Strengthening Local Food Systems in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from Zimbabwe

The COVID-19 pandemic, together with other shocks, have exposed the vulnerability and risk of local, national and global food systems and are threatening the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially SDG 2 - to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. However, the scientific evidence is relatively thin on how local food systems can cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and other shocks. The aim of this chapter is to draw lessons from Zimbabwe on how local food systems can be strengthened to cope with COVID-19 pandemic and other shocks. To this end, an online survey was conducted with 46 people with purposively sampled participants representing development partners, academia, research organisations, civil society organisations, think tanks and the private sector. Key informant interviews (KIIs) (15 in total) with a subset of them complemented the survey. The study used descriptive statistics to analyse quantitative data, while qualitative data was analysed thematically. The majority of respondents agreed that it is important to formulate policies and programmes that focus on building resilience of local food systems to withstand shocks and emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting local food production, building resilience of local communities, shortening food supply chains and designing effective social protection programmes are some of the important factors that were highlighted as being essential in strengthening local food systems to respond to shocks. The study concludes that adequate budgetary support and capacitating the local people to deal with and recover from shocks are also key ingredients in supporting the local food systems during COVID-19 pandemic and other shocks. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Reviving Smallholder Hill Farming by Involving Rural Youth in Food System Transformation and Promoting Community-Based Agri-Ecotourism: A Case of Uttarakhand State in North-Western India

Until recent decades, labour-intensive subsistence farming was a way of life and livelihood in the hill communities of Uttarakhand, India. However, the nature of agriculture falls far short of the expectations of the main labour force, the rural youth, leading to their mass migration to non-agricultural occupations. The large-scale youth migration has left many hill farming landscapes depopulated and farmlands abandoned. As youth have special stakes in food systems, they must be included in the sustainable transformation of food systems. By doing so, the migration-prone hill region may be transformed into a place where rural youth have more options for work and income. Therefore, the agriculture sector needs to change and develop into a more engaging and youthful workplace. There are opportunities to explore and barriers to be removed. Besides identifying priority research areas on local food systems, in this exploratory research, we investigate opportunities to involve rural young people in the transformation of the food system. We document information by conducting focus group discussion (FGD) meetings in about 100 villages in the Uttarakhand hills, representing all major farming landscapes. This study mainly focuses on improving the production and consumption aspects of local food, which not only benefits the health and wellbeing of local communities but also has many positive economic, social, and environmental effects. In addition, we explore opportunities for reviving mountain agriculture through agri-ecotourism, which is a symbiotic relationship between tourism and agriculture. Making home- or farm stays in agri-ecotourism a subsistence strategy for local youth will contribute to a more prosperous rural economy. Recognising Uttarakhand's rich culture and heritage while exploring the culinary travel opportunities in homestays will provide opportunities to focus more on traditional food systems, exposing various tangible and intangible aspects of the host region's food culture to tourists. The findings of this study will aid in identifying specific policy issues for consideration by planners and policymakers at the local and state levels. Additionally, this exploratory study will assist young, motivated researchers in conducting follow-up, in-depth investigations and producing empirical data in their specialised fields.

Conclusions and Policy Recommendations: The Emerging COVID-19 Trends, Dynamics and Implications

This chapter presents the key findings from the book and outlines the key policy interventions recommended. Issues examined in the book include the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural production, food systems, nutrition, informality, water, education, sanitation and livelihoods. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework was used in the analysis of impacts. The findings show that the pandemic had mostly negative impacts on the systems studied and the most vulnerable members of society got the biggest knock on their livelihoods especially those in the informal sector. Access to key resources like water, municipal services and food was not equal, and the gap in deprivation widened during this period. Post COVID-19 recovery needs to be guided by how well it addresses progress towards SDG indicators. Government stimulus packages for recovery need to consider increasing social safety nets and the most vulnerable members of society. There is a need to support local food systems and vulnerable livelihoods to build back better and become resilient to future shocks that are similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. Authorities need to improve their communication with communities during disaster periods and strengthen their resilience. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

Dominant Modes of Agricultural Production Helped Structure Initial COVID-19 Spread in the US Midwest

