Coping with household food insecurity : a longitudinal and seasonal study among the Otammari in North - Western Benin

A longitudinal and seasonal study was designed to examine the relationships between, at one hand, coping with food insecurity and socio-economic characteristics at household level and, at the other hand, food consumption, time allocation and nutritional status at individual level in a unimodal climate in north-western Benin.Body weight of men and women was frequently measured during two consecutive years. Body weight fluctuations of 5-6% occurred but variation in seasonal body weight fluctuation could not be explained by socio-econornic household characteristics. Neither a relationship was found between household cereal stock, indicating the level of household food security, and individual seasonal body weight fluctuation. It appeared that households with sufficient and insufficient cereal stock differed in their coping behaviour pattern. However this was not reflected in differences in seasonal body weight loss. Households with insufficient cereal stock made more use of coping behaviour such as gathering wild foods, selling livestock, seasonal migration and reduction of number of meals or fasting. Dietary changes at individual level during the preharvest period were characterized by a decreased cereal intake, an increased consumption of pulses and tubers and an increased consumption of food gifts, purchased foods and wild foods. Children seemed to be protected in times of seasonal food insecurity by a more favourable food allocation. Gender differences in subsistence task distribution showed more working hours for women compared to men, combining home production with field production tasks. Men were mainly responsible for food production and assistance at work parties. In times of seasonal food insecurity women were more engaged in coping with this adverse situation than men.It may be concluded that household food insecurity does not necessarily lead to food insecurity at individual level since it can be favourably counterbalanced by local coping behaviour. Ibis conclusion confirms that development projects to promote household food security should take seriously into consideration an enforcement of existing local coping behaviour patterns rather than a replacement by innovations from outside.</p

Urban blue: A global analysis of the factors shaping people's perceptions of the marine environment and ecological engineering in harbours.

Marine harbours are the focus of a diverse range of activities and subject to multiple anthropogenically induced pressures. Support for environmental management options aimed at improving degraded harbours depends on understanding the factors which influence people's perceptions of harbour environments. We used an online survey, across 12 harbours, to assess sources of variation people's perceptions of harbour health and ecological engineering. We tested the hypotheses: 1) people living near impacted harbours would consider their environment to be more unhealthy and degraded, be more concerned about the environment and supportive of and willing to pay for ecological engineering relative to those living by less impacted harbours, and 2) people with greater connectedness to the harbour would be more concerned about and have greater perceived knowledge of the environment, and be more supportive of, knowledgeable about and willing to pay for ecological engineering, than those with less connectedness. Across twelve locations, the levels of degradation and modification by artificial structures were lower and the concern and knowledge about the environment and ecological engineering were greater in the six Australasian and American than the six European and Asian harbours surveyed. We found that people's perception of harbours as healthy or degraded, but not their concern for the environment, reflected the degree to which harbours were impacted. There was a positive relationship between the percentage of shoreline modified and the extent of support for and people's willingness to pay indirect costs for ecological engineering. At the individual level, measures of connectedness to the harbour environment were good predictors of concern for and perceived knowledge about the environment but not support for and perceived knowledge about ecological engineering. To make informed decisions, it is important that people are empowered with sufficient knowledge of the environmental issues facing their harbour and ecological engineering options

Reverse thinking : taking a healthy diet perspective towards food systems transformations

Food systems that deliver healthy diets without exceeding the planet’s resources are essential to achieve the worlds’ ambitious development goals. Healthy diets need to be safe, accessible, and affordable for all, including for disadvantaged and nutritionally vulnerable groups such as of smallholder producers, traders, and consumers in low- and middle-income countries. Globally, food systems are experiencing rapid and drastic changes and are failing to fulfil these multiple duties simultaneously. The international community therefore calls for rigorous food systems transformations and policy solutions to support the achievement of healthy diets for all. Most strategies, however, are essentially supply- and market-oriented. Incorporation of a healthy diet perspective in food system transformation is essential to enable food systems to deliver not only on supplying nutritious foods but also on ensuring that consumers have access can afford and desire healthy, sustainable, and culturally acceptable diets. This paper argues that this should be guided by information on diets, dietary trends, consumer motives, and food environment characteristics. Transformational approaches and policies should also take into account the stage of food system development requiring different strategies to ensure healthier diets for consumers. We review current knowledge on drivers of consumer choices at the individual and food environment level with special emphasis on low- and middle income countries, discuss the converging and conflicting objectives that exist among multiple food-system actors, and argue that failure to strengthen synergies and resolve trade-offs may lead to missed opportunities and benefits, or negative unintended consequences in food system outcomes. The paper proposes a menu of promising consumer- and food-environment- oriented policy options to include in the food systems transformation agenda in order to shift LMIC consumer demand towards healthier diets in low- and middle income countries