Christophe Béné
Biographic Data
| ID | 94364 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christophe Béné |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christophe |
| FAMILY NAME | Béné |
| SIGNATURE | BÉNÉ C |
| AFFILIATIONS | International Center for Tropical Agriculture |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7078-9241 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 54 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 585 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 54 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
Shrinking appetites: Will GLP-1 adoption in high-income countries accelerate Big Food’s push into low- and middle-income countries
BACKGROUND: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) based medicines (for example Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound) are moving rapidly from specialist care to mass adoption in high-income countries, with measurable effects on food purchases and eating patterns. Early retail and household panel data from the United States indicate that households with a GLP-1 user reduce total grocery spending by about 5% within six months, with larger declines among higher-incom…
Unpacking food environment policy landscapes for healthier diets in “emerging” countries: The case of Viet Nam
Objective: Food systems and food environments are evolving rapidly in Viet Nam, concurrently with significant shifts in dietary patterns and health outcomes. This study aims to identify critical gaps in the national regulatory framework governing food environment in Viet Nam and to propose actionable recommendations to overcome these gaps. Results: Using the Food Environment Policy Index from the INFORMAS network, we mobilized a transdisciplinary…
Power & protein—closing the ‘justice gap’ for food system transformation
The protein shift, or transition, entails a reduction in the production and consumption of animal-source foods, and an increase in plant-based foods and alternative proteins, at a global level. The shift is primarily motivated by the need to minimise the impact of the food system on social-ecological systems. We argue that rather than focusing singularly on transitioning a ‘protein gap’ in diets, redressing the ‘justice gap’ is a prerequisite for…
Resilience – and collapse – of local food systems in conflict affected areas; reflections from Burkina Faso
Armed conflicts are among the major disruptions affecting local food systems in low- and middle-income countries, having devastating effects on populations’ food security. The understanding of the mechanisms linking conflicts to food insecurity is limited, however, by a lack of data on how these conflicts affect the different actors of local food systems. In this study, we aim to address this gap, using empirical data from the northeast region of…
Inclusive diets within planetary boundaries
Aquaculture governance: Five engagement arenas for sustainability transformation
Analysis of fishers' wellbeing in the western region of Ghana
Small-scale fisheries in Ghana are declining in response to the global fisheries crisis. The policies to curb this situation are dependent on the wellbeing of fishers in terms of material condition, quality of life, and transformative strategies for sustainable livelihoods. This paper employs survey data to investigate the wellbeing of fishers, using descriptives, principal-component analysis, and structural equation modelling. The results reveal…
Why the Great Food Transformation may not happen – A deep-dive into our food systems’ political economy, controversies and politics of evidence
This paper explores the conditions under which the changes leading to the Great Transformation of food systems called upon by a growing number of international experts and development agencies, will (or not) happen. After discussing the meanings of ‘transformation’ in the specific context of food systems, we draw on different elements of political economy to show how various self-reinforcing dynamics are contributing to lock food systems in their…
Crop resistance and household resilience – The case of cassava and sweetpotato during super-typhoon Ompong in the Philippines
Extreme weather events can have devastating effects on agricultural production. As rural households in developing countries largely depend on agriculture, climatic shocks have the potential to undermine food security. In this paper, we explore how crop resistance contribute to household resilience in extreme weather events. As case study, we used cassava and sweetpotato, two root and tuber crops (RTCs), in the context of super-typhoon Ompong that…
Strengthening the Resilience of Vulnerable Communities: Results from a Quasi-experimental Impact Evaluation in Coastal Bangladesh
At present, no clear consensus exists on how to assess resilience interventions in the field. In this paper we propose to measure the impact of the ECOFISH project, the objective of which was to strengthen the resilience of local fishing communities affected by recurrent crises in Bangladesh. The evaluation was based on a difference-in-difference (DiD) framework. The DiD analysis indicates that households who benefited from ECOFISH have a higher …
Viewpoint: Rigorous monitoring is necessary to guide food system transformation in the countdown to the 2030 global goals