The spread of COVID-19 is geographically uneven in agricultural regions. Explanations proposed include differences in occupational risks, access to healthcare, racial inequalities, and approaches to public health. Here, we additionally explore the impacts of coexisting modes of agricultural production across counties from twelve midwestern U.S. states. In modeling COVID-19 spread before vaccine authorization, we employed and extended spatial statistical methods that make different assumptions about the natures and scales of underlying sociospatial processes. In the process, we also develop a novel approach to visualizing the results of geographically weighted regressions that allows us to identify distinctive regional regimes of epidemiological processes. Our approaches allowed for models using spatial weights (e.g., inverse-squared distances) to be meaningfully improved by also integrating process-specific relations (e.g., the geographical relations of the food system or of commuting). We thus contribute in several ways to methods in health geography and epidemiology for identifying contextually sensitive public engagements in socio-eco-epidemiological issues. Our results further show that agricultural modes of production are associated with the spread of COVID-19, with counties more engaged in modes of regenerative agricultural production having lower COVID-19 rates than those dominated by modes of conventional agricultural production, even when accounting for other factors.

How Seafood Wholesale Markets Matter for Urban Food Security: Evidence from Chennai, India.

Urban sites gather poverty in particular locations and often require bulk food system approaches for addressing prevalent food security and nutrition needs. The food systems that service them are, however, characterized by perishability and large irregularities in supply. Seafood is currently recognized as contributing in a major way to food security and nutrition, and it is to assessing the role of wholesale markets in meeting the needs of the urban poor that this paper is directed. It zooms in on the city of Chennai, India, where an estimated 40% of the population is considered poor and marine fish plays a crucial role in diets. Building on one-and-a-half years of field research in the pre-COVID-19 period, the paper analyses the performance of one of the city's largest fish wholesale markets, Vanagaram, in relation to the four commonly recognized pillars of food security. Results demonstrate how urban food systems function as major suppliers of fish (and other food items) to thousands of low- and middle-income households. Most importantly, this case study demonstrates the crucial role that is played by wholesale markets in merging low-price fish supplies from different geographic regions and thereby ensuring food security of poorer inhabitants.

Dans les zones urbaines, la pauvreté se concentre dans des sites spécifiques qui nécessitent souvent des systèmes alimentaires qui s'appuient sur la vente en gros pour répondre aux besoins en matière de sécurité alimentaire et d'apport nutritionnel. Les systèmes alimentaires qui les desservent sont cependant caractérisés par la périssabilité des aliments et de grandes irrégularités dans l'approvisionnement. Actuellement, il est reconnu que les produits de la mer contribuent de façon significative à la sécurité alimentaire et aux apports nutritionnels. Cet article cherche à évaluer le rôle du marché de la vente en gros dans la satisfaction des besoins des personnes en situation de pauvreté dans les villes. Il se concentre sur la ville de Chennai, en Inde, où environ 40% de la population est considérée comme étant en situation de pauvreté et où les poissons de mer jouent un rôle crucial dans l'alimentation. Cet article s'appuie sur des recherches menées sur le terrain pendant un an et demi avant la COVID-19, et analyze la performance de l'un des plus grands marchés de vente en gros de poisson de la ville, Vanagaram, par rapport aux quatre piliers communément reconnus de la sécurité alimentaire. Les résultats montrent la façon dont les systèmes alimentaires urbains fonctionnent comme d'importants fournisseurs de poisson (et d'autres produits alimentaires) pour des milliers de ménages à revenu faible ou moyen. Plus important encore, cette étude de cas démontre le rôle crucial que jouent les marchés de vente en gros pour faire fusionner l'approvisionnement en poisson à bas prix issu de différentes zones géographiques et pour garantir la sécurité alimentaire des habitant·e·s les plus pauvres.

A digital divide in direct market farmers' online sales and marketing: Early pandemic evidence from California

The use of the internet for sales and marketing has been on an upward trend in the past decade. The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted an increase in direct market farmers' use of online sales and marketing. This paper analyzes California direct market farmers' use of online sales and marketing technologies during the first ten months of the pandemic to understand (1) how their use interacted with farmers' sales and profitability and (2) which direct market farmers were more likely to use them. Research on farmers' access to online sales and marketing technologies is important since consumers increasingly use the internet to buy or find information about products. The findings are based on 364 responses to an online survey administered in January–April 2021 and 13 follow-up interviews conducted in September 2021–August 2022. We used quantitative and qualitative analyses to answer the following questions: (1) How did the use of online sales and marketing technologies interact with direct market farmers' gross income and profitability between March–December 2020? (2) What barriers did direct market farmers face in accessing online sales and marketing technologies? And (3) What farm and farmer characteristics were most associated with using online sales and marketing technologies in 2020? Our findings show that, between March–December 2020, direct market farmers who had an online presence or added online sales after March 2020 were more likely to increase their sales and profitability than farmers who did not use online sales and marketing at all. However, farmers who used online sales at the start of 2020 and continued using it as a market channel were likely to increase their sales but not profitability. We argue that (1) using online sales and marketing technologies likely helped direct market farmers access markets during the pandemic, (2) there are barriers to accessing these technologies, and online sales may not be the right fit for all direct market farms, (3) many farmers need training and reliable internet to be able to navigate online technologies, and (4) more research is needed to understand how direct market farmers experience and navigate the trend toward market digitalization, and how this is related to already-existing inequalities among direct market farmers.

