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Climate change is and is projected to impact negatively on health, food security and nutrition, and its effects are likely to be greater among vulnerable - including Indigenous - communities. However, literature assessing the relationship between dietary intake and child feeding, and climatic factors among Indigenous populations is scarce. The thesis's aim is to characterize the diet of Indigenous Batwa and neighbouring non-Indigenous Bakiga communities living in southwestern Uganda, and to explore the likely impact of weather and seasonality on nutrients in foods (Chapter 2), on child feeding practices (Chapter 6), and on dietary intake (Chapter 7). This dissertation uses participatory community-based approaches, and mixed methods research to explore commonly consumed foods, included in a locally-relevant food composition database (Chapter 3 & 4), adult and child nutrition. Multiple fieldwork methods are included, such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, shop and market assessment, dietary surveys, and also the analysis of secondary data (Chapter 5) and a systematic review. At global level, climate change impacts on food nutritional content, particularly in marine species. Socio-cultural context and environmental factors, including seasonality, influence Batwa and Bakiga's diet. Nutrient and caloric intake of both communities are inadequate over wet and dry months, especially for women and children. They mostly consume cereal and vegetable-based dishes, poor in vitamin A, zinc, iodine, and fats. Although breastfeeding prevalence is high, food insecurity linked to extreme climatic events, poverty, low health education, and alcoholism limit optimal child and maternal nutrition. This project contributes to filling the research gap on climatic and non-climatic factors influencing diets among Indigenous communities. Also, it offers insights towards the implementation of nutritional programs for vulnerable food-insecure populations by considering the likely effect of climatic changes. Interventions that are adapted to the unique environmental and cultural context of Indigenous populations can better address individuals' nutritional needs and reduce malnutrition.

The impacts of climate change on health are not equitably distributed. Likewise, the ability to respond to-and benefit from responses to-climate change is also experienced inequitably. How responses are developed, who they are designed for and by, as well as the context in which they are intended to be implemented will influence the needs, capacity, and success of adaptation responses. The Paris Agreement mandates a path towards just and equitable responses to climate change. Researchers and policy makers are not only interested in understanding how climate change will impact human and ecosystem health, but also how we might adapt to these risks in a way that considers how the burdens and benefits of our responses will be distributed: when it comes to responding to climate change, who wins, who loses, and who decides? My thesis contributes to assessing the justice and equity dimensions of how we respond to climate risks and impacts, with a focus on how connecting different forms of knowledge can enable a more just response. While the academic and political importance of climate adaptation effectiveness and procedural justice is known, the literature exploring what these concepts mean in practice remains scant. As such, my thesis aims to provide empirical evidence that examines the critiques of existing processes, questions the limitations of conventional approaches, and builds confidence in the possibilities of knowledge diversity and procedural justice. This thesis aims to be transparent and critically reflexive about examining existing and potential ways that knowledges have, and could, come together to advance climate responses across local and global scales. In asking, why do Indigenous knowledges and local knowledges matter for effective adaptation responses, Chapter 2 critically appraises how diverse knowledges contribute to climate-health monitoring and response systems. In asking, what does procedural justice mean for initiating adaptation responses in practice, Chapter 3 contextualises a process for initiating an integrated climate-food-health response working within existing networks of diverse knowledges. In asking, can climate change evidence assessments achieve a standard of procedural justice necessary for working with diverse knowledges and knowledge holders, Chapter 4 assesses how to equitably and meaningfully bring together diverse knowledges and reform an evidence assessment process that feeds global climate adaptation responses.