Increasing the Resilience of the Food Systems
In Islamic States in Face of Future Food Crises
3
Figure 1: Establishing Food System Stability
Source: DinarStandard Analysis
The first important step in establishing stable food systems is assessing food security and
identifying gaps in the food system, ascertaining risks that may cause future food crises, and
establishing a robustecosystemof cooperative stakeholders that underpin stable food systems.
Extensive assessments of food systems are readily available, with the Economist Intelligence Unit
annually ranking food systems based on four core factors, spanning the availability of essential
sources of foodwithin a country, the levelof access that householdshave to food and nutrition, the
ability of households toutilize food and benefitfromnutrition, andthe stabilityof the food systems
across the aforementionedfactors overtime. The 2018 rankings havefound Singapore, Ireland, the
U.S., and the UK tobe among themost food secure countries.Among the top countries reviewed in
this study, Ireland and the U.S. were both found tohave extensivegovernment apparatuses led by
Agricultural and Food Safety Departments that collectively guaranteed strength across the four
core pillars of the food system. Supportedby strong legislation, governmentswere abletonurture
thriving ecosystems of food producers, distributors, retailers, underpinned by robust educational
institutions and non-profit organizations.
Managing food security caninclude monitoring any active food crises.This entails an assessmentof
potential risk and impact, extending to adaptation, which involves tackling the consequences of
crises, andmitigation, whichinvolves tacklingthe underlying causes and risks of potential crises.15
In developed countries, monitoring has distinct annual, periodic, and continuous touchpoints
that inform all aspects of food security and facilitate rapid government response. Governments
typically adapt to existing vulnerabilities in their country’s food systems by providing funds and
vouchers to themost vulnerable in society; this can be observed across all case studies included
in this study, with the U.S. Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) provided to
vulnerable households a notable example.
Mitigation of food security risks requires preventive action across the food and beverage value
chain, with the U.S. and Ireland setting best practices through three core activities:assessing and
mitigating acute risk factors for food production; providing financial tools to eliminate
agricultural risks; and establishing emergency funds to ensure consumers have continuous
15 IPCC. (2012). Glossary of terms. In: Managing the Risks of Extreme Eventsand Disastersto Advance Climate Change
Adaptation
[Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen,
M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. A Special Report ofWorking Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA, pp. 555-564.