Food and livelihoods systems
Building climate-resilient food and livelihood systems: we take a systemic and participatory approach to food systems and livelihoods to improve food and nutrition security in areas vulnerable to climate change.
Food availability has been improving globally for many years. The total number of undernourished people has been declining in recent decades, remaining well below 600 million between 2010 and 2017. However, this trend has been reversed due to conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, and environmental challenges. These challenges include those related to climate change, which has steadily risen back to over 800 million people, similar to the number in 2005. According to the Global Report on Food Crisis, the number of people on the brink of hunger or acutely affected by famine has risen rapidly from 94 million in 2016 to 282 million in 2023.
Addressing hunger, malnutrition, and food safety, therefore, remains a global challenge. This challenge has a multitude of drivers, which all are likely to deteriorate significantly with the impacts of climate change.
A food system is a concept that includes the entirety of actors and interactions throughout the food value chain. These span from input provision and agricultural production (crops, livestock, fish, and other commodities) to transportation, processing, retailing, wholesaling, preparation, consumption, and waste management. Food systems also encompass the supportive policy frameworks and cultural practices related to food.
Food systems play a substantial role in global employment, with agricultural households comprising as much as two-thirds of the population living in extreme poverty worldwide (UN Food System, 2023). Approximately one-fourth of women employed globally are engaged in agriculture (including forestry and fishing). This is because, in low-income and lower-middle-income, agriculture remains the primary employment sector for women. However, women within this sector often find themselves in informal, low-wage, low-skilled, labour-intensive, and precarious positions.
Healthy diets are intrinsic to the human right to food. They are a precondition for human development and more resilient societies. However, globally, diets are neither sustainable nor healthy. More than one-third of people in the world- about 2.8 billion- could not afford a healthy diet in 2022 (FAO, 2024). Consequently, addressing malnutrition remains a critical challenge.
Moreover, due to widely adopted unsustainable practices, food systems continue to generate soil, water, and air pollution. Food systems contribute more than one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, as much as 80 per cent of biodiversity loss and account for up to 70 per cent of freshwater use.
Finally, climate change already impacted food systems. Climate variability and extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and storms, disrupt agricultural production, water availability, and food supply chains. Farmers around the globe are facing changes in seasonal patterns, disruption of production, and increasing food insecurity.
Our programmes are based on a solid understanding of the causes and explicitly target food and nutrition security outcomes.
At PIN, we aim to promote climate-resilient, sustainable food systems that deliver food and nutrition security for all. We work in ways that support economic development, positive social outcomes, and protect the environment.
Our key approaches to climate-resilient food systems focus on Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), agri-value chain development, and nutrition-sensitive programming through Social and Behavioral change approaches.
Climate-Smart Agriculture, as defined by FAO, aims at improving climate resilience, and it entails food security and climate change adaptation and mitigation with a market-based perspective.
A nutrition-sensitive approach starts with an understanding of the dietary gaps—in particular of women and children—that contribute to poor nutrition outcomes. By supporting household and community efforts to increase and diversify agricultural production, with a focus on foods of high nutritional value, the availability and affordability of these foods can be enhanced locally. Local consumption can be increased by including vulnerable groups and during periods when traditionally there has been a food gap in the market.
Examples of our nutrition-sensitive programming include the Chitanda and Omande Win projects in Angola as well as the Quality Diets for Better Health in Ethiopia.
Other examples of our steps within food systems include organic fertiliser production through biogas in Zambia, supporting female cacao farmers in the Philippines, poultry value chain in Cambodia, modernising the dairy sector value chain in Moldova, and reducing food waste in Georgia.
