The Project on Environment, Food, and Conflict (ENFOCO)
As of 2011, over one billion people lack access to the food necessary to live a productive and healthy life, and 65 percent of them live in just seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia. All but China have been embroiled in conflict in the past decade, and war continues to rage in the DRC, Ethiopia, India and Pakistan, imposing terrible human, social, and economic costs on those societies.
The Project on Environment, Food, and Conflict (ENFOCO) leverages collaborations between physical and social scientists and policymakers to produce scholarship and analysis on issues at the intersection of the environment, food security, and conflict. Current projects include cataloging and analyzing patterns of social conflict in Africa (www.scaddata.org), investigating the effects of conflict on the world's fisheries, and studying the political and economic barriers to ensuring adequate food supplies.
ENFOCO Projects
- The Social Conflict in Africa Database (SCAD)
- Fisheries and Conflict
- Food Security, Conflict, and the Global Economy
The Social Conflict in Africa Database (SCAD)
As part of the Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) project at the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at UT-Austin, Drs. Cullen Hendrix and Idean Salehyan direct SCAD, a resource for conducting research and analysis on various forms of social and political unrest in Africa. It includes over 7,000 social conflict events across Africa from 1990 to 2010, including riots, strikes, protests, coups, and communal violence. By tracking forms of conflict not covered in traditional datasets on civil and interstate war, SCAD gives policymakers and researchers new tools to analyze conflict patterns. The SCAD team currently uses these data to investigate environmental impacts on conflict in Africa. Read More »
Fisheries and Conflict
The world's fisheries are the main source of protein for one billion people and provide income for over 43.5 million, of which 95 percent live in developing countries. A collaboration with Dr. Sarah Glaser, this project aims to quantify the impacts of civil conflict on fish catch, the feedbacks between aquatic population dynamics, local markets, and food security, and model developing country fisheries as coupled natural human systems.
Food Security, Conflict, and the Global Economy
Food insecurity emerges from the complex interplay of poverty, barriers to access, and local and global markets, but also from specific policies enacted by governments. This project addresses the roles that international markets, conflict, and government policy play in creating food insecurity, as well as roles for the international community and development organizations in combating it.