Global modeling of the socioeconomic, political, and environmental relations of farmer seed systems (FSS): Spatial analysis and insights for sustainable development

Accessible, high-quality seed is vital to the agricultural, food, and nutrition sovereignty needed for justice-based sustainable development. Multiregion, interdisciplinary research on farmers' seed systems (FSS) can complement case-based and thematic approaches.This study's goals are to (1) provide a synthetic overview of current major FSS concepts;(2) design and evaluate a novel social- and political-ecological model of FSS using globally representative data from mountain agricultural areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America;(3) model and evaluate FSS relations to socioeconomic, political, and environmental factors including main food crops (rice, wheat, maize, potato, and common bean);(4) generate new spatial, geographic, and demographic estimates;and (5) strengthen FSS for justice-based sustainable development of agriculture, land use, and food systems. The conceptual framework of FSS-related factors guided the global modeling of data from 11 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. A multiple regression model explained FSS utilization (R2 1/4 0.53, P < 0.0001), specifying the significant inverse relations to mean farm area (strong), per-capita Gross Domestic Product at the district level (strong), and urban distance (moderate). FSS showed strong positive relations to aridity and topographic ruggedness. FSS were positively related to elevation in a 5-country Andean subsample. Results estimated FSS utilization by 136 million farmers within the 11 countries. Novel insights to strengthen FSS policies and programs are the importance of FSS to extremely small farm-area subgroups and other distinct FSS stakeholders, global-region geopolitical distinctness of FSS-farm area relations, multidistrict FSS concentrations that enable extralocal FSS spatial connectivity, FSS capacities in climate-change hot spots, and high FSS encompassing periurban areas. Policy-relevant results on global geographic and demographic extensiveness of FSS and key spatial, socioeconomic, political, and environment relations demonstrate that globally FSS are key to supporting agrobiodiversity, agroecology, nutrition, and the sustainability of food systems. These advise strengthening FSS through pro-poor and linked urban-rural policies at regional scales in addition to expanding local initiatives.

Resilience in the food sector - environmental, social and economic perspectives in crisis situations. (Special issue: Opportunities and challenges of EU farm-to-fork strategy.)

Environmental, social and economic perspectives, derived from the sustainability approach and present within by the resilience concept, are integral parts of food systems. At the same time they are clearly articulated within the EU farm-to-fork (F2F) strategy referring to building up resilience to possible future crises as diseases and pandemics. The aim of this paper is to investigate resilience in the food sector referring to its selected environmental, social and economic dimensions, which in fact rely on each other and cannot be separated, simply because of the character of food system itself (work with living organisms, soil, within natural environment, etc. done by people for business purposes). The issue of resilience in the food sector must be considered multidimensionally. In this approach, the basic direction of activities should be the one focused on the resilience approach, both in environmental protection and society. For a harmonious combination of these activities, it is also necessary to look at economic perspective of food system and entire rural livelihoods (e.g. income and employment diversification). Considering the last shocks discussed (COVID-19, war in Ukraine, drought, embargo on grain exports from Russia, rising inflation), a difficult situation on the food market can be expected in the nearest future, which makes the concept of resilience in the food sector even more relevant than it has been so far.

COVID-19 Disruptions of Food Systems and Nutrition Services in Ethiopia: Evidence of the Impacts and Policy Responses.

