Global Food Security Program

Provides research, analysis, and policy recommendations that can effectively enhance global food security.

Global food security had been deteriorating for several years prior to 2020, and Covid-19 has posed new challenges that require immediate action. Reversing today’s trends in food security is an enterprise that requires renewed commitment, creative thinking, and bold action across sectors.

Vision

The CSIS Global Food Security Program (GFSP) is committed to reinvigorating U.S. leadership on food security, using the latest data to define the nature of today’s challenges, and proposing policy solutions that maximize the impact of U.S. investments at home and abroad.

Main Areas of Focus

Urbanization: GFSP confronts a longtime blind spot of the global food security community: the urban poor, a rapidly growing segment of the world’s food-insecure population. As urbanization progresses fastest in Africa and Asia, with cities hit hardest by Covid-19, GFSP examines the nature of food insecurity among the urban poor and offers solutions tailored to their unique challenges.

Water: Seventy percent of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture. Improving water-use efficiency is necessary to increase global agricultural productivity, while water for agriculture is at the heart of international disputes over water rights. GFSP aims to bring coherence to U.S. approaches to food and water security, including at the household level, where food and water security go hand in hand.

Food Safety: Foodborne hazards threaten human health and food trade worldwide. GFSP surveys new data and best practices for food safety, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where food safety is critical for nutrition. GFSP also explores threats to U.S. food systems—natural and those caused by malicious actors—and proposes policy solutions to thwart system-wide shocks.

Equity in U.S. Food Systems: A perennial leader in global food security policy and programming, the United States is in the spotlight for inequities in its domestic food systems. Remaining a global leader will require reimagining and implementing U.S. food systems that reduce disproportionate rates of malnutrition among people of color, which contribute to disparities in health outcomes, particularly during Covid-19.