Description
Violent conflict is the key driver in global food crises. However, not all conflicts – nor the violent tactics employed in them – result in the same depth or breadth of impacts on food systems and resulting humanitarian needs. Specifically, in some conflicts, food resources are actively leveraged and targeted by conflict actors, while in others, they are more broadly disrupted and distorted through conflict’s effects. This study sets out to understand the conditions in which political violence directly involving food and food systems is strategically employed by armed actors. To do so, it draws on a novel sub-set of disaggregated violent event data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset (ACLED) specifically involving food and food systems across sub-Saharan Africa. The findings have implications for scholarship on the conflict-hunger nexus; the suitability of policy and practical measures aimed at discouraging, preventing and mitigating specific food-related violence tactics; and post-conflict recovery, accountability and justice in contexts affected by severe food crises.