Background: Since its first case of COVID-19 on March 13, 2020, Ethiopia has exerted efforts to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) without imposing a nationwide lockdown. Globally, COVID-19 related disruptions and mitigation measures have impacted livelihoods and food systems, nutrition, as well as access and use of health services. Objective: To develop a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food systems, health services, and maternal and child nutrition and to synthesize lessons from policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia. Methods: We conducted a review of literature and 8 key informant interviews across government agencies, donors, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to map the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food and health systems in Ethiopia. We summarized policy responses and identified recommendations for future actions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other future emergencies. Results: The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were felt across the food system and include limited agriculture inputs due to travel restrictions and closed borders restricting trade, reduced in-person support by agriculture extension workers, income losses, increases in food prices, and the reduction in food security and dietary diversity. Maternal and child health services were disrupted due to fear of contacting COVID-19, diversion of resources, and lack of personal protective equipment. Disruptions eased over time due to the expansion of social protection through the Productive Safety Net Program, and the increased outreach and home service provision by the health extension workers. Conclusion: Ethiopia experienced disruptions to food systems and maternal and child nutrition services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, by expanding existing social protection programs and public health infrastructure and leveraging partnerships with non-state actors, the extent of the impact of the pandemic was largely minimized. Nevertheless, vulnerabilities and gaps remain and there is a need for a long-term strategy that considers the potential for future pandemics and other shocks.

Enhancing resilience through seed system plurality and diversity: challenges and barriers to seed sourcing during (and in spite of) a global pandemic.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have rippled across the United States' (US) agri-food system, illuminating considerable issues. US seed systems, which form the foundation of food production, were particularly marked by panic-buying and heightened safety precautions in seed fulfillment facilities which precipitated a commercial seed sector overwhelmed and unprepared to meet consumer demand for seed, especially for non-commercial growers. In response, prominent scholars have emphasized the need to support both formal (commercial) and informal (farmer- and gardener-managed) seed systems to holistically aid growers across various contexts. However, limited attention to non-commercial seed systems in the US, coupled with a lack of consensus surrounding what exactly a resilient seed system looks like, first warrants an exploration into the strengths and vulnerabilities of existing seed systems. This paper seeks to examine how growers navigated challenges in seed sourcing and how this may reflect the resilience of the seed systems to which they belong. Using a mixed-methods approach which includes data from online surveys (n = 158) and semi-structured interviews (n = 31) with farmers and gardeners in Vermont, findings suggest that growers were able to adapt - albeit through different mechanisms depending on their positionality (commercial or non-commercial) within the agri-food system. However, systemic challenges emerged including a lack of access to diverse, locally adapted, and organic seeds. Insights from this study illuminate the importance of creating linkages between formal and informal seed systems in the US to help growers respond to manifold challenges, as well as promote a robust and sustainable stock of planting material.

On the transformative potential of Hungarian local food-buying clubs

This study describes the development trends of local food-buying clubs (BCs) in Hungary and analyses how this type of grassroots initiative can contribute to the sustainability transition. BC are consumer-driven organizations which aim to connect local food producers with consumers. The study also discusses how the Hungarian implementation differs from other initiatives described in the literature. The empirical analysis employs qualitative techniques, including participant observation, in-depth interviews with three organizers and two external experts, and a survey of 82 BC producers. BCs may be instrumental in facilitating the sustainability transition: on the one hand, they reach a wide range of consumers, and on the other, they are in contact with a multitude of producers, so everything is in place for their successful scaling up, with a particular focus on the maintenance of core values. BCs can thus play an instrumental role in influencing attitudes and fostering community. One of their most significant advantages is that, while they can operate independently of the growth imperatives of the dominant capitalist paradigm, they can also be understood within it. The increase in the number of grassroots initiatives has led to the formation of a meta-organization aimed at generating and sharing knowledge and the joint utilization and development of specific resources, such as information technologies. The variety of organizational forms and operating modes allows the general approach of buying clubs to be tailored to specific micro-contexts. However, there is a potential danger associated with the large proportion of volunteer work. For BCs to be successful over the long term, it is vital that they are self-sufficient in terms of everyday economic activities and that organizers are at least partially compensated for their efforts.

Why Do We Need Food Systems Informatics? Introduction to This Special Collection on Smart and Connected Regional Food Systems

Public interest in where food comes from and how it is produced, processed, and distributed has increased over the last few decades, with even greater focus emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mounting evidence and experience point to disturbing weaknesses in our food systems' abilities to support human livelihoods and wellbeing, and alarming long-term trends regarding both the environmental footprint of food systems and mounting vulnerabilities to shocks and stressors. How can we tackle the "wicked problems” embedded in a food system? More specifically, how can convergent research programs be designed and resulting knowledge implemented to increase inclusion, sustainability, and resilience within these complex systems, support widespread contributions to and acceptance of solutions to these challenges, and provide concrete benchmarks to measure progress and understand tradeoffs among strategies along multiple dimensions? This article introduces and defines food systems informatics (FSI) as a tool to enhance equity, sustainability, and resilience of food systems through collaborative, user-driven interaction, negotiation, experimentation, and innovation within food systems. Specific benefits we foresee in further development of FSI platforms include the creation of capacity-enabling verifiable claims of sustainability, food safety, and human health benefits relevant to particular locations and products;the creation of better incentives for the adoption of more sustainable land use practices and for the creation of more diverse agro-ecosystems;the wide-spread use of improved and verifiable metrics of sustainability, resilience, and health benefits;and improved human health through better diets.

