Ukraine and the Global Hunger Crisis

Ukraine and Russia combined make up 30 percent of the world’s wheat exports. As the crisis in Ukraine continues, experts fear that the global food system is at risk of a complete meltdown.[1] With the additional pressure of the United States and allies tightening their grip on Russian sanctions, calls for concern over international food shortages have become increasingly widespread.[2] The war has created a humanitarian tragedy which will be felt far beyond Ukraine or Russia’s own borders.

Food insecurity has long been cause for concern. Alarming inflation levels in recent months combined with the flood-inducing consequences of climate change have resulted in devastating impacts on producers and consumers alike.[3] As a result of the pandemic, world hunger rose by eighteen percent in 2020, to an estimate of between 720 million and 811 million people.[4] The United Nations’ goal of “Zero Hunger” 2030, which sought to implement transformative approaches to eradicate hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition by 2030, will likely not materialize, with an estimated 660 million people still to be facing hunger by the end of the decade.[5]

Now, with the absence in the global wheat market of two of the world’s largest wheat exporters, countries already suffering irreparable economic setbacks from the pandemic are at risk of an even worsened hunger crises as rising food costs are increasingly unmanageable.[6] Egypt, for example, receives more than half of its wheat supply from Europe’s breadbasket.[7] Countries in both Africa and the Middle East that are heavily reliant on these imports will feel the immediate effects of the war on their food supplies[8]; given the interconnectedness of the world commodity markets, “any disruption that happens in one place has an effect in another place.”[9] And with Russia being one of the largest producers of fertilizer too – producing 14% of the world’s supply – the export’s rise in cost has made diminished harvests an inevitable fate across multiple continents.[10]

Despite these alarms, there is a global surplus of food.[11] Food costs–not quantity–are at the root of food insecurity, in addition to a lack of mechanisms for equitable distribution of food.[12] Indeed, even in light of interruptions in exports from Russia and Ukraine, more than enough food exists to feed the global population.[13] Aims to solve the hunger epidemic monetarily have fallen short, with UN member states donating merely fifty percent of the total requested contributions for food assistance this past year.[14] Advocacy efforts must shift from a focus on yielding more crops to the technical resources communities need to challenge food insecurity.

Sibel Iskender is a staff member of Fordham International Law Journal Volume XLV.

This is a student blog post and in no way represents the views of the Fordham International Law Journal.
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[1] See Ukraine: ‘We Need Peace Now,’ UN News (Mar. 14, 2022), https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113882.

[2] See id.

[3] See id.

[4] See Jack Nicas, Ukraine War Threatens to Cause a Global Food Crisis, N.Y. Times (Mar. 20, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/20/world/americas/ukraine-war-global-food-crisis.html?searchResultPosition=2.

[5] See The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021, Food & Agriculture Org. of the UN, https://www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition/en/.

[6] See Nicas, supra note 4.

[7] See Nurith Aizenman, Russia’s War on Ukraine is Dire for World Hunger. But There are Solutions, NPR (Mar. 6, 2022), https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/03/06/1083769798/russias-war-on-ukraine-is-dire-for-world-hunger-but-there-are-solutions.

[8] See id.

[9] See id.

[10] See Elliot Smith, Fertilizer Prices are at Record Highs. Here’s What That Means for the Global Economy, CNBC (Mar. 22, 2022), https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/22/fertilizer-prices-are-at-record-highs-heres-what-that-means.html.

[11] See World Hunger: Key Facts and Statistics 2021, Action Against Hunger, https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/world-hunger-facts-statistics.

[12] See Gabriela Soto Laveaga, Throwing Money at the Problem Won’t Solve World Hunger, Washington Post (Nov. 22 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/22/throwing-money-problem-wont-solve-world-hunger/.

[13] See id.

[14] See id.