Food systems that support healthy diets in sustainable, resilient, just, and equitable ways can engender progress in eradicating poverty and malnutrition; protecting human rights; and restoring natural resources. Food system activities have contributed to great gains for humanity but have also led to significant challenges, including hunger, poor diet quality, inequity, and threats to nature. While it is recognized that food systems are central t…
Policy framing and crisis narratives around food safety in Vietnam
While progress has been made recently in understanding food systems per se, much less is known about policies around those food systems. In this paper, we aim at understanding the food system policy context with the specific objective to look at policy dynamics-defined as the way policy agendas are identified, justified, and framed by decision-makers, and how they interact. Vietnam is used as a case study. Primary data were generated through face…
Resilience of local food systems and links to food security – A review of some important concepts in the context of Covid-19 and other shocks
The objective of this review is to explore and discuss the concept of local food system resilience in light of the disruptions brought to those systems by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion, which focuses on low and middle income countries, considers also the other shocks and stressors that generally affect local food systems and their actors in those countries (weather-related, economic, political or social disturbances). The review of e…
Conceptualising Covid-19’s impacts on household food security
Impacts of resilience interventions – Evidence from a quasi-experimental assessment in Niger
In this paper we aim to evaluate the effects of a 3-year resilience intervention (the SUR1M project in Niger) on the beneficiaries of the project. The evaluation was structured around the project's theory of change and designed to evaluate three elements along that theory of change: the types of responses beneficiaries adopt when faced with adverse events; their ability to recover from those events; and the long-term impact on their well-being, m…
Are we messing with people's resilience? Analysing the impact of external interventions on community intrinsic resilience
Realizing resilience for decision-making
Perception matters’: New insights into the subjective dimension of resilience in the context of humanitarian and food security crises
In the emerging literature on resilience in relation to food security, a growing number of studies stress the need to expand our analysis beyond conventional socio-economic factors such as assets or social capital, and to consider less tangible elements such as risk perception, self-efficacy or aspiration. Drawing on the recent literature and the authors’ own experience, a conceptual framework of subjective resilience is proposed. The framework h…
Reframing the sustainable seafood narrative
From no whinge scenarios to viability tree
Resilience as a policy narrative: Potentials and limits in the context of urban planning
The aim of this paper is to analyse the emergence of the concept of ‘urban resilience’ in the literature and to assess its potentials and limitations as an element of policy planning. Using a systematic literature review covering the period 2003–2013 and a combination of techniques derived from narrative analysis, we show that diverse views of what urban resilience means and how it is best used (as a goal or as a conceptual/analytical framework) …
When food systems meet sustainability – Current narratives and implications for actions
The concept of food system has gained prominence in recent years amongst both scholars and policy-makers. Experts from diverse disciplines and backgrounds have in particular discussed the nature and origin of the “unsustainability” of our modern food systems. These efforts tend, however, to be framed within distinctive disciplinary narratives. In this paper we propose to explore these narratives and to shed light on the explicit -or implicit- epi…
Adapting to a new urbanizing environment: Gendered strategies of Hanoi’s street food vendors
Drawing upon examples of street vendors in Hanoi, this study explores gendered strategies to adapt to rapid urbanization, and how street vendors’ responses, in turn, shape the current informal food systems. The findings show that Hanoi’s informal food system is organized based on social, as well as economic, interactions and therefore the system’s power hierarchy and gender relations are different from those of formal systems, while providing liv…
Squaring the Circle: Reconciling the Need for Rigor with the Reality on the Ground in Resilience Impact Assessment
Currently shaping a large part of the development and humanitarian agenda the concept of resilience has been embraced by a large number of donors, development agencies, and international NGOs. As a consequence, an increasing number of development interventions that aim at strengthening the resilience of vulnerable households and communities are now being implemented across the globe. Along with these interventions, a growing and urgent call for r…
Is resilience a useful concept in the context of food security and nutrition programmes? Some conceptual and practical considerations
When food systems meet sustainability – Current narratives and implications for actions
