Inform international institutions for interdisciplinary development strategies linking nutrition enhancement and climate change adaptation

Climate change and malnutrition, that includes undernutrition as well as micronutrient deficiency and overweight, are among the greatest issues in the 21^st century. Acting in synergy, each of these dynamics aggravates the effects of the other, creating complex and compounding impacts that increase particularly the vulnerability of the poorest people. This so-called climate and nutrition nexus can be broadly described as the fact that climate change poses a serious threat to global nutrition security, while current food systems are contributing significantly to this warming dynamic and malnutrition is reducing people’s ability to cope with the induced changes. Therefore, climate information and science are crucial to inform both international funding institutions (especially their investment portfolios) and local decision-makers in the design and selection of comprehensive, effective and innovative strategies and actions to adapt and cope with climate change and therefore advance sustainable development at all scales.

Regarding this topic, we carried out a consultancy project funded by the ASAP II programme of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to inform its investment portfolio on the design and implementation of interdisciplinary development strategies linking nutrition enhancement and climate change adaptation. We reviewed and analysed 7 selected IFAD ‘climate related and nutrition-sensitive projects’ in Latin America and the Caribbean. The identification of best practices and lessons learned to be cultivated, scaled-up and even mainstreamed in future projects will encourage the sustainable transformation of the food systems, increase the climate resilience of the population and fight inequalities in the region.

Our work was articulated in three stages. Firstly, a wide literature review of scientific articles and other relevant documents published to date on the climate and nutrition nexus has been carried out, as well as a review of all related project documentation. This primary data collection and analysis has been complemented by conducting semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders from the projects. As part of this study, a two-day peer-to-peer sharing event was organised to assess the know-how accumulated by the participants and aimed to create an environment conducive to the exchange of knowledge and experiences, as well as to present and validate preliminary research results.

Our results are compiled in a practical guidebook that focuses on 9 main themes. The analysis allowed us to identify adaptation knowledge and solutions coming directly from the field and tested during the projects. The added value of considering the climate and nutrition nexus is to point out the numerous co-benefits of actions and practices which can both contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to the promotion of sustainable agricultural systems and healthy diets. The majority of the solutions identified concern: the consideration of the most vulnerable communities and populations, and in particular the empowerment of women, youth and indigenous people; governance and organisation from the global scale with South-South cooperation to the household level; and finally, the use of information from both traditional knowledge and more technical studies, as well as the implementation of climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agriculture practices.