Severe weather is dramatically impacting global food and nutrition security. This one year study in 2023, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator Program, was conducted to understand the effect of climate change on nutrition security, especially in underserved communities.  

A multi-disciplinary team of social entrepreneurs and a non-profit from Puerto Rico together with public health experts from George Washington and behavioral scientists from Johns Hopkins University spent 2023 modeling the convergence between nutrition security and climate change in Puerto Rico. The study leveraged systems science approaches to identify and test a set of viable strategies to increase demand for nutritious and climate friendly foods among food insecure individuals. 

To develop a shared understanding of how local food production has declined over time in Puerto Rico and identify points of intervention to improve the local food system.

Methods: In March 2023, we held a Group Model Building workshop in San Juan, PR, focused on understanding and improving the local food system through Community Based System Dynamics and bringing together diverse stakeholders to strengthen connections across sectors. In small groups, participants crafted a single diagram explaining the decline in local food consumption.

Results: The Core Modeling Team identified 6 subsystems: demographic change and rural disinvestment, climate change and farm sector adaptive capacity, agricultural economy, food culture, nutrition security and health, and governance and public policy. 

To identify and test viable strategies to increase demand for nutritious and climate friendly foods among food insecure individuals.

Methods: A survey (professional network sample) n= 993 conducted in June-August 2023.  

Results: 

• 64% of respondents marked that it was important/very important to pay attention to nutrition labels when shopping. 
• 66% of respondents marked that it was important/very important to purchase eco-friendly food products
• 75% of respondents marked that it was important/very important to purchase local food products
• From in-depth interviews and a discrete choice experiment, we found that despite the significant importance of nutritious, and eco-friendly products, consumers in Puerto Rico find it challenging to determine which products are truly healthy, and there is confusion about what “eco-friendly” means. 
• 77% of respondents of a Discrete Choice Experiment chose three labels (nutritious, local, eco) over a hypothetical 10% discount for the same food item.

Despite technological advances, many stakeholders in food production, or nutrition programs remain unengaged and disconnected from climate solutions, and vice versa.  The study documented the challenges facing Puerto Rico’s food system and public health and discovered they are all interconnected.   But policies and programs and our individual decisions, as consumers, continue to address them separately.  The crux of the problem is there is no connection between health, agriculture and consumers. This lack of alignment between initiatives promoting diet quality, the local economy and climate health is making the problem worse.  Globally harmonized solutions grounded in local insights are vitally needed to transform today’s food systems.

“Addressing System-Level Barriers to Nutrition Security in Puerto Rico in the face of Climate Change: A Community-Based System Dynamics Approach” presentation by Natalia Guerra Uccelli at The International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity ISBNPA 23rd Annual Conference, Omaha, Nebraska, May 20, 2024 **Shortlisted for student SIG (Special Interest Group) award for Participatory Research in Health Promotion**

Working Group for Climate Change and Nutrition Security in Puerto Rico :  A newsletter of progress and next steps, April 17, 2024

Grupo de Trabajo de Seguridad Nutricional y Cambio Climatico en Puerto Rico:  Taller Desarrollo de Modelos en Grupo – Progreso y Proximos Pasos, 9 abril 2024