Climate stress testing the UK food supply chain using earth observation
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
The project will support stakeholders within the UK food supply chain to understand and assess their climate-related risks. The UK's 'just-in-time' supply chain model leaves the UK vulnerable to changes in food availability caused by climate change as well as other stressors, such as our departure from the European Union and the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK imports around half of its food from overseas, with the considerable majority of this coming from relatively few countries. Therefore changes in food availability in a few locations abroad will have a large effect on food availability here in the UK. As climate change will affect agricultural productivity abroad and in the UK, the points of the supply chain with the greatest vulnerability must be identified to ensure UK food security is not jeopardised.
As the UK food supply chain is global, understanding the threats requires a global assessment. Earth observation (EO) data is uniquely-placed to inform this, as it brings the advantages of high quality consistent assessment across political boundaries and repeatable monitoring. EO refers to the use of remote sensing technologies such as satellite sensors to study the Earth.
The UK EO industry has considerable relevant expertise, products and services, but they are struggling to reach potential users within the UK food supply chain. Through a placement at Space4Climate, a coordinated effort across government, industry and academia to promote UK EO capabilities, this project will undertake knowledge-broking between potential users of EO data for understanding climate risk and the suppliers of these products and services. This will include mapping user requirements to supplier capabilities and creating functional specification(s) for climate stress testing tool(s).
This work will contribute toward climate change adaptation by stimulating the development of UK commercial climate data services to help the organisations within the UK food supply chain better understand their exposure to climate-related risks. This project therefore has the capacity to create employment opportunities while also increasing the resilience of the UK to climate change, bringing societal and economic benefit.
As the UK food supply chain is global, understanding the threats requires a global assessment. Earth observation (EO) data is uniquely-placed to inform this, as it brings the advantages of high quality consistent assessment across political boundaries and repeatable monitoring. EO refers to the use of remote sensing technologies such as satellite sensors to study the Earth.
The UK EO industry has considerable relevant expertise, products and services, but they are struggling to reach potential users within the UK food supply chain. Through a placement at Space4Climate, a coordinated effort across government, industry and academia to promote UK EO capabilities, this project will undertake knowledge-broking between potential users of EO data for understanding climate risk and the suppliers of these products and services. This will include mapping user requirements to supplier capabilities and creating functional specification(s) for climate stress testing tool(s).
This work will contribute toward climate change adaptation by stimulating the development of UK commercial climate data services to help the organisations within the UK food supply chain better understand their exposure to climate-related risks. This project therefore has the capacity to create employment opportunities while also increasing the resilience of the UK to climate change, bringing societal and economic benefit.
Organisations
- King's College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- CGI (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER (Collaboration)
- Telespazio Vega (IDEAS) (Collaboration)
- Assimila Ltd (Collaboration)
- University of Warwick (Collaboration)
- Airbus Group (Collaboration)
- University of Delhi (Collaboration)
- National Centre for Earth Observation (Collaboration)
- Brunel University London (Collaboration)
- Space4Climate, NCEO (Project Partner)
- London Climate Change Partnership (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
Caitlin Douglas (Principal Investigator) |
Description | There are a variety of operational satellite-based products and services useful to building climate resilience within the UK food supply chain. A selection of these services were collated in a publicly available slide deck. There are also a variety of opportunities for EO to help support the climate resilience of the UK food supply chain: UK policy, food supply chain sustainability indices, data to underpin a food system perspective, key risks identified by the UK Climate Change Committee, and the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosure. This project also identified a series of notable barriers to the use of satellite data within the UK food supply chain. These include: awareness of and perceptions about the EO industry among potential users, institutional inertia, and gaps in the data supply chain. |
Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this work can be used by the space sector to improve their climate services and by those involved in the UK food system to improve their understanding of the capabilities and insights possible with earth observation. |
Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Government, Democracy and Justice |
Description | The purpose of this project is to generate impact by applying academic knowledge outside of academia. The goal of this project is to bridge the gap between food systems organisations and the earth observation industry. A Task Group composed of earth observation industry players was created to leverage opportunities generated from the project. This project will therefore boost the development of commercial climate risk data services, stimulating further economic and employment opportunities in the UK's already strong EO community. By engaging with numerous players within the food supply chain the project will take action towards the UK's adaptation to climate change and increased food security. By improving the UK's climate resilience and increasing food security, this project will have social benefit. Impact is shown through increased understanding and awareness by both food supply chain and earth observation industry players. Reports were written for Defra outlining satellite capabilities in relation to specific policy priorities. |
First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink |
Impact Types | Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
Description | Secondment to Central Government |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
Description | Developing a Methodology for an Integrated Multi-attribute Sustainability Index: a case of the UK Food System |
Organisation | Brunel University London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Researching the data supply chain underpinning such an index |
Collaborator Contribution | Other research: creation of methodology, co-development with stakeholders, use of DAFNI capabilities |
Impact | Statistics, social science, policy, business, geography |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Developing a Methodology for an Integrated Multi-attribute Sustainability Index: a case of the UK Food System |
