In Colombia, armed conflicts are centered around gaining control of territory and seizing natural resources, which often create poverty, destruction, and mortality. Yet violent conflicts produce unacknowledged consequences such as food insecurity, which further perpetuates political instability. Strategies taken during the guerilla movement, from rebel members, drug traffickers, and military officials, to accumulate wealth and gain political controlled to a disruption in local food production and distribution, displacement of families, loss of land, and environmental damage. 

    The effects of the Colombian armed conflict continue to be felt today in the lives of the people who lack adequate access to food and rural areas. Despite peace negotiations that pushed the government to address rural development, little has been done to create policies that tackle food insecurity. The government’s failure to invest in food security policies continues to create social unrest, causing new fights over territory and unsettling Colombia’s political stability. 

    It is important to analyze the threats that conflicts pose to food systems affected. Promoting the safety and rights of people who produce, distribute, and consume food must be included in policies that protect rural livelihoods. A closer examination of how agriculture unfolds in areas of conflict, can help communities affected inform and organize themselves to mediate and prevent the impacts of food insecurity. It is necessary to identify the relationship between food security and violent conflicts, so that the state can work with their communities to make informed policy decisions and programs.

     In other cases around the world, food insecurity can be both a cause and a consequence of conflict creating vicious cycles of instability, violence, poverty, and hunger. In Nigeria, human-induced climate change has resulted in drought and desertification. Dried up grazing areas have pushed farmers into cattle herding land. The forced displacement coupled with ethnic and religious differences have made violent conflicts more common. The Nigerian government has failed to implement law enforcement to reduce violent encounters and prosecute murderers. Government regulation efforts, such as military checkpoints and outposts, have been ineffective and have reduced local chief’s power to mediate conflicts and allocate land. The Nigerian conflict for land and water demonstrates the growing needs of the state and international governments to help build resilience in communities with limited access to food and land. 

    Political leaders must be committed to prioritizing sustainable food security by learning how to address the challenges that arise from it. It is important to ask: How does food insecurity affect the poor and political stability? Are communities able to regain access to proper nutrition after violent conflicts? How can nations learn from each other to strengthen their food security? These are some questions I will address in my environmental beat.