Food insecurity in East Africa: An integrated strategy to address climate change impact and violence conflict

Abstract

The East of Africa is the least developed region, the most food insecure and the most difficult development challenges in the world. The article review examines seventy-six peer-reviewed articles on climate-linked food insecurity and economic development in the East Africa mostly published 2017–2023. The study evaluates to what extent the literature provides, explain, and illustrate the numerous linkages between climate change, food insecurity and economic development. This study includes two sections; the first section examines the food insecurity, which is a result of violent conflict brought on by the effects of climate change; the second section examines an integrated approach to address conflict related climate change and food insecurity. According to the study, decreased agricultural and economic productivity as a result of climate change is a factor in conflict. Food insecurity and conflict are mutually reinforcing and closely linked. In addition, to lessen the food insecurity, policies must employ conflict related climate change adaptive strategies. The distribution and management of land, water, and other natural resources need to be improved in order to resolve conflicts caused by climate change. For East Africa to develop a successful strategy for addressing conflict-related climate change, participation in the development of resource-sharing agreements and land-use planning needs to be strengthened. Local natural resource management and identification of possible conflict hotspots using early warning, risk assessments, and scenario analysis were suggested as ways to lessen the effects of conflict due to climate change. The key policy implication is that the best strategies to promote long-term food security are to establish the rule of law, set high standards for regulation, protect property rights, establishing national frameworks for resolving climate-related conflicts, and settle conflicts.

Keywords

• Climate change
• Conflict
• East Africa
• Economic development
• Food security
• Migration