Precision monitoring of crops using drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology is rapidly growing as a climate-smart agriculture practice in rice farming systems in Sri Lanka and globally. In rice fields, the Leaf Color Chart (LCC) is traditionally used for manual comparison of a leaf to the standard LCC categories in the field to determine the fertilizer condition of the plant. However, this lacks autonomous monitoring, rapid monitoring of larger fields, scalability, and the digital transformation of the scores with sprayer drones for targeted fertilizer application. Drones with multispectral cameras could pose a greater rapid and digitalized solution for delineation of leaf color instead of LCC, in the field. Thus, this paper presents a novel attempt of digitization of conventional LCC levels 3 and 4, rice plant leaf greenness levels in the field, with classification and production of a spatial map using drone multispectral images and machine learning algorithms. The experimental setup consisted of ground sampling of LCC levels 3 and 4 from farmer fields and acquisition of drone imagery data above the field with a DJI Phantom 4 Multispectral UAV, from which fifteen vegetation indices related to crop spectra were extracted. The vegetation indices were then employed for training (70%) and testing (30%) with machine learning algorithms: Random Forest (RF), as well as SVM-linear and SVM-RBF, focusing on LCC 3–4 class classification. The results showed good classification performance, with the RF algorithm reporting a test accuracy of 98.2%, outperforming SVM-linear (82.5%) and SVM-RBF (87.5%). The RF model outputs SR, EVI, MSR, NDVI, and TCARI as feature importance indices for the classification of LCC levels 3 and 4 in the rice field. The findings of this proposed method greatly encourage the adaptation of drone technology for real-time monitoring of rice leaf fertilizer levels linked to LCC levels three and four, and spatial identification of the zones across the field. This imposes greater advancement towards climate-smart rice cultivation, targeted fertilizer application and rice field landscape pattern change analysis, underpinning the importance of field digitization.

The social-ecological nexus (SEN) offers a framework to capture the complex and dynamic interactions and interdependencies between human communities and the natural systems that support them. This study analyzed the SENs within a village tank cascade system (VTCS), a social-ecological system (SES) located in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The study adopted a participatory approach, combining fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) to determine key SES properties of the VTCS. The FCM process identified 49 nodes (elements) and 434 edges (connections) within the study landscape that contribute to system performance. Network graphs were generated using centrality metrics-degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality-to identify the most influential nodes and edges contributing to system sustainability and productivity. The study identified nine nodes as the most influential elements in the SEN which are critical for balancing trade-offs between sustainability and productivity in the VTCS. Three distinct clusters of elements influencing sustainability and productivity emerged from the SEN graph: (i) ecological cluster, (ii) social-ecological cluster, and (iii) social cluster. Understanding the role of SES elements and their positions in the SEN is crucial for identifying gaps within the system and informing tailored management interventions. These findings offer a theoretical basis for optimizing sustainability strategies aimed at enhancing the overall productivity and resilience of SES. Consequently, this approach exposes the complexities of the SEN, making it widely applicable to similar SESs globally.

A biodiversidade alimentar desempenha papel central na construção de sistemas alimentares saudáveis, sustentáveis e culturalmente adequados. Povos Indígenas e Comunidades Locais (PICLs) têm sido histo

School feeding programmes are increasingly recognised as a transformative platform for food systems that can be delivered at scale, with multiple benefits for both human and planetary health. This potential can be achieved through different policy and operational linkages with local food production, particularly for home-grown school feeding (HGSF) models. HGSF can be defined as a school feeding model that is designed to provide children in schools with safe, diverse, and nutritious food sourced locally from smallholders. While there is some evidence on farmer income or food production, our understanding of how school feeding can contribute to climate-resilient food production is unclear. Building on empirical findings and interdisciplinary research efforts, this Personal View presents a conceptual framework designed to capture the multiple policy and operational pathways and drivers through which school feeding can drive local agricultural sustainability and climate resilience. The analysis and discussion presented in this Personal View can contribute towards developing robust interdisciplinary research approaches for generating more grounded, policy-relevant evidence to inform the development of national programmes.