Organisation | University of Delhi |
Country | India |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Researching the data supply chain underpinning such an index |
Collaborator Contribution | Other research: creation of methodology, co-development with stakeholders, use of DAFNI capabilities |
Impact | Statistics, social science, policy, business, geography |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Developing a Methodology for an Integrated Multi-attribute Sustainability Index: a case of the UK Food System |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Researching the data supply chain underpinning such an index |
Collaborator Contribution | Other research: creation of methodology, co-development with stakeholders, use of DAFNI capabilities |
Impact | Statistics, social science, policy, business, geography |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Developing a Methodology for an Integrated Multi-attribute Sustainability Index: a case of the UK Food System |
Organisation | University of Nottingham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Researching the data supply chain underpinning such an index |
Collaborator Contribution | Other research: creation of methodology, co-development with stakeholders, use of DAFNI capabilities |
Impact | Statistics, social science, policy, business, geography |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Developing a Methodology for an Integrated Multi-attribute Sustainability Index: a case of the UK Food System |
Organisation | University of Warwick |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Researching the data supply chain underpinning such an index |
Collaborator Contribution | Other research: creation of methodology, co-development with stakeholders, use of DAFNI capabilities |
Impact | Statistics, social science, policy, business, geography |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Food Supply Chain Climate Resilience Task Group |
Organisation | Airbus Group |
Department | Airbus Operations |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Secretary of Task Group |
Collaborator Contribution | Discussion and contribution to Task Group activities (stakeholder presentations) |
Impact | Meetings/presentations with stakeholders |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Food Supply Chain Climate Resilience Task Group |
Organisation | Assimila Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Secretary of Task Group |
Collaborator Contribution | Discussion and contribution to Task Group activities (stakeholder presentations) |
Impact | Meetings/presentations with stakeholders |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Food Supply Chain Climate Resilience Task Group |
Organisation | CGI |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Secretary of Task Group |
Collaborator Contribution | Discussion and contribution to Task Group activities (stakeholder presentations) |
Impact | Meetings/presentations with stakeholders |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Food Supply Chain Climate Resilience Task Group |
Organisation | National Centre for Earth Observation |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Secretary of Task Group |
Collaborator Contribution | Discussion and contribution to Task Group activities (stakeholder presentations) |
Impact | Meetings/presentations with stakeholders |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Food Supply Chain Climate Resilience Task Group |
Organisation | Telespazio Vega (IDEAS) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Secretary of Task Group |
Collaborator Contribution | Discussion and contribution to Task Group activities (stakeholder presentations) |
Impact | Meetings/presentations with stakeholders |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Food Supply Chain Climate Resilience Task Group |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Secretary of Task Group |
Collaborator Contribution | Discussion and contribution to Task Group activities (stakeholder presentations) |
Impact | Meetings/presentations with stakeholders |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Blog about how satellite data is being used to support global food security |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The blog provided insight into Space4Climate members' expertise supporting climate adaptation innovations for global food security |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://space4climate.com/geoglam/ |
Description | Climate Resilience of UK Food Supply - Final Presentation to Host Organisation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presented final to host organisation summarising key outputs and findings from my research placement |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Climates Services for Food Security Presentation at Space4Climate's Quarterly Group Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Made a presentation at the Space4Climate Quarterly Group Meeting introducing project and providing early results. Afterwards there were requests to have one-to-one meetings with individuals to learn more about my project and discuss their involvement. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Initial Project Blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | I wrote a blog post for Space4Climate introducing the project - specifically: i) why action to improve the climate resilience of the UK food supply chain is needed; ii) what earth observation is and how it is relevant to the UK food supply chain; iii) project objectives. The post included my email address and a statement welcoming people to contact me directly if an earth observation supplier or a member of the food supply chain. I have subsequently been contacted by people who found me via the blog post. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | http://www.space4climate.com/earth-observation-to-increase-resilience-of-the-uk-food-supply-chain/ |
Description | Introductory Document |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Created a one-pager for circulation within DEFRA. The purpose of this document was to introduce the project and request early stakeholder input into project. The feedback received shaped future activities and outputs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Mid-project blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blog post on Space4Climate website titled ' REAL-WORLD IMPACT: BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER TO MAKE BETTER USE OF SATELLITE DATA' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | http://space4climate.com/real-world-impact-bringing-people-together-to-make-better-use-of-satellite-... |
Description | Towards UK Food System Climate Resilience - Presentation at Quarterly Meeting of Host Organisation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presented initial results and requests for involvement in research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | United Nations Food Systems Dialogue and Summit Roundtable on Sustainability |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Invited to participate in the roundtable discussion. My key recommendations were included in the 'Official Feedback Form' and presented at the Food Systems Summit 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |