2022: Year of Hunger and Conflict?

As Sri Lanka is reeling from the shock and awe of a three-pronged crisis compromising the very core of its Political, Energy and Food security. The global outlook is looking far bleaker in the coming months ahead. It Seems Sri Lanka has entered the crisis early but the full force of it is yet to hit us, as we are still in the midst of endogenous phase with the exogenous influences are building up. Increasing food prices, increasing global energy prices, and weakening governance regimes from UN system to logistical supply chains year 2022 seems to be the 21st Century first year of acute hunger and induced instability.

There is now nearly a billion people who according to the UN food programme are malnourished while the world still keeps on wasting nearly one third of the food that is available. The larger crisis in this situation is the hunger driven political instability and conflict which Sri Lanka ‘s national security framework must now take as a serious challenge moving forward.   

Since the Covid19 outbreak and its peak in year 2021, in which the Munich Security Conference labelled as a polypandemic, where covid19 threated, weakened, and generating cascading effects on established structures most protective layers of social and economic cohesion and global connectivity. Even prior to the Russia Ukraine conflict which is dragging beyond three months and has become the catalyst of the current energy and food crisis. Since the Covid19 outbreak has swelled the ranks of the globally malnourished population by at least an extra 100 million people.