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Feeding Resilience: The National Security Imperative of USAID’s Food Security Programs
As of today, the Trump Administration has paused two essential US global food security initiatives, Feed the Future and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). Created in reaction to the 2007-8 global food crisis and resulting instability, Feed the Future is a marquee US government food security program and tool for implementing the bipartisan Global Food Security Act, working in 20 countries to build a more resilient food system and supporting agricultural innovation at 17 US universities. Operating since 1985, FEWS NET provides rigorous analysis and forecasting of acute food insecurity to inform US and other humanitarian responses in 30 countries.
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Event Recap: Feeding Resilience: Interagency Coordination and Foresight
By Tom Ellison and Noah Fritzhand
On 22 October, the Center for Climate and Security brought together current and former US government officials, scientists, and researchers to discuss two topics that the Feeding Resilience program has identified as essential to progress at the nexus of food systems, climate change, and US national security: improved US government interagency coordination and better deployment of strategic foresight capabilities. The discussion was held under the Chatham House Rule.
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The Feeding Resilience Plan
Safeguarding US National Security at the Crossroads of Food and Climate Change
Authors: Tom Ellison and Erin Sikorsky
Project Co-leads: Tom Ellison, Patricia Parera, and Erin Sikorsky
Editor: Francesco Femia
Contributors: Siena Cicarelli, John Conger, Brigitte Hugh, and Ethan Wong
Executive Summary
Today, the global food security situation is dire, with a confluence of environmental, economic, and political shocks reversing progress on hunger and pushing more than 250 million people into food insecurity.1 It is increasingly clear that a resilient food system is needed to ensure US national security and global stability. Yet pressure from conflict, economic shocks, demographic trends, water insecurity, geopolitical competition, and climate change complicate efforts to build such resilience.
This report identifies three areas where these dynamics intersect to affect US national security. First, the nexus of food insecurity and conflict threatens US interests, whether from instability over food price spikes, the weaponization of food by adversary states or extremists, or humanitarian crises from lost farming livelihoods. Second, the United States must navigate the geopolitics of food, whether Russia’s weaponization of food insecurity for leverage in Ukraine, China’s lead in agricultural research and development, or maritime conflict risks over dwindling fish stocks. Third, the US national security apparatus must be attuned to the challenges and opportunities in achieving a more resilient food system, ranging from the promise of innovation to prevent food-related security tensions to the instability pitfalls involved in reforming agricultural subsidies.
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Policy Interventions to Address Climate and Food-Related Instability: Event Summary
By Ethan Wong
Introduction
This is the fourth event report for the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) initiative Feeding Resilience, a project focused on the nexus of climate change, food insecurity, instability and national security. The project examines the US national security imperative to strengthen food systems and will inform Feeding Resilience’s public policy recommendation report in summer 2024.
This report summarizes the fourth roundtable in the series, Policy Interventions to Address Climate and Food-Related Instability, held in Washington, DC and virtually on 25 April 2024. The roundtable focused on findings of the current Feeding Resilience research, identifying potential gaps in the research, and obtaining feedback and suggestions for policy interventions. The discussion incorporated the findings from Feeding Resilience’s three prior roundtables that explored the climate-food-security nexus, the security case for agricultural adaptation, and the geopolitics of food. The dialogue brought together leaders from across the US government, development organizations, and multilateral institutions.
The roundtable was held under Chatham House Rule1, and the list of participants, agenda, and presentations are available at climateandsecurity.org/feeding-resilience-4/ and in Annexes 1 and 2 of this report.