In the Middle East and North
Africa, food-related challenges were one of the major drivers of the
mass uprising that we call the Arab Spring. In Syria, Islamic State rebels use the promise of food and basic
necessities to recruit soldiers. Food shortages have led refugees to
leave camps and return to an active war zone in search of food for
themselves and their families. Closer to home, food prices contributed to rioting in Haiti in 2007
and 2008. As food prices increased and economic conditions
deteriorated, U.S. Coast Guard interceptions of people from Haiti
attempting to immigrate to our country rose by 20 percent, straining
Coast Guard resources. The National Intelligence Council warns that a continuation of the
fundamental contributors to food insecurity--such as expanding
populations, slowing of agricultural yields, and gaps in infrastructure
and distribution systems--will result in increased food insecurity,
hunger, and instability in the
Middle East, Africa, and South Asia over the next 10 years without
greater, greater intervention by the United States and others. In America, we take our food system for granted.
Keywords matched
immigrate refugees