Feeding Resilience focuses on the nexus of climate change, food insecurity, stability, and U.S. national security interests. This project is framed under the twin premises that international stability is foundational to U.S. national security and that food security is foundational to stability. Thus, efforts to bolster the integrity of regional and global food systems can be viewed through a security lens, which is especially true in an era of accelerating climate change and conflict.
Over the course of the project, CCS will engage with climate, security, development, humanitarian, and food security policymakers, practitioners, and academics to share experiences on the nexus dynamics of climate change, food security, stability, and national security in an effort to identify policy gaps and elicit recommendations and best practices. Additionally, the research will explore case studies in three countries, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Nigeria.
Reports
Addressing the Interplay of Climate Change, Food and National Security: Event Summary
Climate change affects the security environment in dozens of ways, ranging from direct impacts on military infrastructure and operational capabilities, to its indirect role in exacerbating risks of instability and conflict: undermining food security, increasing water scarcity, and destabilizing entire regions of the globe. Climate change puts lives and livelihoods at risk, increasing the likelihood of instability and conflict. The roundtable focused on one instability pathway climate change is amplifying—that of food insecurity and the international, national, and individual security risks that it creates.
Feeding Resilience: A Review of Policies at the Intersection of Climate Change, Food Security and National Security Policy
This report begins by outlining the global state of play on food security, followed by a preliminary assessment of existing U.S. initiatives that could be scaled up to increase the impact of the government’s response to climate change, food insecurity, and national security. Currently, policies and interventions often include two of the focus areas but are rarely scoped to consider all three. Thus, this landscape assessment focuses on three current nexus areas: (1) food insecurity and national security, (2) food insecurity and climate change, and (3) climate change and national security. Following are preliminary key findings and policy recommendations considered to be a priority for policymaking action.
Background & Readings
Feeding Resilience: Addressing the interplay of climate change, food, and national security
Agenda & Background: Policy Dialogue Roundtable · 12 June 2023, Washington, DC
See also: online Agenda & participant list
CCS Research Spotlight: Climate change, food insecurity, and conflict
February 2023