Neglected and underutilised species (NUS) offer potential to enhance nutrition, food security, and environmental sustainability. Of the over 30,000 edible plant species that exist globally, fewer than 150 are commercially cultivated, accelerating the loss of agrobiodiversity and the homogenisation of food systems. Using Thailand as a case study, this review highlights five NUS—yellow burrhead (Limnocharis flava Buch.), Ceylon oak (Schleichera oleosa (Lour.) Merr.), bastard oleaster (Elaeagnus latifolia L.), star apple (Chrysophyllum cainito L.) and hogweed (Physalis angulata var. angulata)—for their high nutritional and medicinal potential. These species can diversify diets, promote sustainable agriculture, and revive indigenous food cultures, but their adoption is hindered by limited infrastructure, low consumer awareness, and insufficient inclusion in food composition databases. Integrating NUS into these databases supports accurate dietary assessment, informed public health policies and product innovation. By combining scientific research with traditional knowledge, NUS can contribute to resilient, culturally relevant, and sustainable food systems in Thailand and globally.

The global shift away from healthy, diverse, and sustainable diets threatens children’s health and futures. Although school gardens and home-grown school feeding can reconnect children with nutritious, sustainably produced food, these interventions are often implemented separately and with little attention to agrobiodiversity, which is a cornerstone for sustainability and healthy diets. Via a scoping review of 124 articles from 35 countries, we identified wide-ranging and complementary benefits of these interventions beyond health and education. The benchmark of the species used in these interventions against cultivated, predicted, and listed edible plants shows that agrobiodiversity is underused. Despite fragmented and incomplete evidence, our research shows that these interventions can jointly drive profound transformation. Realising this potential demands systemic shifts toward holistic, rights-based approaches that overcome surmountable barriers and build objective, sustainable, and resilient food systems delivering planet-friendly school meals.

This study explores the integration of food biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and Local Communities (LCs) into public food procurement (PFP). Using a primarily qualitative approach, it combines a scoping review with a case study of the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) and the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) across six municipalities in the eastern Amazon, Brazil. Common barriers included rigid procurement guidelines, culturally inappropriate menus, and erosion of traditional knowledge, reflecting the marginalisation of IPs and LCs, as well as food biodiversity. Compared to the PNAE, the PAA exhibited stronger inclusion of IPs and LCs by integrating diverse foods, implementing “Indigenous” and “traditional” procurement modalities, and fostering social engagement. In the PNAE, culturally adapted menus for IPs and LCs were absent; however, the presence of unprocessed menu items positively correlated with food biodiversity. Strategies such as institutionalising hybrid governance, participatory mechanisms, and social participation can strengthen IPs and LCs and biodiversity, providing pathways for PFP to support equitable, resilient, and culturally grounded food systems while addressing global food system challenges.

The Pacific Islands region is home to a diversity of countries and territories, who are at the forefront of climate change and the triple burden of malnutrition. In recent years there has been increasing interest in schools as a setting for transforming food systems, improving nutrition and health outcomes, increasing educational outcomes, and enhancing livelihoods in the Pacific Islands. This review examines and describes current school food and nutrition initiatives within the literature that aim to promote healthier, sustainable diets within the Pacific Islands region. As there is a paucity of literature in this area of interest in the Pacific Islands, the review focuses on the policy landscape, the provision of food near, and in schools, nutrition education, and future opportunities. The available literature demonstrates that there is broad regional interest and momentum from numerous stakeholders to enhance SFNE in the Pacific Islands, with several opportunities for future activities. While there are frameworks to explore food environments available there is a need for a Pacific Islands school food environment conceptual framework that captures aspects, both within and around schools, that can guide research and assessment for robust comparable data collection. This may in turn support healthier SFNE and ultimately nutritious food choices for children and adolescents.

