CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual

The CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual describes a Microsoft Excel-based tool used to systematically assess risks to food security posed by climate variability and change. The tool employs a food systems and resilience approach, analyzing five dimensions: food utilization and consumption, food access, food availability, supporting resources and services, and supporting organizations and policies. It guides users through a six-module process—Introduction, Context, Food System, Resilience, Indicators, and Reports—combining participatory community consultations with secondary research to identify vulnerabilities and develop SMART resilience indicators.

• The tool is structured around a five-ring 'spinwheel' conceptual framework that analyzes food security from the core outward: household food utilization, food access strategies, processes for food availability, supporting resources and services, and finally supporting organizations and policies.
• Resilience is analyzed using normative criteria categorized by systems (flexibility, robustness, redundancy, modularity, diversity, and safe failure), agents (responsiveness, re-organization, resourcefulness, and capacity to learn), and institutions (rights, entitlements, decision-making, and information).
• The tool's methodology emphasizes a combination of secondary desk-based research and primary data gathered through participatory rural appraisal tools, such as livelihood strategies, resource and hazard mapping, and vulnerability matrices.
• The analytical process concludes with the selection of SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) indicators to monitor the evolution of community food system resilience over time, with a recommendation to limit monitoring to no more than 20 indicators for practicality.
• The tool generates five automated summary reports: a background report, a food systems report, a climate impacts report, a resilience analysis report, and a resilience indicators report.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2014). CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/cristal_food_security_manual_en.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual. 2014. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/cristal_food_security_manual_en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual |date=2014 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/cristal_food_security_manual_en.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2014cristal, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2014}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/cristal_food_security_manual_en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }