This section aims to analyse the topics that present the intersection between geopolitics, food and migration, through a country-based and historical analyses of issues relevant to current events.
The Covid19 pandemic has forced Europeans to acknowledge a bitter truth that is usually swept under the carpet: their high degree of dependency on seasonal workers coming from Central and Eastern Europe to harvest Western European fields.
The age-old dispute over water resources in the Mesopotamian basin sees geopolitical interests threatening local communities’ livelihood. By diverting water streams, regional countries cause mass displacement and jeopardise their own food security and that of downstream countries.
Responses to Covid-19 had a direct impact on migration flows at national and regional level, and repercussions on human security, economy and political freedoms besides limiting the ability to travel.
Coronavirus outbreak has exposed the disparities between Chinese urban and rural areas, especially those linked to the quality of healthcare and eating. Besides, the trade war with the US is driving Beijing to partially redraw its food supply chain.
In the Kalinago Territory of Dominica, land degradation and changing agrarian landscapes are having a deep impact on local ecosystem. Resulting in the disruption of rural communities' wellbeing and revealing how culture, society and environment are intrinsically connected.
By 2050, urban areas are expected to consume 80 percent of global food. No one better than city businesses and local governments will be better positioned to manage the demographic and social transformation we are about to face.
Recent migration flows from Nepal are having direct effects on several socio-economic facets of the country’s economy.
Nowadays, Germany is probably both a model and a dissuasive example. A model when we consider that millions of migrants (especially from Southern Europe) found their place within its borders. A dissuasive example since the integration of around 1,7 million refugees has largely failed and the German welfare state could be on the verge of collapse.
Since 2017, migratory flows crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe have radically changed. This is arguably the outcome of the resolute policy measures adopted by the European Union (EU) and its member states to address the so-called “migration crisis” which invested Europe in 2014-16.
North Africa’s short-lived Arab Spring of 2010-2011 illustrates a disastrous cycle of conflict, food insecurity, and forced migration. Food shortages sparked tension. Migration accelerated. As young people moved away, the farming sector suffered, yields declined, and competition for food increased among those who stay behind.
Often crystallized in the vast public imagination as a place of conflict and starvation, Ethiopia is in fact a fast-developing country, which many look at as a model. Between the blurred lines of recent historic events a less stereotyped image of the giant of the Horn still struggles for recognition.
After a promising beginning, Syrian integration in Turkey must be judged a failure. Rather than bringing two peoples together, food has played a role in driving them apart. It's a sad story.
We tend to think of Europe and Africa as of two distinct continents. In fact, there is an area in which they are almost one: the Mediterranean Region. We already live in a kind of Eurafrica. And what binds together is migration.
Despite Mexican migration northward diminishing, in the last few years people from Central America, mostly fleeing food insecurity, have been moving to the United States in troves, adding up to the overall Hispanic American population. Such an increase has caused the assimilation of Latinos into the US society to advance, producing a mixture of different cuisines and food habits. While also inducing the likes of Donald Trump to rant against newcomers and pursue the completion of a wall between the US and Mexico. Main factors of a thorny issue strongly related to food (and lack thereof).