Ecological diversity indices such as Hill numbers have been developed to estimate effective species numbers, yet the ability of Hill numbers to compare food biodiversity across contexts is unclear. Here we computed the between- and within-country variability of similarity-insensitive Hill numbers using dietary intake collected from prospective cohorts in nine European countries and cross-sectional studies in five low- and middle-income countries. We also assessed the relationships between more biodiverse diets, mortality rates and micronutrient adequacy. Only Hill0, better known as dietary species richness (DSR), showed strong heterogeneity between countries and individuals within countries. Higher DSR was most strongly associated with lower mortality rates in Europe as compared to Hill1, Hill2 and Hill∞, whereas relationships with micronutrient adequacy were comparable across Hill numbers in the global south. DSR can be used to assess progress towards more biodiverse diets, while also serving as a marker for the deleterious nutrition and health impacts associated with non-diverse diets.

Social-ecological systems (SESs) possess a great diversity of land use and land cover (LULC) types with unique assemblages of biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, LULC changes due to landscape fragmentation are emerging as major threats to the system productivity of SESs around the world. This study examined changes to LULC extent and landscape patterns in the Village Tank Cascade Systems (VTCSs) of Sri Lanka using satellite imagery and GIS techniques between 1994 and 2021. Multispectral Landsat images (5 TM and 8 OLI/TIRS) obtained from Google Earth Engine were classified using machine learning algorithms. Overall accuracies obtained were 85.9% (1994) and 88.6% (2021). The LULC change matrix and spatial pattern metrics were used to examine LULC and landscape pattern change dynamics over the VTCS landscapes. LULC change matrix results revealed that forest, which is the dominant LULC class covering 73.7% of the total land area was reduced by 206,725 ha due to transformation into agricultural (70.43%) and scrub (24.33%) lands between 1994 and 2021. Over this time landscape pattern of the VTCS has gradually changed from forest to agricultural land-dominated landscape, with forest and agricultural land types showing a significant negative correlation (p < 0.001; R2 > 0.868), particularly in the southeastern region. Landscape patterns were analysed based on eight spatial metrics calculated at both the landscape and class levels using FRAGSTATS spatial pattern analysis software. At the landscape level, the structure became more dispersed and complex in shape. Heterogeneity was noted to have gradually increased with weakening connectivity, whereas the fragmentation process had gradually accelerated. At the class level, the dominance of forest patches decreased, fragmentation and isolation increased, and connectivity and shape complexity reduced leading to the loss of fragmented forest habitats. The number of patches within the agricultural class increased and became more aggregated and complex in shape. Landscape performance indicators show that VTCSs have experienced a gradual loss of environmental sustainability. Assessment of LULC along with fragmentation can help to monitor the spatial pattern impacts that determine ecological integrity. Thus, the study provides scientific guidance for ecological restoration in degraded VTCSs to effectively improve ecological productivity.

The Periodic Table of Food Initiative addresses food biomolecular composition information gaps through a standardized, accessible and enabling platform based on analytical tools, data and capacity building. Data from 1,650 foods serve as starting point for demonstrating the capacity of this initiative to contribute to nutrition, health and food systems transformations.

Climate and land use change pressures are critical to food production in Social-Ecological Systems (SESs). This study assessed farmers’ perceptions of the pressures of climate and land use changes alongside their impacts on food production in Mhahakanumulla Village Tank Cascade System (MVTCS), a SES maintained by traditional agricultural land use systems in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. This study used both rating and ranking scale questions to quantify farmers’ perceptions. The tobit regression model was employed to evaluate how farmer perception was influenced by socio-economic factors. The results showed that most of the farmers had experienced that the climate of the MVTCS area had changed over time, and they perceived variability of rainfall patterns as the most prominent and influential climate change. The increased cost of production, wildlife damage, and land degradation were ranked by the farmers as the most impactful factors of food production due to climate change. The farmers rated deforestation and land clearing as the most influential and impactful changes in land use, while wildlife damage and land degradation ranked as the highest impacts on food production due to land use changes. Among the socio-economic determinants, training and income/profit positively influenced farmer perceptions of the severity of both climate and land use change. The level of farmer’s adaptation to climate change had a negative association with their perception of the severity of climate change. Household size negatively influenced the perceptions of the severity of climate change while positively influencing perceptions of land use change impacts. Among the spatial determinants, farm size and downstream locations of MVTCS positively influenced perceptions of the severity of both climate and land use change. Thus, the effectiveness of adaptation strategies towards climate and land use change pressures depends on how well they are understood by the farmers. The study findings provide helpful insights for formulating localized land use policies and climate change adaptation strategies in these globally important landscapes with a combination of both top-down and bottom-up approaches.

