Thread by @CaitrionaDowd

On Friday, @WFP was awarded the #NobelPeacePrize for work to address hunger. Conflict & hunger are closely linked, and I've had the opportunity to see the work of WFP and other food sec actors on the ground in several contexts. A 🧵with some resources I find useful on the topic:

Announcement itself is a good starting point nobelpeaceprize.org/Announcements/…, mentioning "efforts to combat hunger [...] contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and [...] efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war." Let's take those in turn:

First, on combating hunger in conflict, a great overview of evidence on effects of war on hunger by @apvjustino of @UNUWIDER here wider.unu.edu/publication/no… and further discussion on hunger & peace, incl gender dimensions, in Justino's co-authored paper here onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

Also on this aspect, I wrote about less visible effects of conflict on social systems and mutual solidarity, which in turn drive hunger, in my piece in @PEPCS_ here
link.springer.com/referenceworke… and in a report on war and hunger in South Sudan for @Concern here concern.net/insights/confl…

On contributing to conditions for peace by addressing hunger, evidence is more mixed, in part because it's difficult to measure directly how hunger contributes to conflict. Some great studies, and discussion on complexity of relationship @WorldDevJournal sciencedirect.com/journal/world-…

On the use of hunger as a weapon of war, the tireless work of @WorldPeaceFdtn and @GRC_HumanRights in their Accountability for Mass Starvation project starvationaccountability.org is really invaluable. Great pieces on legal dimension of the issue also here - academic.oup.com/jicj/issue/17/4

At @DSAIreland, we explored this issue last year, marking the anniversary of UN Resolution 2417 on starvation as a weapon of war, with speakers from @GRC_HumanRights, @ACF_UK and @DFATIrl. A link to our summary doc and recommendations is online here - dsaireland.org/resources/may-…

Lastly on resources, while gaps remain, we have more & better data than before, which can help to predict, respond & support recovery. Check out @Concern's Global Hunger Index globalhungerindex.org/results.html for nat'l and @WFP's Hunger Map Live hungermap.wfp.org for sub-nat'l data

There are many more aspects of conflict & hunger beginning to receive (but need more) attention. These are esp important as @irishmissionun prepares to take up a UN Security Council seat, bringing with us a global reputation on aid & nutrition and direct historical exp of famine.

One priority in my view includes conflict, hunger and gender. How can UN Res 1325 and 2417 jointly address gendered dimensions of hunger, and draw attention to hunger & food rights in peacebuilding and mediation? I spoke about this in April w/ @FordhamNYC, medium.com/humanitarianpu…

Lastly, while win shines spotlight on food, important also to remember challenges facing wider humanitarian system in conflict: criminalising hum space, under-funding, & lack of support for local actors (almost always first & last responders) all major barriers to tackling hunger