Conflict and food security
There is a circular link between conflict and food security.
Of 815 million undernourished people around the world, 60% live in countries where violent conflict occurs (Martin-Shields C. and Stojetz W., 2018).
In the Sahel region where we work, droughts have been increasing in intensity and frequency since the 1960s (Hendrix C. and Brinkman H., 2013).
These droughts can lead to tensions between pastoralists and farmers and there has been a rise in pastoralists encroaching on farmland whilst searching for water and food for their herd. Herding takes place in minimal lands thus these conflicts continually occur in conjunction with food insecurity (Hendrix C. and Brinkman H., 2013).
Sources:
Hendrix, C and Brinkman, H 2013 Food Insecurity and Conflict Dynamics: Causal Linkages and Complex Feedbacks. Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 2(2): 26, pp. 1-18, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.bm
Martin-Shields, C. & Stojetz, W. 2018. Food security and conflict. Empirical challenges and future opportunities for research and policy making on food security and conflict. FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Paper 18-04. Rome, FAO. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Conflict and poverty
Poverty and conflict are interconnected, and social tension hits the poorest people hard.
Although poverty is declining for much of the world, countries affected by violence are lagging behind. For every three years a country is affected by major violence, poverty reduction lags behind by 2.7 per cent. On average, a country that experiences major violence over the period from 1981 to 2005 has a poverty rate 21 per cent higher than a country that saw no violence.
When we think of armed groups, it’s important to consider the reasons why people enlist. Some are forced, others feel they have no other choice, others still see it as a way to earn money or status. Most are, in some way, manipulated by powerful actors for their own ends.
It’s important to avoid the temptation to see people in armed groups as wholly malicious. It’s also important not to see them wholly as victims. The reality is that men, women and children will enlist for a range of different reasons, even within the same armed group. This experience will have a huge impact on them as well as those they injure.
It is therefore hugely important to see the world as it is, not as we imagine it to be. It’s also important to work with people in armed groups, encouraging them to look behind the rhetoric and simplistic narratives and to dig into the real reasons for their grievances. Only then can we begin to change the incentives, as we make peace more profitable than violence.
Exposure to violence also harms armed group participants
Conflict and COVID-19
COVID-19 has already had and will continue to have a considerable impact on the state of the global economy. COVID-19 hasn’t reduced the need for peacebuilding; if anything, that need has increased.
In the countries where we work, Concordis expects the impact of the Pandemic to include mass unemployment, an increase in food insecurity, an increase in poverty and a decrease in resilience. We are already seeing an increase in conflict and with all of this, what we don’t know is the scale of the change.
Generally, the virus is expected to have extreme repercussions for already vulnerable populations. Food prices will increase as household purchasing power dwindles. We can only imagine the detrimental effects this deadly pandemic will have on countries already affected by climate shocks and food insecurity which both cause and heighten existing conflict.
Our commitment to local engagement means we’ve already identified and trained networks of local peacebuilders. We’ve worked with and through these local peace networks to replace peace conferences with smaller, local dialogues that can be delivered safely outdoors, whilst respecting social distance. This way we can continue to address root causes of conflict, promoting mutual benefits through trade and dialogue.
