The close links between food systems, climate change and poverty

Published: Monday, October 20, 2025

Food is a universal human need, a necessity for human health and central to our cultural and social lives. However, the cost of food, along with the accessibility of food and shops represent barriers to accessing healthy food and the enjoyment of sustainable diets.

Feminist Communities for Climate Justice (FCCJ), a joint project by the National Women’s Council and Community Work Ireland, today (20th October) hosted an online event discussing the many faces of food poverty in Ireland and the links between food systems, climate change and food poverty. 

Globally, food systems are a major driver of climate change and responsible for about 30% greenhouse gas emissions.  The latest EAT-Lancet report calls for a transformation in food production to ensure that healthy food is accessible to all, and produced, processed, distributed, and consumed fairly within planetary boundaries. The context for today’s event is a recent government consultation on the National Obesity Strategy, to which FCCJ made a submission that focused on food poverty, sustainability and food justice. 

Sadhbh O’ Neill, project lead for the FCCJ project said:

“Tackling the climate crisis through food systems transformation cannot be separated from addressing widespread food poverty and social injustice. The goal of our event is to highlight the prevalence of food poverty in marginalised communities, and to showcase solutions and interventions that are win-win for people and the planet. But first we must recognise that inequality and poverty means that people, especially women, in marginalised communities often cannot buy, cook or eat healthy locally produced food. In some deprived areas, families are sometimes forced to choose between paying bills and healthy, hot meals. 

O’ Neill continued:

“The barriers for local growers and food producers in a food system dominated by supermarkets and multinationals are immense. However, women and marginalised communities are responding to this challenge. Our event today showcases examples of how we can work at a community level to ensure that everyone has access to healthy, affordable and nutritious food.”

Lauren Corbet, the Community Food and Nutrition Worker at Liffey Partnership in Ballyfermot said:

 “For families on social welfare, a nutritionally adequate weekly shop consumes up to 45% of their income. The new D10 Food Alliance aims to tackle this by uniting key decision-makers to advocate for income equality and develop a health-promoting food environment. By replicating exciting and successful models elsewhere - like community kitchens, urban food forests and co-ops – together we can build a resilient local food system that is non-stigmatizing, good to the environment, and provides genuine, long-lasting food security.”

 Another speaker at the webinar Jenny Lyons is a sustainability impact reporting specialist with a passion for community-driven environmental initiatives and regenerative food systems. Jenny Lyons said:

“Research is showing how community-based food initiatives are addressing food poverty while advancing climate goals and social wellbeing—a vital step toward greener, fairer, and more resilient cities.”

Mavis Ramazani, founder of Cooking For Freedom, said:

“Adults and children seeking international protection in International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) emergency centres are missing out on the joy of cooking and the opportunity to cook together. Food is a basic human right, not a privilege. We must stand together and demand an end to food poverty in our country, especially for the most vulnerable among us. No one should go hungry when we have the power to ensure everyone has access to nutritious food and the means to thrive.”

John McFadden of Empower CLG said:

“Food poverty has traditionally been viewed as an extreme form of poverty, something that affected only a small minority of impoverished people in the general population. However, some research suggests that up to 10% of the Ireland population could be in food poverty. A lot needs to be done, and done with a necessary sense of urgency, to provide robust community development structures which not only lift people out of food poverty but does so in a sustainable way, maintaining people’s dignity and offering a pathway to empowerment.”

ENDS