The concept of food system has gained prominence in recent years amongst both scholars and policy-makers. Experts from diverse disciplines and backgrounds have in particular discussed the nature and origin of the “unsustainability” of our modern food systems. These efforts tend, however, to be framed within distinctive disciplinary narratives. In this paper we propose to explore these narratives and to shed light on the explicit -or implicit- epi…
Women and Fish-for-Sex: Transactional Sex, HIV/Aids and Gender in African Fisheries
When Fishery Rhymes with Poverty: A First Step Beyond the Old Paradigm on Poverty in Small-Scale Fisheries
Contribution of Fisheries and Aquaculture to Food Security and Poverty Reduction: Assessing the Current Evidence
Not by Rent Alone: Analysing the Pro-Poor Functions of Small-Scale Fisheries in Developing Countries
The dominant view in academic and policy arenas is increasingly one in which the major contribution of capture fisheries to development should be derived from the capacity of society to maximise the economic rent of fishery resources. Drawing upon empirical experience from the South, this article highlights the potentially disastrous consequences that a universal implementation of the rent-maximisation model would have in developing countries, an…
Is resilience socially constructed? Empirical evidence from Fiji, Ghana, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam
The objective of this paper is to better understand the various individual and household factors that influence resilience, that is, people⬢s ability to respond adequately to shocks and stressors. One of our hypotheses is that resilience does not simply reflect the expected effects of quantifiable factors such as level of assets, or even less quantifiable social processes such as people⬢s experience, but is also determined by more subjective dime…
Vulnerability and resilience of remote rural communities to shocks and global changes: Empirical analysis from Solomon Islands
Power Struggle, Dispute and Alliance Over Local Resources: Analyzing ‘Democratic’ Decentralization of Natural Resources through the Lenses of Africa Inland Fisheries
Viewpoint: Rigorous monitoring is necessary to guide food system transformation in the countdown to the 2030 global goals
Food systems that support healthy diets in sustainable, resilient, just, and equitable ways can engender progress in eradicating poverty and malnutrition; protecting human rights; and restoring natural resources. Food system activities have contributed to great gains for humanity but have also led to significant challenges, including hunger, poor diet quality, inequity, and threats to nature. While it is recognized that food systems are central t…
Squaring the Circle: Reconciling the Need for Rigor with the Reality on the Ground in Resilience Impact Assessment
Currently shaping a large part of the development and humanitarian agenda the concept of resilience has been embraced by a large number of donors, development agencies, and international NGOs. As a consequence, an increasing number of development interventions that aim at strengthening the resilience of vulnerable households and communities are now being implemented across the globe. Along with these interventions, a growing and urgent call for r…
Why the Great Food Transformation may not happen – A deep-dive into our food systems’ political economy, controversies and politics of evidence
This paper explores the conditions under which the changes leading to the Great Transformation of food systems called upon by a growing number of international experts and development agencies, will (or not) happen. After discussing the meanings of ‘transformation’ in the specific context of food systems, we draw on different elements of political economy to show how various self-reinforcing dynamics are contributing to lock food systems in their…
Poverty in small-scale fisheries: Old Issue, New Analysis
Using a new framework combining vulnerability and exclusion as two central dimensions of poverty, this article revisits some of the long-standing beliefs about poverty in small-scale fisheries. We argue that the issue of poverty in fish-dependent communities cannot be reduced to a simple correlation between income poverty and fishery dependence. A more thorough analysis is required that must account for the diversity of fishing-related livelihood…
Fish as the “bank in the water” – Evidence from chronic-poor communities in Congo
The Interplay of Well-being and Resilience in Applying a Social-Ecological Perspective
Armitage, D., C. Béné, A. T. Charles, D. Johnson, and E. H. Allison. 2012. The interplay of well-being and resilience in applying a social-ecological perspective. Ecology and Society 17(4): 15. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04940-170415
Trade Matters in the Fight Against Poverty”: Narratives, Perceptions, and (Lack of) Evidence in the Case of Fish Trade in Africa
Realizing resilience for decision-making
Adapting to a new urbanizing environment: Gendered strategies of Hanoi’s street food vendors
Drawing upon examples of street vendors in Hanoi, this study explores gendered strategies to adapt to rapid urbanization, and how street vendors’ responses, in turn, shape the current informal food systems. The findings show that Hanoi’s informal food system is organized based on social, as well as economic, interactions and therefore the system’s power hierarchy and gender relations are different from those of formal systems, while providing liv…