Research on social–ecological systems is rapidly expanding globally in response to human-induced climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation. Safeguarding these traditional agroecosystems is vital according to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the last decade, there has been a growing research interest in the Village Tank Cascade Systems (VTCSs) of Sri Lanka, recognised as social–ecological systems. However, few studies have systematically analysed VTCS research in Sri Lanka. To examine this apparent knowledge gap in more detail, a bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping were conducted to systematically analyse and interpret the state, trends, clusters, and emerging fields of VTCS research. In total, 159 peer-reviewed research publications between 1985 and 2023 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus databases, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate to perform this analysis. Furthermore, this study employed the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems (SAFA) tool, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to map the inclusion of sustainability and productivity dimensions in VTCS research, in alignment with the objectives set forth by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The study provides insight into dominant and neglected areas of future VTCS research.

Background The school environment can enable and support healthy behaviours in children and the wider school community. To enhance this environment, it is important to understand what constitutes a school food environment, ie, how is it defined? and the characteristics of these. Currently there are varied approaches to defining school food environments in the literature. Objective To identify and summarise how school food environments are defined in the literature and the characteristics of these. Study Design, Settings, Participants A scoping review process, utilising a protocol developed a-priori and following the JBI methodology for scoping reviews, searched for all evidence that aims to define, describe, conceptualize and measure the school food environment in early childhood, primary and secondary school communities within a global context (quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods studies published in peer-review journals, and grey literature sources like government, organisation or research reports, theses and dissertations). A timeframe of 2001–2023 was used. Summary sheets, conference abstracts and opinion papers were excluded. Measurable Outcome/Analysis 10,806 sources were initially identified. After checking for duplicates and undertaking title/abstract, and full text screening by at least two independent reviewers, 276 studies were included for data extraction using Covidence. Excel and NVivo were used for analysis. Data was categorised and presented by regional characteristics, with key themes summarised. Results Of 276 studies included, 76 defined the school food environment. The majority were from North America (n=27), while n=10 used a global focus. Sources included studies that focused on internal (within the defined school grounds/boundary), external (outside of the defined school grounds/boundary), or both spaces. Definitions varied with reference to policy, formal/informal food vendors/retail, food composition, labelling, education, marketing, and buildings/facilities included. Sociocultural, political, and economic surroundings were also identified. Conclusions Varied definitions of what constitutes a school food environment exist in the literature. These findings may assist researchers and professionals to consider a broad range of opportunities to further enhance supportive food and nutrition environments within schools. Funding None

Indonesia is a biodiversity hotspot with high levels of endemism of globally important food crops and their crop wild relatives, as well as locally adapted cultivars. This rich diversity is essential to Indonesia’s food and nutrition security, while underpinning the livelihood strategies of small-scale farmers (both men and women) and traditional communities, who act as guardians of this genetic heritage. However, many of Indonesia’s plant genetic resources for food and agriculture are experiencing genetic erosion due to increased crop uniformity and the reduced use and demand for local varieties. Changes in food preferences and consumption patterns have driven the species into agricultural neglect with only some smallholder farmers cultivating the species for cultural reasons. These problems are exacerbated by land-use changes and climate variability. Recognizing the imperative to conserve agrobiodiversity in the region to ensure future food security and sustain livelihoods, the status of conservation and sustainable use of taro, yams, cloves and nutmeg in three target provinces in Indonesia was assessed. Mixed-method analyses were used to document existing conservation efforts and what is currently known of these target crops’ conservation status, both in ex situ collections and in the field, to identify unique biodiversity, as well as the barriers and knowledge gaps on how to better conserve and use this unique genetic diversity for future generations.

