Food and nutrition security are highly dependent on the environment, yet current food systems continue to degrade the environment on which they depend. To sustainably address food and nutrition insecurity, we must include environmental considerations in nutrition programmes, not only strategically at a high level, but also operationally.
GAIN’s Environment Screening Tool represents a key step towards systematically incorporating environmental considerations into GAIN’s programmes. It is designed to enable a rapid self-assessment, which identifies environment-related risk factors, prompts mitigation actions, and encourages teams to explore opportunities for environment-nutrition win-wins. In each of ten pilot projects, concrete, actionable entry points to ‘green’ the project were identified through application of the tool. An accompanying co-learning process supported the tool’s actionability and contributes to engagement with GAIN partners. GAIN staff have welcomed capacity building to become more environmentally sensitive and engage with environmental partners.
The success of integrating environment into nutrition programmes can be initially monitored by considering concrete environmentally sensitive actions taken and capacities built, followed by tailored impact measures. Its success relies on strategy, partnerships, and fit-for-purpose processes and tools. Examples of this are outlined in this working paper and presented as work in progress in the spirit of continuous learning, reflection, and documentation.