FAO.org

The 2017 Near East and North Africa (NENA) edition of the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition comes under the theme of “building resilience for food security and nutrition in times of conflict and crisis”.

The report establishes a baseline against which to measure future progress towards achieving SDG 2 on ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in NENA by monitoring the latest indicators for the SDG targets on hunger and food insecurity (SDG Target 2.1) and malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2).

Beyond numbers, the report focuses on the fundamental factors that have driven improvements in food security and malnutrition: poverty reduction, economic growth, improvements in maternal and childhood nutrition and public health, increases in the quantity and quality of the food supply and cessation of violence.

Moreover, the report brings into sharp focus the issue of conflict, which is the major driver of food insecurity in the NENA region.

Food security in the NENA region is fast deteriorating, driven by conflict and leading to a widening gap in well-being between conflict and non-conflict countries.

Conflicts have long-lasting impacts on the food security and nutrition of both affected and surrounding countries in the region. Not only is food security deteriorating in the conflict and spill over countries, but the high costs of perpetrating, containing, preventing and dealing with the consequences of violence undermine their ability to mitigate the decline in living standards.