One of the most critical impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was on food security. Food insecurity increased in many communities, with some showing signs of resilience through autonomously creating community kitchens that enhanced food security and built support networks. These initiatives filled gaps left by government programmes and provided a critical lifeline for vulnerable communities during the pandemic, fostering community solidarity. This paper aims to investigate the experiences and perceptions of community kitchen managers in addressing food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic by using a town in South Africa in 2020–2022 as a case study. Using arts-based participatory approaches, researchers interviewed 11 community kitchen managers representing 10 community kitchens in four sessions between June and November 2021. The results showed that a lack of jobs and food insecurity were identified as the main threats, whereas COVID-19 was not even identified as a threat by all of the community kitchen managers. Lacking support from the local government, these initiatives depended on individuals and community-based organisations for backing. However, this support decreased in 2021 and 2022, raising concerns about the sustainability of these efforts.

Coastal systems are a major source of food for Indigenous communities. Climate change poses a high risk to coastal communities’ food security. Successful climate change adaptation practices are essential to ensure food security among Indigenous peoples. Yet, limits and constraints challenge climate change adaptation practices. Our study seeks to identify these limits and constraints in the context of food security among coastal Indigenous peoples. We performed a global scale systematic literature review using 155 scholarly articles to examine the constraints and limits to climate adaptation in the coastal food security and Indigenous peoples’ context. The three research questions are as follows: (i) What are the key constraints? (ii) What are the limits? (iii) What are the ways of overcoming the constraints? First, we found that, globally, the main constraints to adapting to climate change in coastal food security settings are related to governance, institutions and policies. Second, most limits are soft, to be solved, compared to hard limits on coastal systems. Third, we unveiled ways of overcoming the constraints, such as restoring coastal food system resilience, improving food accessibility and building the adaptive capacity of Indigenous peoples. The findings of the study provide valuable insights for policymakers, researchers and other relevant stakeholders involved in decision-making regarding coastal food security in the climate change adaptation context.

Despite coastal regions’ importance and vulnerability to climate change, Ghana’s coasts remain underexplored through social-ecological systems (SES) approaches, with limited attention to Indigenous and local communities’ adaptive responses to contemporary challenges. We conducted a study with the aims of (1) identifying the changes in coastal SES as perceived by the Akplabanya community and (2) examining the Akplabanya community’s human adaptation responses to those changes. During two months of fieldwork in Akplabanya, we used four data collection methods: participant observation, semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. We found social-ecological changes related to five themes: (i) coastal climate change (sea-level rise), (ii) resource change (changes in land use), (iii) agrobiodiversity loss (changes in livestock), (iv) pollution (unsustainable practices) and (v) population change (increasing population). As adaptation responses to these changes, the community adaptive responses we found were (a) place (sense of place), (b) agency (emergence of food markets), (c) Indigenous and local knowledge (weakening of Indigenous knowledge), (d) collective action (collective solutions), (e) institutions (partnerships) and (f) learning (awareness). Our study highlights the urgent need for targeted research in regions like Ghana to guide and improve adaptation policy interventions for scientists, policymakers and researchers.

Indigenous food systems are increasingly threatened by climate change, socio-economic transformations, and reduced access to traditional lands and resources, contributing to disproportionately high levels of food insecurity among Indigenous peoples. Despite growing recognition of Indigenous food systems within sustainability research, limited attention has been given to Indigenous food system governance across different contexts. This study examined: (1) how Indigenous food systems vary across continents; (2) the key characteristics of Indigenous food system governance; and (3) how these characteristics are expressed within Sri Lankan Vedda communities. A systematic literature review of 143 publications from Web of Science and Scopus was conducted alongside a multi-sited case study involving 114 semi-structured interviews across six Vedda communities in Sri Lanka. Findings revealed continental variations in food sourcing, food sources, food use, and harvesting practices. Eight interconnected governance characteristics were identified: co-management, leadership, participatory research, partnerships, social networks, mutualism, collective action, and religious/cultural dimensions. Evidence from Sri Lankan Vedda communities demonstrated that strong leadership, social cohesion, and collaborative partnerships enhanced food security and resilience, whereas weakened governance structures and limited external support contributed to food insecurity. The study highlights the importance of strengthening Indigenous self-governance to support sustainable Indigenous food systems.

This study examines the prevalence and determinants of succession planning in family businesses in Sri Lanka, addressing a critical gap in empirical research within developing-country contexts. Family businesses play a vital role in economic growth, employment generation, and wealth creation; yet their long-term sustainability is often threatened by inadequate succession planning. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study combines quantitative data collected from 84 family business owners in the Gampaha Municipal Council area with qualitative insights from in-depth case studies that provide contextual insights into succession planning practices. The findings reveal that only 57% of respondents have undertaken at least one step toward succession planning, highlighting that a significant proportion of family businesses still lack formal planning. Binary logistic regression analysis shows that succession planning is significantly influenced by the owner’s level of education, family cohesion, family commitment, family involvement, business age, and business size. Notably, family cohesion demonstrates a negative relationship with succession planning, suggesting that strong emotional bonds may reduce the perceived urgency for planning succession. In contrast, higher education levels, stronger family commitment, greater family involvement, and larger and older businesses positively influence the likelihood of succession planning. The study contributes to the literature by providing integrated empirical evidence across owner, family, and business dimensions of family businesses. The findings highlight the need for proactive and structured succession planning practices to ensure intergenerational continuity and sustainability of family businesses in developing economies.