- 02/02/2026
Pakistan faces intertwined climate and malnutrition challenges, with floods, droughts, and rising temperatures threatening food security amid high child stunting (40.2%) and wasting (17.7%). Climate change is worsening nutrition outcomes, especially for women, children, and smallholder farmers, while climate and nutrition policies remain fragmented. GAIN’s I-CAN initiative aims to assess and strengthen the integration of climate and nutrition across Pakistan’s policies and strategies.
- 02/02/2026
Pakistan faces a dual crisis of climate change and malnutrition, with floods, droughts, and other climate shocks driving some of the world’s highest rates of child stunting (over 40%) and wasting (around 18%). Most climate and nutrition policies operate in silos, offering limited integrated action, while regions like Sindh and Balochistan face the greatest vulnerabilities. Integrating nutrition into climate adaptation—such as promoting climate-resilient, nutrient-rich crops—can deliver “win-win” outcomes, but urgent, coordinated action from policymakers, donors, and civil society is needed to protect the most at-risk populations.
- 02/02/2026
Nigeria faces a dual crisis of rising food insecurity and worsening climate impacts. By 2025, an estimated 33.1 million Nigerians are expected to be food insecure, with around 35% of children under five stunted, especially in the north. Ranked 110th of 127 countries on the 2024 Global Hunger Index, Nigeria’s challenges are driven by economic, environmental, and nutritional factors. GAIN engaged Sawubon Advisory Services to generate insights on the climate–nutrition nexus, supporting the integration of climate and nutrition into policies and programs. Climate change—rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather—has already reduced agricultural productivity, and by 2080, yields of millet and sorghum in northern Nigeria could fall 13–20%. With over 80% of agriculture rain-dependent, these trends threaten sustainable food production and nutrition outcomes.
- 09/02/2026
Nigeria faces overlapping crises of climate change and malnutrition, with rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather reducing crop yields and pushing 30.6 million people toward severe food insecurity in 2026. Most climate and nutrition policies operate in silos, limiting coordinated action, while existing links remain largely analytical rather than practical. Integrating climate-smart agriculture, water management, and community resilience initiatives can create “win-win” outcomes, strengthening food security and health—but urgent collaboration across government, civil society, and the private sector is needed to turn commitments into local solutions.
- 22/12/2025
Nigeria’s food systems are critical for national development, yet women face
deep-seated gender inequalities that restrict their participation, productivity, and access to resources, significantly hindering overall food security.
Achieving a resilient and equitable food system requires moving beyond genderneutral rhetoric towards intentional policy shifts, fostering inclusive governance, and investing in gender equity across the entire food system.
Prioritise equitable access to productive resources, strengthen women’s leadership in decision-making, enhance gender-disaggregated data systems, and champion community-led social norm change to build a sustainable food system where no one is left behind.
- 15/12/2025
Global food systems generate significant socio-economic impacts (or externalities) – both positive and negative – which greatly vary across geographic regions, supply chains, and production systems. These externalities, ranging from inadequate working conditions and child labour (negative) to job creation and community development (positive), are rarely reflected in market prices. True Cost Accounting (TCA) methodologies aim to advance
traditional impact assessments by quantifying and economically valuing food systems' external benefits and costs – encompassing health, environmental, and socio-economic dimensions.
However, consensus on measurement methods and metrics is lacking. We reviewed existing frameworks, approaches, methods, and data sources used for evaluating and monetising socio-economic externalities associated with food production and consumption. Our analysis of 24 publications (2008–2025) revealed a nascent field
with limited evidence, characterised by a strong focus on negative impacts, individual foods or food groups (as opposed to whole diets), and primary production.
- 04/12/2025
Orphaned crops refer to a diverse group of foods, including cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruits, that have been largely overlooked by mainstream agricultural research, breeding programs, and markets.
Many orphan crops contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and protein than major cereals. In soci eties facing a double burden of undernutrition and rising diet-related diseases, orphaned crops provide a crucial bridge. They nourish without harming.
Nutrition education in schools and public health programs can normalize the consumption of traditional foods, while media and culinary initiatives can make them fashionable. Changing perception is just as critical as changing production.
- 28/11/2025
Global food systems face complex, multi-faceted challenges that greatly vary by context, and their environmental, health, and socio-economic impacts are equally diverse. A comprehensive understanding that integrates these disparate factors into unified, clear guidance is essential for decision-making, including policy measures and industry practices. True Cost Accounting (TCA) methodologies aim to meet this need by quantifying a wide spectrum of food systems-related benefits and costs in economic terms. We reviewed existing TCA frameworks, approaches, methods, and data sources used for measuring and monetising environmental externalities generated by food production and consumption. Our analysis of 85 recent publications (2018–2025) revealed several key patterns in current research. The literature shows a predominant focus on negative impacts, with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions receiving primary attention. Studies mainly examined cereals, meat, and dairy, mostly in high-income and upper-middle-income country settings. TCA assessments employed three main methodological approaches: granular bottom-up, large-scale top-down, or comparative approaches, to capture environmental externalities.
Our results revealed a rapidly growing research area, characterised by a large variety of methods and data sources, while highlighting persistent technical challenges. The field faces several critical gaps, many of which reflect underlying methodological limitations in environmental impact assessments more broadly: little-to-no attention to lower-income countries; a predominant focus on high-value, commercially traded (often export-oriented) commodities; and limited consideration of systems dynamics and interconnections (e.g., product co-dependencies) in models. Addressing these challenges, combined with improved data availability, quality, and disaggregation, will be key for maximising TCA’s potential as an evidence-based policy and advocacy tool.
- 21/11/2025
This White Paper makes the case for a territorial governance approach that reinforces urban–rural linkages by empowering local actors and enabling their collective agency. Local, traditional, and farmers markets serve as strategic hubs that offer multiple levers and diverse forms of capital for transforming food systems within cities, across urban–rural interfaces, and throughout wider territorial landscapes. Investing in both hard (physical) and soft (capacity-building) market infrastructure, supporting diverse knowledge systems, and advancing inclusive “whole-of-society” governance are essential steps toward unlocking resilient and sustainable food systems now and in the future. With these foundations in place, communities, governments, and sectors can routinely apply best practices and participate meaningfully in decision-making processes that foster a wide range of regenerative, biodiverse food value chains. Such systems create market and food environments characterized by vibrant public spaces; access to affordable, safe, culturally preferred, healthy diets; reduced and valorized food waste; and opportunities for dignified, prosperous livelihoods.
