Food insecurity and conflict often go hand-in-hand: a lack of food can ignite conflict and conflict can result in food shortages and unavailability. What’s more, the scope of the problem is far reaching, as more than one and a half billion people live in areas impacted by conflict.
In their 2020 Conference Brief, Building Resilience to Conflict through Food-Security Policies and Programs: An Overview, IFPRI researchers take a closer look at several country-level case studies—Yemen, Egypt, Somalia, and Sudan—to divine lessons learned in developing effective resilience-enhancing food security policies.
Researchers found that:
- Shocks, such as conflict, economic crises, and natural disasters, are often interdependent and can lead to complex emergencies.
- Climate change adaptation must compliment conflict prevention and food security strategies.
- Economic diversification and diversity of income sources are key to building resilience to conflict.
- Capable institutions are important building blocks of resilience as well.