Testing resilience thinking in a poverty context: Experience from the Niger River basin
Inland Fisheries, Poverty, and Rural Livelihoods in the Lake Chad Basin
The objective of this paper is to describe the livelihoods of the rural populations of the Lake Chad Basin area (Sub-Saharan Africa), and in particular to assess the role of inland fishing activity in these livelihoods. For this purpose, a combination of activity and wealth ranking exercises was carried out in 64 villages of the Basin, completed by a series of comparative analyses of the ethnic composition, accessibility to fishing grounds and fi…
Fishing Effort Allocation and Fishermen's Decision Making Process in a Multi-Species Small-Scale Fishery: Analysis of the Conch and Lobster Fishery in Turks and Caicos Islands
Analysis of Power in Fisheries Co-Management: Experiences from Malawi
In this article we analyze co-management arrangements in Malawi through the lenses of the concept of power. We focus the analysis at the local level where most of the more important actors operate. These include the fishing communities and the Department of Fisheries, but also the traditional leaders and the new local management entities created through co-management reforms—the so-called beach village committees. Our analysis, based on decentral…
Reframing the sustainable seafood narrative
Strengthening the Resilience of Vulnerable Communities: Results from a Quasi-experimental Impact Evaluation in Coastal Bangladesh
At present, no clear consensus exists on how to assess resilience interventions in the field. In this paper we propose to measure the impact of the ECOFISH project, the objective of which was to strengthen the resilience of local fishing communities affected by recurrent crises in Bangladesh. The evaluation was based on a difference-in-difference (DiD) framework. The DiD analysis indicates that households who benefited from ECOFISH have a higher …
Perception matters’: New insights into the subjective dimension of resilience in the context of humanitarian and food security crises
In the emerging literature on resilience in relation to food security, a growing number of studies stress the need to expand our analysis beyond conventional socio-economic factors such as assets or social capital, and to consider less tangible elements such as risk perception, self-efficacy or aspiration. Drawing on the recent literature and the authors’ own experience, a conceptual framework of subjective resilience is proposed. The framework h…
From no whinge scenarios to viability tree
A viability analysis for a bio-economic model
Fishing Effort Allocation and Fishermen's Decision Making Process in a Multi-Species Small-Scale Fishery: Analysis of the Conch and Lobster Fishery in Turks and Caicos Islands
When Fishery Rhymes with Poverty: A First Step Beyond the Old Paradigm on Poverty in Small-Scale Fisheries
Inland Fisheries, Poverty, and Rural Livelihoods in the Lake Chad Basin
The objective of this paper is to describe the livelihoods of the rural populations of the Lake Chad Basin area (Sub-Saharan Africa), and in particular to assess the role of inland fishing activity in these livelihoods. For this purpose, a combination of activity and wealth ranking exercises was carried out in 64 villages of the Basin, completed by a series of comparative analyses of the ethnic composition, accessibility to fishing grounds and fi…
Traditional Management Systems, Poverty and Change in the Arid Zone Fisheries of Northern Nigeria
This paper, based on fieldwork results, explores traditional management systems (TMS) in the arid zone fisheries of north-eastern Nigeria with particular reference to their impact on rural poverty. The first section provides a historical background by tracing the evolution of the TMS since the nineteenth century, with reference to government policy on fisheries management and poverty alleviation. The second gives an overview of TMS, including def…
Contribution values of biodiversity to ecosystem performances: A viability perspective
Fish as the “bank in the water” – Evidence from chronic-poor communities in Congo
Women and Fish-for-Sex: Transactional Sex, HIV/Aids and Gender in African Fisheries
Are Fishers Poor or Vulnerable? Assessing Economic Vulnerability in Small-Scale Fishing Communities
An index of economic vulnerability is developed and used with a more conventional measure of income poverty to explore vulnerability and chronic poverty in isolated rural communities. The method is applied to data from remote rural fishing–farming communities in Congo. The analysis highlights the high vulnerability of full-time fisherfolk and identifies mobility as a key factor increasing vulnerability. In line with other recent economic research…
Power Struggle, Dispute and Alliance Over Local Resources: Analyzing ‘Democratic’ Decentralization of Natural Resources through the Lenses of Africa Inland Fisheries
Linking small-scale fisheries and aquaculture to household nutritional security: An overview
Trade Matters in the Fight Against Poverty”: Narratives, Perceptions, and (Lack of) Evidence in the Case of Fish Trade in Africa
Not by Rent Alone: Analysing the Pro-Poor Functions of Small-Scale Fisheries in Developing Countries
