CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual

The CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual describes a decision-support tool designed for local government staff and development practitioners to assess and strengthen the climate resilience of community-level food systems. The tool uses a conceptual 'spinwheel' framework to analyze five dimensions of food security—utilization, access, availability, supporting resources, and supporting organizations—and guides users through a process of risk screening, resilience analysis, and the selection of SMART indicators to monitor progress over time.

• CRiSTAL Food Security is a decision-support tool intended for local-level decision-makers, including municipal or district-level government staff, local community leaders, and project managers of development organizations, to help them understand food system elements and their sensitivity to climate variability and change.
• The tool's analytical foundation is a food systems framework structured as a 'spinwheel' with five concentric rings: household food utilization and consumption at the core, followed by food access, food availability, supporting resources and services, and finally supporting organizations and policies.
• The tool employs a resilience approach based on normative criteria for systems (flexibility, robustness, redundancy, modularity, diversity, and safe failure), agents (responsiveness, resourcefulness, and capacity to learn), and institutions (rights, entitlements, decision-making, and information).
• The CRiSTAL Food Security process is divided into six logically connected modules: A) Introduction, B) Context (community and climate), C) Food System analysis, D) Resilience analysis, E) Indicator Selection (focusing on SMART indicators), and F) Reports.
• The tool is implemented using a combination of secondary desk-based research and primary participatory methods. Recommended Participatory Rural Appraisal tools include Livelihood Strategies, Resource and Hazard Mapping, and Vulnerability Matrices.
• The tool is delivered as a series of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets available in English and Spanish, which automatically generate five types of reports: Background, Food System, Climate Impacts, Resilience Analysis, and Resilience Indicator reports.

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} }