Sowing the seeds of peace for food security: Disentangling the nexus between conflict, food security and peace
This report (PDF) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) tries to gain a deep insight into the nature of the presumed relationships between conflict, food security and peace. It was developed to provide background analysis for the purposes of the thematic part of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017. The nature of conflict has changed, and this matters for food security. By far, most of today’s conflicts take the form of intrastate civil wars (with or without state involvement), with consequences that spill over borders as they disrupt livelihoods and force people to flee. Today’s conflicts also have a more localized nature, which implies that the impacts on food security and nutrition also tend to be more localized. Without peace, the dream of a world without hunger may prove elusive. While each context presents its own challenges, in all conflict-ridden contexts it is fundamental to follow conflict-sensitive, rights-based and gender-sensitive approaches, guided by sufficient conflict analysis, in order to improve food security and nutrition. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the importance of peace for food security, and of improving food security as a means to prevent conflict. Pursuing these goals is not easy in practice, especially in conflict-ridden contexts. It requires concerted efforts by many stakeholders across many areas of intervention