Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Implications of the Russia–Ukraine war for global food security

Nature Human Behaviour volume 6, pages 754–755 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

To the editor — There is a positive link between food security and stability1. Conversely, especially in a globalized era, armed conflicts can be a key driver of food insecurity that affects regions beyond the battlefield; the food crises of the past decade have laid bare the systemic challenges in fending off food insecurity in conflict settings2. These crises reveal why governments or belligerents lack either the capacity or the will to address them, and why humanitarian aid struggles to reach people in need. The current Russia–Ukraine war has both created new food insecurity and highlighted existing systemic weaknesses in international food security.

Armed conflicts weaken the ability of nations, households and individuals to secure their food needs. These conflicts can impede activities that aim to grow and harvest, process and transport, and supply and market food. More specifically, conflicts can affect the capacity of food systems and supply chains to function appropriately: production declines owing to producers being engaged in war, unable to produce or fleeing the country; agricultural inputs are disrupted on foreign markets; or agricultural yields and water infrastructure are destroyed by military operations. Armed conflicts can also affect the capacity of consumers to access sufficient food, because of their declining purchasing power or the food availability problem. Such conflicts increase food prices on local and international markets with negative effects for food-importing, low-income countries; disrupt energy markets with negative effects on the energy and food purchasing power of importing countries; and affect the capacity of international food aid to meet growing food needs in times of crisis. Therefore, these food challenges currently present a key feature of armed conflicts, which should be considered in any approach used during the conflict management process.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Price volatility of major food commodities according to the IFPRI Food Security Portal’s ‘Excessive Food Price Variability Early Warning System’ (February 2020–February 2022).

References

  1. Brück, T. et al. The Relationship between Food Security and Violent Conflict, https://isdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Food-Security-and-Conflict-2016-12-22.pdf (ISDC, 2016).

  2. Kemmerling, B., Schetter, C. & Wirkus, L. Glob. Food Secur. 33, 100634 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Nicas, J. Ukraine war threatens to cause a global food crisis. New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/20/world/americas/ukraine-war-global-food-crisis.html (20 March 2022).

  4. Berlinger, P. Ukraine war exacerbates famine in the Global South. Helvetas, https://www.helvetas.org/en/switzerland/how-you-can-help/follow-us/blog/Other/Ukraine-War-Exacerbates-Famine-in-the-Global-South (1 April 2022).

  5. Bourne Byjoel, K. War in Ukraine could plunge world into food shortages. National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/war-in-ukraine-could-plunge-world-into-food-shortages (25 March 2022).

  6. Harvey, F. Ukraine invasion may lead to worldwide food crisis, warns UN. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/14/ukraine-invasion-worldwide-food-crisis-warns-un (14 March 2022).

  7. United Nations in Western Europe. War in Ukraine sparks global food crisis. unric.org, https://unric.org/en/war-in-ukraine-sparks-global-food-crisis/ (22 March 2022).

  8. Lederer Edith, M. The war in Ukraine is creating the greatest global food crisis since WWII. Time, https://time.com/6162598/ukraine-war-food-shortage/ (30 March 2022).

  9. Behnassi, M. in The Societies of the Middle East and North Africa: Structures, Vulnerabilities, and Forces (ed. Yom, S. L.) 207–234 (Routledge, 2019).

  10. Behnassi, M. in The Societies of the Middle East and North Africa: Structures, Vulnerabilities, and Forces, 2nd ed. (ed. Yom, S. L.) 201–228 (Routledge, 2021).

  11. Tranchant, J.-P. et al. World Dev. 119, 185–202 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Rice, B., Hernandez, M. A., Glauber, J. & Vos, R. The Russia–Ukraine War is Exacerbating International Food Price Volatility. Figure 1, https://www.ifpri.org/blog/russia-ukraine-war-exacerbating-international-food-price-volatility (Washington DC: International Food Policy Research Institute, 2022).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Economic Social and Environmental Council (CESE), Rabat, Morocco

    Mohamed Behnassi

  2. Center for Environment, Human Security & Governance (CERES), Agadir, Morocco

    Mohamed Behnassi

  3. United Nations Human Rights Committee, Geneva, Switzerland

    Mahjoub El Haiba

  4. Department of Public Law, College of Law, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco

    Mahjoub El Haiba

Authors
  1. Mohamed Behnassi
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mahjoub El Haiba
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohamed Behnassi.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Behnassi, M., El Haiba, M. Implications of the Russia–Ukraine war for global food security. Nat Hum Behav 6, 754–755 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01391-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01391-x

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing