Abstract This commentary discusses new advances in the predictability of east African rains and highlights the potential for improved early warning systems (EWS), humanitarian relief efforts, and agricultural decision‐making. Following an unprecedented sequence of five droughts, 23 million east Africans faced starvation in 2022, requiring >$2 billion in aid. Here, we update climate attribution studies showing that these droughts resulted from an interaction of climate change and La Niña.

Despite decades of research and dissemination of improved sweetpotato varieties, uptake at scale remains low and envisaged development goals of food security and livelihoods remain elusive. This is despite demonstrated impacts of such technologies in combating food and nutrition insecurity, amidst global challenges like climate change.

The rural population in southeastern Madagascar faces widespread poverty and weak resilience to frequent climate shocks, both contributing to severe food and nutrition insecurity. For effective policy responses and tailored interventions, development stakeholders need to know which factors determine household food and nutrition security status. In particular, the relative contributions of on-farm production diversity versus cash income are of importance since they would suggest different intervention priorities.

Malnutrition results in enormous socio-economic costs to the individual, their community, and the nation’s economy. The evidence suggests an overall negative impact of climate change on the agricultural productivity and nutritional quality of food crops. Producing more food with better nutritional quality, which is feasible, should be prioritized in crop improvement programs. Biofortification refers to developing micronutrient -dense cultivars through crossbreeding or genetic engineering.

Water is central for a variety of livelihoods, development, economic growth, and food production. It is also very important in the large deltas of South and Southeast Asia. Yet, water is turning into a scare resource and global climate change is making its availability more unpredictable. Commercial interests and infrastructure development are also competing for water resources, sometimes at the expense of local smallholders.

Rangelands in arid and semi-arid regions serve as grazing land for domesticated animals and therefore offer livelihood opportunities for most pastoral communities. Thus, the exposure of most rangelands in arid and semi-arid regions to threats that are associated with natural, social, economic, and political processes affects their capacity to provide socioeconomic and environmental support to the immediate and global communities.

There is currently no water cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of the nine rivers that flow across the border, none possess a formal agreement or mechanism to manage shared water resources. Further, there is very little information available about the status of environment, hydrology and water resources management for these river basins that could be used as a starting point for dialogues on transboundary water coordination.

The paper reviews the performance of the Sudanese agricultural sector over the last three decades (1990 through 2021) and examines the drivers of that performance. Key findings show that the sector’s contribution to gross domestic product was greater during the 1990–1999 period than during the other two decades; agricultural productivity as well was higher in that decade than in the subsequent two decades. The sector has remained a major source of employment and livelihood.

As part of the "ClimBeR: Building Systemic Resilience Against Climate Variability and Extremes" initiative, the Zambia spotlight developed a case study on "Water Access and Management in Community-based Water Tenure" in two rural communities of Zambia.

On 6 February 2022, the African Union’s (AU's) Climate Change and Resilient Development
Strategy and Action Plan (2022-2032) was endorsed at the 35th Ordinary Session of the

In combination with political, cultural, and economic factors, issues related to environmental resources and the management of land have played a crucial role in driving conflict in Mindanao. Climatic stressors and shocks are altering food, land, and water systems, and driving important socioeconomic challenges for food security and the stability of rural livelihoods across the Philippines.