Food autonomy in Porto-Vecchio (south Corsica), between local initiatives and political commitment. (Les defis de la gouvernance alimentaire.)

In Porto-Vecchio (South Corsica), as in the entire island, the inhabitants can no longer feed themselves solely on the local agri-food system. Firstly, 90% of the food consumed comes from outside the territory. Secondly, local products are sold at a good price (or even a very high price) to the 3.5 millions of tourists who visit the island. As a result, the local population suffers from food injustice. This situation leads us to question the means implemented by local actors to address the concept of food autonomy of the territory - a question that is all the more relevant in the current context of the COVID-19 crisis and the recent political change in the municipality of Porto-Vecchio. Indeed, while a sustainable movement of food territorialisation seems to be taking place, the following question arises: between local initiatives and the political commitment of the new community, can food autonomy be a relevant concept to think about sustainable development as a new development path for this local community?

Towards sustainable and resilient short food supply chains: a focus on sustainability practices and resilience capabilities using case study

PurposeThis study aims to advance current knowledge on resilient and sustainable short food supply chains, by identifying sustainability practices and resilience capabilities and how these interact.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were collected from three cases via 16 semi-structured interviews. This methodological choice answers a call to develop more case studies to better understand perspectives on sustainable and resilient supply chains. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis.FindingsSustainability practices may positively enhance the resilience of short food supply chains, and vice versa. Specifically, social sustainability practices are perceived as enablers of resilience capabilities, and production practices can have a positive or negative impact on resilience capabilities.Originality/valueThis research addresses an important gap in the current short food supply chains literature, by looking at sustainability and resilience in an integrated way for the first time. The proposed working hypotheses and conceptual framework illustrate the complex relationship between social, economic and environmental sustainability and five resilience capabilities within short food supply chains.

Traditional and indigenous foods for food security and sovereignty

The world faces a formidable challenge: to feed an increasingly hot and hungry plant. Despite some achievements in meeting global food demand, the prevalence of malnutrition remains high particularly in low and middle-income countries. It is predicted that food system shocks such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic will negatively impact agricultural production and exasperate the prevalence of malnutrition. Moreover, low biodiversity among food crops further threatens agroecological issue. The promotion of neglected and underutilized African, EurAsian, American, and Australian indigenous and traditional foods (AITFs) around the globe is one way that agriculture can diversify to better serve human nutritional and ecosystem service needs. A holistic enabling environment that utilizes a systems approach is needed for global food security and food sovereignty under worsening climate change conditions. Market-first, science-driven solutions that combine concepts from food security and food sovereignty discourse need to incorporate a community resiliency framework that rebuilds local economies, regenerates ecosystems, and mitigates climate impact. This model engages farmers and consumers directly in the formulation of the research agenda and actively involves them in the process of technological innovation and dissemination through hands-on demonstrations and storytelling that captures shared experiences, strengthening local community resilience and improving nutrition outcomes. This paper will use the dual concept of food security and sovereignty as a framework for the promotion of consumption and production for various markets (e.g., local, national, international) of indigenous and traditional foods in EurAsia, Africa, the Americas, and Australia through four pillars: availability, affordability accessibility, and acceptability. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Food Security: Emergency Food Systems (Food Banks) and Policy Responses

The pandemic exacerbated food insecurity amongst the vulnerable groups and those who lost employment were faced with the stark reality of access to food and hunger. Many who previously did not need food aid joined food bank queues for the first time in their thousands. This went hand in hand with increasing poverty and marginalisation. In Africa alone, it is estimated that up to 20 million people were pushed below the poverty line. For many the fear of hunger was just as devastating as the fear of the pandemic. In many parts of the world, panic buying, stockpiling and hording by those who can afford to, has seen empty shelves in supermarkets which has consequently, caused food insecurity amongst vulnerable groups. It is estimated that in the UK, more than three million people (6%) had someone in their household go hungry at some point during the lockdown. Food banks had increased demand from those on no or low income, the elderly, disabled people, rough sleepers, asylum seekers and migrants. A similar situation has been unfolding in many other countries around the world, which saw leaders of the major international networks for food banks such as the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA), Feeding America (FA) and the Global FoodBanking Network (GFN), calling for urgent action to help the critical work of food banks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter examines the responses towards food insecurity, focusing on the role of food banks as a social protection mechanism. While food banks maybe a temporary measure, it does provide an immediate response to people's wellbeing as they rehabilitate themselves and look for other opportunities. For the unskilled and marginal groups and individuals, food banks have become part of their daily survival culture. Recommendation to improve food banks are provided. Holistic solutions and best practices are required;governments to support a diversity of food and social protection initiatives, reducing food insecurity by promoting food resilience and respecting food sovereignty. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.