Scientists have warned for several years that food systems have become major drivers of environmental degradation, malnutrition, and food insecurity. In this paper, we present arguments from specialists that suggest that, in the transition to more sustainable food systems, biodiversity and food security can be mutually supportive, rather than conflicting goals. We have divided the opinions of these scientists into two "Big Topics". First, they examine the synergies and challenges of the intersection of biodiversity and food security. In the second section, they explain how various forms of food biodiversity, such as mushrooms, terrestrial wild animals, aquatic animals, algae, and wild plants, can contribute to food security. Finally, we present three main pathways that, according to these experts, could guide the transition toward biodiversity and food security in food systems.

Building more sustainable, equitable, and resilient food systems means rethinking how we consume, produce, and safeguard agrobiodiversity that can benefit the planet and secure access to nutritious food for all. This was the purpose of the 2021 Second International Agrobiodiversity Congress, convening scientists, Indigenous Peoples, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to share and advance research, nature-positive solutions, and policies. Congress organizers set out to showcase agrobiodiversity’s role in positively transforming food systems, present solutions and business opportunities to enhance multi-stakeholder collaborations, and reinforce the commitments made during international events of 2021. The take-home messages from this Congress support the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit to chart a path of concrete actions that can deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Consequences of global climate change are predicted to increase risks to crop production in the future. However, the possible broader impact of climate change on social-ecological systems still needs to be evaluated. Therefore, the present study focuses on one such globally important agricultural social-ecological system referred to as the Village Tank Cascade System (VTCS) in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The VTCS has considerable potential to withstand seasonal climate variability mainly through continuous supply of water by the village tank storage throughout the year. The current study aimed to investigate trends of climate variability and possible impacts on paddy production in the North and North-central VTCS zone. Observed and projected rainfall and temperature data were analysed to evaluate the past variability trends (1970 to 2020) and model future (up to 2100) scenarios of climate variability and trends. Long-term observed rainfall and temperature data (1946 to 2020) were analysed to identify possible anomalies. The Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model has been used to predict the situation of future paddy farming (2050 and 2070) under two climate scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Six variables that would affect paddy growth and yield quality were used alongside the average monthly rainfall and temperature of two Global Climate Models (MIROC5 and MPI-ESM-LR). Climate suitability for two paddy cultivation seasons (Yala and Maha) were predicted for current and future climate scenarios. The findings revealed that observed and projected climate changes show considerable deviation of expected rainfall and temperature trends across the VTCS zone. Temperature exhibits warming of approximately 1.0 °C during the declared Global Warming Period (1970 to 2020) in the study area. In addition, there is a trend of significant warming by 0.02 °C/year, RCP4.5 and 0.03 °C/year, RCP8.5 from 1950 to 2100. Rainfall (1970–2020) shows high interannual variability but trends were not significant and less discernible. However, long-term projected rainfall data (1950–2100) analysis detected a significant (p = 0) upward trend (2.0 mm/year, RCP4.5 and 2.9 mm/year, RCP8.5), which is expected to continue up to the end of this century. Further, the study revealed some shifts in temperature towards higher values and positive anomalies in rainfall affecting seasonality and the likelihood of more extreme occurrences in the future, especially during the Maha cultivation season. The MaxEnt model predicts the following under future climate scenarios: (i) spatio-temporal shifts (conversions) in climate suitability for paddy farming in the VTCS zone; (ii) substantial low and moderate suitability areas that are currently suitable will remain unchanged; (iii) up to 96% of highly suitable and 38% of moderately suitable paddy growing areas in the VTCS zone will be at risk due to a decline in future climate suitability; and (iv) expansion of lower suitability areas by approximately 22% to 37%, due to conversion from moderate suitability areas. The study provides evidence that the continuous warming trend with increasing variability in rainfall and shifting seasonality could increase the vulnerability of future paddy farming in the VTCS. Thus, findings of this study will help planners to make more targeted solutions to improve adaptive capacity and regain the resilience to adjust the paddy farming pattern to deal with predicted climate variability and change.