Environment

Environment


In 2021, GAIN launched its Environment Strategy, the first step on our journey to become a ‘green nutrition NGO’. Towards this ambition we are working to reduce the environmental impact of all of our programmes as well as advocating for a transformation of our food system which benefits both people and the planet.

Food systems and environmental impacts are intrinsically linked. Food production makes up a significant proportion of global emissions, is a major driver of deforestation across the world, and accounts for a significant portion of the world’s land and freshwater resources. Climate change and environmental degradation is also already affecting food production: droughts, floods, loss of soil health and biodiversity loss all place new pressures on food value chains.  

As a nutrition-focused organisation, it is both a responsibility and an opportunity for GAIN to seek solutions which benefit both people and the planet. Our environment work is new and global in scope We are addressing environmental issues across our programmes, partnerships, and advocacy work as well as looking to reduce the impact of our own offices and operations.

A few areas we are currently working on are as follows:

  • Rolling out a set of Environmental Guidelines for project managers to follow to assess and mitigate the environmental impact of our programmes as well as finding environment-nutrition co-benefits where possible. 
  • Developing partnerships with several environmentally focused organisations, including the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) and FOLU. to understand environmental issues better and minimise our impact. Likewise, we hope that by sharing our nutrition expertise with partners in climate and environment, we can design food systems interventions that achieve both goals together.
  • Increasing the environmental sustainability in our own offices. We are conscious of our energy and materials usage and waste management in all GAIN offices. Additionally, we are reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by limiting travel to only when necessary.