Maximizing nutrition in key food value chains of Mongolia under climate change

•In Mongolia, livestock play an important role in food security, consumption, and pastoral animal husbandry traditions. However, the reliance on pastoral livestock and rainfed agriculture along with its fragile ecosystems put Mongolia’s economy at risk of adverse climate change impacts, particularly from extreme weather events.•Using a qualitative, participatory methods approach, this study identified the perceived climate threats to two Mongolian food value chains—meat (high/excessive consumption) and vegetables (low consumption)—across the natural zones of Mongolia and the lived experience constraints put on the producers, traders, retailers, and consumers of these commodities.•Following this qualitative analysis, a climate-nutrition-sensitive value chain analysis was undertaken to identify how climate and nutrition resilience could be maximized and nutrient losses minimized to reduce adverse climate change impacts on diets and nutrition of the Mongolian population.•For the livestock sector, it will be important to invest in diverse livestock breeding strategies that focus on improving growth yields, and that are tolerant to weather extremes. The focus should be on quality, not quantity and extensification.•Vegetable producers operate in an informal realm. The establishment of cooperatives, capacity building on agricultural technology and best practices, and more direct government support could help increase vegetable production.