Key Drivers of Food Insecurity in the 21st Century: INTRODUCTION
According to Sustainable Development United Nations (2017) the world is facing a global security challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050, with one in nine people undernourished in today’s setting. This seems like an impossible challenge, however, there is no biophysical supply-side reason why this would not be possible (McMahon, 2013).
To grasp what is driving food insecurity and how we can reach the goal of global food security we first need to define it which is best done by defining its antithesis. The term food security was assimilated into the human security discourse in the UNDP report (1994). According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food security is a ‘‘situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’’ (Schmidhuber and Tubiello, 2007).
Food insecurity involves a decline in the conditions of food security through reducing elements such as the availability, accessibility, and utilization of food with the focus of this paper being primarily on the first two.
This paper will set out to explore three internationalized and interlinked key drivers of food insecurity in the 21st century drawing on current experiences and future predictions. The causes of food insecurity might be global but its effects have increasingly been felt in developing countries, most predominantly in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (Schmidhuber and Tubiello, 2007). There are three key drivers of food insecurity in the 21st century that this paper explores; the neoliberal food system, climate change, and conflict, all of which are highly interconnected.
Each key driver, besides conflict, can act as both a direct primary key driver and an indirect secondary key driver of food insecurity through its potentially negatively reinforcing effects on another driver as is outlined in the “Key Drivers of Food Insecurity Nexus” (Figure A).
The first key driver this paper will explore is the geopolitical driver of food insecurity; the neoliberal food system (NFS). As a primary driver NFS, through its adamant imposition of principles of free trade and subsequent creation of inequalities, can contribute to food insecurity in many agriculturally-oriented developing countries. As a secondary driver, the NFS in extreme cases can contribute to conflict through disputes over access to land and food and high food prices. It can also play a part in accelerating climate change which in turn can negatively impact food security.
The second key driver to look at is climate change, which as a direct primary breaking-point driver of food insecurity will pose a much bigger risk to food security as we progress along this century by causing physical changes to cultivable land and the subsequent food availability. As a secondary driver, climate change can be complicit in enhancing inequalities in the NFS and contribute to exacerbating conflict over access to land for subsistence or livelihoods. These, in turn, play a role in multiplying the effects and chances of food insecurity.
The last key driver, conflict, acts as a bilateral driver, because it is not just a cause of food insecurity but can also be the consequence of food insecurity. As a primary driver, it can affect food insecurity in two ways; 1) as an unintended consequence and 2) through its use of hunger as a weapon of war. By exploring internationalized political solutions these drivers can be slowed down or halted completely.
