Apologies for the gloom in the two latest blogs. It must be the weather… But it's my personal plea to please let’s not continue burying our collective heads in the sand.
I want to draw your attention to two recently released reports. The first being the UK Climate Security Report, which has quietly been buried. You can read about it here.
The second is latest report by the Agri Food Network “Potential Pathways and Solutions to acute Food System Crises in the UK. Key points are here:
- The UK food system is a "tinderbox" of chronic vulnerabilities. Rising inequality, food insecurity, supply chain consolidation, climate pressures on farming, and declining trust in government have created the conditions for crisis. The experts' view is that these chronic issues mean any acute shock could escalate rapidly.
- Three acute triggers could light the spark: a major cyber-attack, an extreme weather event hitting harvests at home or abroad, or a new international conflict disrupting trade. Any one could cause a food price or availability shock. The concern is that these triggers are increasingly plausible, and could coincide.
- Fear and mistrust can turn disruption into crisis. The research defines a food crisis not just by hunger, but by widespread fear of inadequate or unsafe food. Panic buying, empty shelves, food fraud and crime could erode trust and tip disruption into unrest.
- System-wide interventions ranked highest. The top priority was longer-term policy planning that outlasts single parliaments. Cross-government coordination, international collaboration and forums for diverse voices also ranked above technical fixes.
- Diversification is a recurring theme. Across production, supply chains, distribution and diets, the experts saw diversification as key to resilience. Agroecology and regenerative agriculture were highlighted as ways to make farming more resilient to climate shocks.
The solutions? AFN’s Roadmap The Roadmap - AFN Network+