View: The war in Ukraine has devastating global consequences for water, peace and security

euronews.com:

The Water Peace and security partnership is financed by the Dutch Foreign Ministry and is made up of the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the World Resources Institute, Deltares, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, Wetlands International, and International Alert. In this piece, Alyssa Offutt and Dr Susanne Schmeier from the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education assess the link between water, conflict, and cooperation.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has devastating consequences that span far beyond the horrific images of violence and destruction we see daily in the news.

The war is increasing the risk of global hunger by limiting exports of wheat, cooking oil and fertilizers. It has led to higher food prices and increased food insecurity throughout the world.

Together, Russia and Ukraine make up over a quarter of global wheat exports and are major exporters of cooking oil and fertilizers. The supply of these key staples has substantially decreased in recent months due to insecurity, export-limiting sanctions and difficulties to reach global markets.

To make matters worse, this decreasing supply coincides with water-stressed conditions in other major food-exporting countries - including the United States and India.

The result? Already elevated global food prices are rising and have pushed the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Food Price Index – which tracks monthly changes in the price of commodities - to its highest level since the 1990s.

In areas struggling with hunger as a result of prolonged periods of climate events and crop failure, rising food prices make a tough situation even worse.

The Eastern Horn of Africa has weathered four seasons of drought, exacerbated by La Niña and the influence of climate change.