Harnessing the connectivity of climate change, food systems and diets: Taking action to improve human and planetary health

With climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing conflicts, food systems and the diets they produce are facing increasing fragility. In a turbulent, hot world, threatened resiliency and sustainability of food systems could make it all the more complicated to nourish a population of 9.7 billion by 2050. Climate change is having adverse impacts across food systems with more frequent and intense extreme events that will challenge food production, storage, and transport, potentially imperiling the global population's ability to access and afford healthy diets. Inadequate diets will contribute further to detrimental human and planetary health impacts. At the same time, the way food is grown, processed, packaged, and transported is having adverse impacts on the environment and finite natural resources further accelerating climate change, tropical deforestation, and biodiversity loss. This state-of-the-science iterative review covers three areas. The paper's first section presents how climate change is connected to food systems and how dietary trends and foods consumed worldwide impact human health, climate change, and environmental degradation. The second area articulates how food systems affect global dietary trends and the macro forces shaping food systems and diets. The last section highlights how specific food policies and actions related to dietary transitions can contribute to climate adaptation and mitigation responses and, at the same time, improve human and planetary health. While there is significant urgency in acting, it is also critical to move beyond the political inertia and bridge the separatism of food systems and climate change agendas that currently exists among governments and private sector actors. The window is closing and closing fast. © 2023 The Authors

Indigenous Food Systems Changes and Resiliency: Protocol for a Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Indigenous food systems (IFS) consider the complex relationships and connections between land, animals, plants, water, and people. These food systems may differ between regions, Indigenous cultures, and history; however, given the similar colonial histories and policies influencing Indigenous groups in Canada, the United States, Australia, and Aotearoa (New Zealand), the IFS changes and responses in these regions may follow similar trends. Climate change and pollution continue to impact the environment in catastrophic ways, and this, in turn, impacts IFS. However, to date, there has been no review of the literature on IFS, how they are changing, and how communities are responding to these changes. OBJECTIVE: In this scoping review, we will summarize primary research in Canada, the United States, Australia, and Aotearoa related to IFS addressing the following questions: (1) What changes are IFS experiencing in the context of climate change and pollution? (2) What actions have been taken in response to IFS changes? (3) What are the characteristics of IFS research in peer-reviewed academic literature? METHODS: We will use the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for scoping reviews and the Joanna Briggs Institute reviewer's manual to inform the review process. MEDLINE, SCOPUS, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, Sociological Abstracts, and the Bibliography of Native North Americans are the databases included in this review search. All screening and extraction have been supported by Covidence software (Veritas Health Innovation) with 2 independent reviewers conducting the abstract and full-text screening. We will map concepts and themes related to the research questions to contribute to the understanding of IFS within the academic literature and provide a narrative review of the outcomes. RESULTS: The electronic database searches for this review were conducted in May 2021. Screening and full-text review were initially completed in the winter of 2022. We are currently in the process of compiling results and aim to share findings in 2023. CONCLUSIONS: This review will provide valuable insight into current IFS needs by summarizing the peer-reviewed literature on how IFS are changing because of climate change and pollution and how communities are responding to these changes. The results of this review will be shared with Indigenous communities, through academic publications, community conversations, and conference presentations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: OSF Registries osf.io/xrj87; https://osf.io/xrj87. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR1-10.2196/41627.

COVID-19, Climate Change, and Conflict in Honduras: A food system disruption analysis.

In Honduras, as in many settings between 2020 and 2022, food security was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflicts-what some refer to as "The Three Cs." These challenges have had overlapping impacts on food supply chains, food assistance programs, food prices, household purchasing power, physical access to food, and food acceptability. This article applies a food system disruption analysis-adapted from a fault tree analysis originally developed for a municipal context in the United States-to the context of Honduras to systematically examine how the Three Cs affected food availability, accessibility, and acceptability. This article demonstrates the value of approaching food security through a disruption analysis, especially for settings impacted by multiple, interconnected, ongoing crises.