clear that food system failure is a direct national security risk. Empty shelves > Price spikes > Unrest > Political instability. The UK is woefully unprepared, and the climate that gave us reliable harvests is gone. Before climate change, a major corn harvest failure might happen once every 16 years. At 1.5°C warming, expect it once every three years. At 2°C, every other year.
The instinct might be to feel paralysed by the scale of this challenge, your brain may have already shut down by the facts above, copied from the briefing material. But this is exactly where a Systems Approach becomes not just useful, it is essential.
Organisations in Lambeth have used OnePlanet to begin to map the landscape of community food provision. Using OnePlanet, groups like Incredible Edible Lambeth have mapped not just their own work on food security, but how they connect with organisations tackling food literacy, accessibility, and culturally relevant food provision.
What emerges from this work isn’t a neat hierarchy or a simple supply chain. There now exists a living ecosystem of interconnected organisations that together create local resilience.
The project is growing beyond food to map organisations addressing other community needs and to understand the resources available during emergencies. When a crisis hits, you don’t have time to figure out who has what, where the connections are, or how to coordinate. It is already too late – that groundwork needs to happen now.
Transformation happens through thousands of interconnected local actions. This is where systems mapping flourishes. When you can see the gaps and synergies between different organisations’ work – when you can identify which communities are well-served and which are underserved, where resources exist and where they’re needed – you move from isolated actions to coordinated resilience.
The briefing made clear that we need to lead the transition now, or be forced into it later by food shocks, rising prices, and instability.
We already have the tools to start building local resilience. We have communities ready to act. What we need is the ability to see the whole system, understand the connections, and coordinate effectively.
Our Systems Connector Training teaches people the practical skills to tackle complex problems using a systems approach – not as abstract theory, but as a hands-on course for understanding interconnections and coordinating action.
The project in Lambeth shows what’s possible when we stop working in siloes and start seeing the bigger picture. It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about asking better questions like: Who else is working on this? How do our efforts connect? What resources do we have collectively? Where are the gaps?
Food security isn’t just about growing more food or changing diets. It’s about building resilient local systems that can weather the disruptions ahead and that starts with understanding how the pieces fit together.