The Livelihoods Explorer uses 2100 kilocalories per day per person as the standard for minimum food energy needs in line with the internationally accepted minimum requirement. Both food and income sources are converted into kilocalories allowing for easy comparison.
Both Survival and Livelihood Protection Thresholds will be greater than 100% of 2100 kcals/person/day since they include non-food essentials.
This practice is in line with guidance from the Practitioner’s Guide to HEA:
All food and income sources have been converted into their calorific equivalencies, i.e. the calories in food consumed, plus the calories that could hypothetically be purchased if all cash income was used to buy grain, and then compared to the internationally accepted standard of 2100 kilocalories per person per day. This has the advantage of allowing for like-to-like comparisons, and also of ensuring that a rigorous cross-checking can take place. In most instances, HEA uses the measure of 2100 kilocalories rather than a more sophisticated nutritional measure (such as the ideal dietary composition) because this meets the immediate requirements of the decision makers who tend to demand HEA information, and it fits within the practical limitations of most assessments. This is not to say that energy alone is a sufficient measure of nutritional adequacy; but it is the first measure of whether or not people will starve. Further analysis along nutritional lines is possible with HEA, although targeted nutritional survey work is likely to be more appropriate for gaining specific pieces of nutritional information.