ID: 2204
Presenting Author: Fiona Wirz-Endrys
Session: 642 - Enhancing the credibility and impact of climate change and health impact assessments
Status: pending
This session explores food security as a critical yet overlooked aspect of impact assessment, featuring diverse perspectives and an Indigenous-led case study on impacts, barriers, and solutions.
Food security is increasingly recognized as a critical yet underrepresented dimension of impact assessment (IA), particularly amid accelerating climate change and growing health vulnerabilities. As climate change intensifies disruptions to ecosystems, traditional livelihoods, and public health, the interdependence between food systems, environmental change, and human wellbeing becomes more urgent. However, IA frameworks often fail to fully capture these complex linkages.
This paper argues for a more robust integration of food security into IA, not only as an outcome to be measured, but as a dynamic pathway through which climate and health impacts are experienced. Drawing on a recent case study of a Cree community in Quebec, the paper examines environmental disturbances, interact with social, cultural, and climatic pressures to shape local food systems. It highlights the cascading effects these disruptions have on nutrition, physical and mental health, and cultural continuity, particularly in Indigenous and remote communities.
By bridging food security, climate resilience, and human health, this paper argues for the inclusion of food systems as a distinct area of analysis within IA. It proposes practical approaches for incorporating food-related indicators, participatory methods, and rights-based frameworks to support more holistic and sustainable assessments. Ultimately, integrating food security into IA can strengthen community resilience, enhance policy relevance, and promote more equitable responses to the combined challenges of environmental change and development.
Fiona Wirz-Endrys is a Community Impact and Food Security Specialist at Odonaterra, supporting Indigenous-led impact assessment and community resilience planning.
Coauthor 1: Bradley Georgekish