Analysis | Somalia’s impending famine reminds the world why food security is still a priority
ISD’s working group on food security remains pertinent one year later
In 2011, a famine in Somalia killed over a quarter of a million people, half of whom were children under the age of five. Now, experts warn another famine is imminent and likely worse than in 2011. Somalia is the most immediate concern in a global food crisis brought on by lingering supply shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition to providing swift solutions to Somalia’s current calamity, multilateral, regional, and local organizations need to work in concert to build a global food system that is more resilient to shocks and growing vulnerability. Such a system would depend on action that recognizes the connection between instability and hunger. The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy’s (ISD) Global Commons Working Group on food security in 2021 remains as relevant now as it was one year ago.
Somalia is a stark example of the nexus between food security and conflict. The food crisis is largely driven by East Africa’s worst drought in decades, a consequence of continued climate change. To make matters worse, Somalia receives 90 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. While Russia’s illegal invasion puts 7.1 million Somalis at risk of starvation, food scarcity also empowers al-Shabab terrorists to spread instability. For example, in response to local resistance, al-Shabab killed twenty people and burned seven trucks carrying much-needed food to suffering communities in the Hiran region on September 3. Food insecurity also strengthens al-Shabab’s hand. For instance, it distributes stolen food to try to reinforce its legitimacy with local populations while forcing cash concessions from humanitarian agencies to deliver needed supplies in its controlled territory. Instability is routinely recognized as a national security challenge, but the relationship between instability and hunger is rarely treated as such. Policymakers should approach hunger with the same level of commitment.
The international community indeed is responding, but it is likely not enough. In July, the United States announced an additional $476 million in aid for Somalia, with a fiscal year total of over $700 million. The United Nations created a $1.5 billion response plan for Somalia; however, as of August, only about two-thirds of that amount was funded. After a recent visit to the region, Martin Griffiths, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, announced that donors need to add an additional $1 billion to save hundreds of thousands of lives and feed millions of others. Put another way, Somalia needs just 7.4 percent of U.S. military aid to Ukraine. This is not to say the international community should divert aid from Eastern Europe, only that millions of people depend on that aid as much in Somalia as in Ukraine. The political will to save lives in the Horn of Africa should be as strong as it is to save lives in Europe.
The current rush to raise funds for the food emergency in Somalia is just the latest example of short-fuse humanitarian food crises that dot the globe. And it almost certainly won’t be the last without reforms to the broader global food system. In 2021, the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy’s Global Commons Working Group on food security produced the report Peace Through Food: Ending the Hunger-Instability Nexus. The trends in Somalia and around the world today were evident to the working group last year. It recognized climate change and conflict can lead to food insecurity, in turn fueling further instability that benefits nefarious actors. To break this vicious cycle, the report recommended three approaches: re-envision food security as a basic human right; re-think universal food security as a core component of stability and peace; and reform the global food system and distribution networks to address these shifts.
Fortunately, the Biden administration has taken the lead on this issue. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that food security will be one of the top U.S. priorities at the 77th United Nations General Assembly, where President Biden will host a heads-of-state-level Food Security Summit. At last year’s summit, USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced that the United States would commit $5 billion over five years to Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative. Additionally, last spring, the United States chaired a ministerial meeting at which the participants produced a roadmap to strengthen global food security architecture.
Many notable items on the roadmap match the recommendations in ISD’s working group report, including systemic resiliency, open food and agricultural markets, investment in climate adaptation, and standardized nutritional requirements in the global food system. With this framework, the Biden administration should marshal all necessary resources to build a coalition of nations dedicated to eradicating food insecurity. To strengthen the roadmap, this coalition should recognize food security as a human right, respond to the nexus of food security and conflict, and support ground-up community initiatives that prioritize women and poor farmers.
Somalia needs help, and it needs it now. Without billions in additional aid, the toll on human lives will be unthinkable. Not only must the United States and its partners provide for the immediate need, but they also must build a more resilient global food system to break the cycle of perennial food crises and end the hunger-instability nexus.
Daniel Henderson is the assistant director of programs and publications editor at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. Follow him on Twitter @Daniel_Hendo.
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