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2507000955
  • Open Access
  • Article
Climate-Nutrition Interaction: Identifying the Mediating Roles of Water Security Using Nationally-Representative Indian Data
  • Neetu Choudhary 1, *,   
  • Alexandra Brewis 2,   
  • Amber Wutich 2

Received: 22 Apr 2025 | Revised: 04 Jun 2025 | Accepted: 03 Jul 2025 | Published: 14 Jul 2025

Abstract

Most current research on climate-nutrition interactions centers around how climate impacts food production in ways that worsen nutritional outcomes like child stunting. Possible roles for different aspects of water availability within this dynamic are understudied. Here, we re-examine climate-nutrition interactions while accommodating the role of climatic factors, regional water availability as well as household water access. We used India’s nationally representative 2019–21 Demographic and Health Survey data to estimate the impact of climatic factors on household food and water access, child anaemia, and stunting. We analyzed a sample of 166,597 children aged 6–59 months using simple probit and Generalized Structural Equation (GSEM) Modelling based on our adaptation of the UNICEF’s nutrition framework. The effect of rainfall anomalies on child stunting depended upon their magnitude. Excess rainfall consistently had positive effects on household food and water access. But if exceeding 30 percent from historical average, more rainfall proved detrimental to child stunting. Rainfall deficit had a consistently negative effect on child nutrition, as did higher temperatures and higher aridity. GSEM findings explicated the mediating role of household water access in climate-nutrition interaction, even after accounting for household food access. These interactions varied regionally. Furthermore, household water access affected child stunting through both sanitation/hygiene pathway and child’s diet. Our findings show that climate affects nutrition through household food security as well as household water security and child’s diet. Accordingly, there is a need to broaden the policy framework on climate- nutrition relationship, recognizing a key role for household water security.

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Choudhary, N.; Brewis, A.; Wutich, A. Climate-Nutrition Interaction: Identifying the Mediating Roles of Water Security Using Nationally-Representative Indian Data. Water Scarcity and Drought 2025, 1 (1), 3.
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