Averting the climate-nature crisis through being a part of nature

On 27 November 2025 a ‘National Emergency Briefing’ was held by ten of the UK’s leading climate and environmental experts in Westminster Hall, London.  Attended by around 150 politicians and leaders, it warned of ‘unprecedented societal and ecological collapse.’   It was the latest clarion call for urgent action to address what many now regard as potentially existential crises for food, health and nature systems.  Four experts in Scotland write about the critical importance of living in harmony with nature rather than apart from it.  They draw on a meeting held at the RSE a year ago, and ensuing and mounting concerns about the implications of the climate-nature crisis. 

By Dr Clive Mitchell, Professor Colin A. Galbraith, Professor Roger Crofts and Professor Des Thompson

Our primer for nature – and for us

Consider two scenarios:

1. In ‘people apart from nature’, land is compartmentalised mainly for single benefits to maximise the productivity and yield of target crops, including those for greenhouse gas removals, based on the expectation of a largely stable and predictable climate. In this scenario, nature is viewed as a discrete compartment of land use or as a trade-off. Food systems are insecure.
2. In ‘people a part of nature’, land use is integrated for multiple benefits to maximise resilience, based on the expectation of a warming and more chaotic climate, within and across years. All land uses are embedded in nature, rather than in competition with it. Food systems are more secure.

Surely, the second scenario is the only way forward and will require transformational changes in thinking, behaviour, and finance.  Both scenarios are depicted below, with that on the right offering real resilience.

Nature as the foundation and driver of our life support systems

Nature is the critical life support system and our insurance against future climate risks, not a specific ‘compartment’ of land use. Embedding food systems in nature offers more security in a warming and chaotic climate. The life chances of future generations depend on decisions we make now. Incremental steps can build towards more transformational change. Solutions to our impaired life support system founded on nature will achieve multiple benefits and reduce multiple risks.  In contrast, many technological interventions typically address only one problem at a time. Acting for nature is a force for positive social change, especially if nature-based solutions (NBS) engage and inspire people. NBS must be led by values and involve communities if they are to endure and foster positive social change.

Globally, climate-nature processes are characterised by non-linear change – with positive feedbacks that amplify initial changes, and negative feedbacks that dampen them. Well-orchestrated steps to benefit nature and underlying natural  processes can also spark rapid and beneficial social changes, such as with tree planting in Uganda and other examples set out by the Eco Tipping Points Project.

Most people would welcome a future with healthy natural environments on land and at sea to enable thriving livelihoods and personal wellbeing.  The costs, benefits, and risks can be shared equitably across Scotland and between all interest groups.  It is hard to argue against this ambition, yet the status quo seems far distant from it.

Valuing nature – barriers and breakthroughs

We need better systems to value nature. Without immediate action, we could be the first society in history to wilfully jeopardise its own future in the name of being cost effective. In the language of economics, nature is not a ‘marginal’ benefit; it is non-substitutable and non-divisible. Simply put, everything is connected. Despite this irrefutable truth, nature is still regularly undervalued by standard evaluation tools.  Cost-benefit analysis, for example, considers marginal change and aggregate costs and benefits, but not their distribution.

Further barriers to change include mis- and disinformation. Concentrations of power and wealth have always influenced policy and practice through political influence, the media, corporate governance, and encourage consumerism. If more diverse viewpoints are represented in decision-making we will see fairer distribution of benefits, burdens, and risk. Building trust through serviceable knowledge for collaboration is not only essential: it is the breakthrough we need. Seeking the ‘right’ answer based on perfect knowledge is unachievable and unsuitable in current and future circumstances.

Food systems and food security

As climate and other risks increasingly affect supply chains, food security is an emerging solution-space to reset the value of nature. Food systems are at risk from climate disruptions, with the public and farmers picking up the costs of losses, while large corporations – with their control of production and distribution – continue to be the main beneficiaries. Current food systems are based on assumptions to suit the main beneficiaries. These include: ‘demand always increases’; ‘productivity must be maximised’; ‘behaviour change is difficult’; ‘solutions are mainly technological’, and ‘land sparing enables sustainable intensification’. We do not accept these assumptions!

Transformational change

Transformational change in how we value and work with nature is needed, and we need to be clear on what this means and how it comes about. Although incremental change is necessary to build momentum, it does not replace the need for bold action. Alas, in the face of uncertainty and fractured politics, transformational change seems impossible. Instead, slow, creeping Incremental change dominates politics, policies and practice.  The shift from a stable and predictable climate to a warming and more chaotic one must be the catalyst for a reset.  A transformational reframing of how we work with nature offers a significant opportunity to far better manage the risks and distribution of benefits and burdens. Indeed, a recent event at the RSE considered how we should act to tackle the five interlinked crises of biodiversity loss, climate change, food and water insecurity, and public health.

Transformational change demands active and non-sectoral collaboration across all interests, particularly government departments, economic sectors, communities, consumers and households.

Acknowledgments

A year ago, a ‘Reset’ event was held at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, chaired by Professor Colin Galbraith FRSE (Chair of NatureScot). That event stimulated this article.  We thank the following participants (two of whom were on the National Emergency Briefing Panel referenced above), noting this article does not reflect any institutional viewpoints:

• Leanne Atkinson (2050 Group)
• Sallie Bailey (Natural England),
• Elena Balestri (Scottish Fishermen’s Federation)
• Tim Benton (Chatham House)
• Roger Crofts FRSE (RSE)
• Jaboury Ghazoul FRSE (ETH Zurich, NatureScot Board Member)
• Nick Halfhide (NatureScot)
• Pete Higgins FRSE (RSE, Chair Scientific Advisory Committee, NatureScot)
• Tim Lenton (Exeter University)
• Deborah Long (Scottish Environment Link)
• Clive Mitchell (NatureScot)
• Pat Monaghan FRSE (Glasgow University)
• Eann Munro (Scottish Government Deputy Chief Scientist Agriculture Environment Rural Affairs)
• Jason Ormiston (NatureScot)
• Francesca Osowska (NatureScot)
• Marian Scott FRSE (Glasgow University)
• Nathalie Seddon (Oxford University and UK Climate Change Committee)
• Eileen Stuart (NatureScot)
• Iain Thom (Scottish Government)
• Des Thompson FRSE (Leverhulme Fellow, University of the Highlands and Islands)
• Steven Thomson (Scotland’s Rural College, Just Transition Commission)
• Daria Tuhtar (RSE)
• Denise Walton (Nature Friendly Farming Network Scotland)
• Sarah Watts (Corrour Estate, Stirling University)
• Steve Wilkinson (Joint Nature Conservation Committee)
• Mat Williams (Scottish Government Chief Scientist Agriculture Environment Rural Affairs)
• Emma Yule (Kings College London, Sustainable Scotland Network)