The warming rates in many mountain areas are higher than the global average, negatively impacting crop systems. Little is known about the climatic changes which are already being observed in eastern Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo, due to the lack of long-term meteorological data. Local perceptions could help us to understand not only the climatic changes and impacts but also which adaptation strategies are already being used by local smallholder farmers. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 300 smallholder Bafuliru (n = 150) and Lega (n = 150) farmers living in the Itombwe Mountains. The respondents reported climatic changes and impacts, with the Bafuliru—living on the eastern drier slopes—reporting more changes and impacts. While the Bafuliru were implementing several adaptation strategies (e.g., increased irrigation and use of inputs, more soil conservation, more income diversification), the Lega were implementing very few, due to soft limits (access to inputs, markets, and information) and culture (less interest in farming, less capacity to organize into groups). The results highlight important differences in sociocultural contexts, even for one ‘remote’ mountain, calling for a more collaborative approach to adaptation planning and action.

Key message: The GUYADIV dataset compiles inventory data from over 100 hectares of lowland tropical forest plots across French Guiana, encompassing 90,000 trees from 1,393 species. It provides a solid foundation for investigating patterns of diversity and function in tropical tree communities at multiple spatial scales. It is available at https://doi.org/10.23708/RLYCVQ ; and the associated metadata at https://metadata-afs.nancy.inra.fr/geonetwork/srv/fre/catalog.search#/metadata/da2fb3a7-8669-499d-b8c1-258da68b8f85

Climate-related disturbances are increasingly identified as major determinants of food insecurity in fragile environments, yet empirical evidence remains scarce in conflict-affected areas such as the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Using high-frequency FAO DIEM-Monitoring surveys (2022–2026), this paper estimates the causal effect of climate shocks on household food security in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Tanganyika. Food security is measured with five validated indicators (FCS, HDDS, HHS, FIES, and rCSI); capturing multiple dimensions of access, consumption, and coping. To address endogeneity in self-reported shock exposure, the authors apply an instrumental-variable Conditional Mixed Process (IV-CMP) model and triangulate results with a pseudo-panel fixed-effects ordered probit model based on FIES severity. Objective climate proxies (rainfall and NDVI) are used to reinforce robustness. The results indicate that climate shocks lead to a significant deterioration in food consumption and raise the likelihood of households experiencing both moderate and severe food insecurity, thereby undermining sustainable food security. Effects are heterogeneous across provinces, reflecting the interaction between climate variability, conflict intensity, and market access constraints. Female-headed households are disproportionately affected in some areas, highlighting gendered vulnerabilities, while income, education, livestock ownership, and land access mitigate vulnerability. These findings highlight the need for integrated and sustainability-oriented policy responses combining climate-smart agriculture, adaptive social protection, early warning systems, and conflict-sensitive programming. Overall, this research advances existing knowledge by delivering rigorous causal insights based on multiple food security indicators and advanced econometric techniques in a highly fragile setting.