The dominant view in academic and policy arenas is increasingly one in which the major contribution of capture fisheries to development should be derived from the capacity of society to maximise the economic rent of fishery resources. Drawing upon empirical experience from the South, this article highlights the potentially disastrous consequences that a universal implementation of the rent-maximisation model would have in developing countries, an…
A valoração da pesca em águas continentais
A pesca tem sido, e provavelmente continuará sendo, uma importante fonte de alimento e renda para sociedade. Nesse trabalho os autores mostram que o valor econômico total da pesca nem sempre é reconhecido. O valor econômico total (VET) em rios pode ser dividido em valor de uso direto e valor de não-uso/valor de preservação. VET é a soma de todos os valores de uso e não uso, não importando como são derivados. Os autores mostram que há extrema difi…
The potential role of small fish species in improving micronutrient deficiencies in developing countries: Building evidence
Objective To build a comprehensive overview of the potential role of fish in improving nutrition with respect to certain micronutrient deficiencies in developing countries. Design A comprehensive literature review was completed. For this the electronic library databases ASFA, CABD and Scopus were systematically searched and relevant references cited in these sources were carefully analysed. The search terms used were ‘fish’, ‘small fish species’,…
Poverty in small-scale fisheries: Old Issue, New Analysis
Using a new framework combining vulnerability and exclusion as two central dimensions of poverty, this article revisits some of the long-standing beliefs about poverty in small-scale fisheries. We argue that the issue of poverty in fish-dependent communities cannot be reduced to a simple correlation between income poverty and fishery dependence. A more thorough analysis is required that must account for the diversity of fishing-related livelihood…
Testing resilience thinking in a poverty context: Experience from the Niger River basin
Vulnerability and resilience of remote rural communities to shocks and global changes: Empirical analysis from Solomon Islands
Analysis of Power in Fisheries Co-Management: Experiences from Malawi
In this article we analyze co-management arrangements in Malawi through the lenses of the concept of power. We focus the analysis at the local level where most of the more important actors operate. These include the fishing communities and the Department of Fisheries, but also the traditional leaders and the new local management entities created through co-management reforms—the so-called beach village committees. Our analysis, based on decentral…
Social Protection and Climate Change
This overview is an introduction to the theme session on ‘Social protection and climate change’ in this IDS Bulletin. It first reviews the different dimensions of the relationship between social protection and climate change before presenting the articles of the session. The message that emerges from these analyses is twofold. On the one hand, there is a growing recognition that social protection needs to become ‘climate proofed’ if social protec…
Resilience: New Utopia or New Tyranny? Reflection about the Potentials and Limits of the Concept of Resilience in Relation to Vulnerability Reduction Programmes
Resilience is becoming influential in development and vulnerability reduction sectors such as social protection, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Policy makers, donors and international development agencies are now increasingly referring to the term. In that context, the objective of this paper was to assess in a critical manner the advantages and limits of resilience. While the review highlights some positive elements –in p…
A stochastic viability approach to ecosystem-based fisheries management
The Interplay of Well-being and Resilience in Applying a Social-Ecological Perspective
Armitage, D., C. Béné, A. T. Charles, D. Johnson, and E. H. Allison. 2012. The interplay of well-being and resilience in applying a social-ecological perspective. Ecology and Society 17(4): 15. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-04940-170415
Small‐scale fisheries through the wellbeing lens
Despite longstanding recognition that small‐scale fisheries make multiple contributions to economies, societies and cultures, assessing these contributions and incorporating them into policy and decision‐making has suffered from a lack of a comprehensive integrating ‘lens’. This paper focuses on the concept of ‘wellbeing’ as a means to accomplish this integration, thereby unravelling and better assessing complex social and economic issues within …
African Inland Fisheries: Experiences with Co-Management and Policies of Decentralization
Most countries in Africa have promoted some form of decentralized fisheries management either as discrete co-management projects or as a component of broader decentralization processes that cut across other sectors. These initiatives were shaped by an international policy narrative that emphasises participation in decision making and development. A review of fisheries decentralization experiences in Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Malawi reveals ma…
Economics (43 works) · Geography (37 works) · Business (28 works) · Political science (25 works) · Environmental resource management (22 works) · Food security (22 works) · Agriculture (20 works) · Economic growth (20 works) · Fishery (20 works) · Ecology (19 works)