The Center on Food Security and the Environment is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
Security
Security
FSI scholars produce research aimed at creating a safer world and examing the consequences of security policies on institutions and society. They look at longstanding issues including nuclear nonproliferation and the conflicts between countries like North and South Korea. But their research also examines new and emerging areas that transcend traditional borders – the drug war in Mexico and expanding terrorism networks. FSI researchers look at the changing methods of warfare with a focus on biosecurity and nuclear risk. They tackle cybersecurity with an eye toward privacy concerns and explore the implications of new actors like hackers.
Along with the changing face of conflict, terrorism and crime, FSI researchers study food security. They tackle the global problems of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation by generating knowledge and policy-relevant solutions.
Recent Scholarly Publications
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On the role of anthropogenic climate change in the emerging food crisis in southern Africa in the 2019–2020 growing season
February 2020
Researchers including David Lobell analyze how human-caused climate change has impacted a water defecit in Southern Africa and might contribute to a rising food security crisis in the region.
Eyes in the Sky, Boots on the Ground: Assessing Satellite- and Ground-Based Approaches to Crop Yield Measurement and Analysis
October 2019
Understanding the determinants of agricultural productivity requires accurate measurement of crop output and yield.
Armed conflict and child mortality in Africa: a geospatial analysis
August 2018
The extent to which armed conflicts—events such as civil wars, rebellions, and interstate conflicts—are an important driver of child mortality is unclear.
Future warming increases probability of globally synchronized maize production shocks
June 2018
Climate-induced shocks in grain production are a major contributor to global market volatility, which creates uncertainty for cereal farmers and agribusiness and reduces food access for poor...
The Elusive Goal of Global Food Security
February 2018
Ending world hunger is a universal goal, yet progress and social awareness of the issue waxes and wanes in the course of broader political and economic developments.
The shared and unique values of optical, fluorescence, thermal and microwave satellite data for estimating large-scale crop yields
August 2017
Large-scale crop monitoring and yield estimation are important for both scientific research and practical applications.
The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution: Food, Feed, Fuel, and Forests
November 2016
Over the last two decades global production of soybean and palm oil seeds have increased enormously.
The Evolving Sphere of Food Security
September 2014
The Evolving Sphere of Food Security seeks to answer two important questions: How do the priorities and challenges of achieving food security change over time as countries develop economically?
Getting caught with our plants down: the risks of a global crop yield slowdown from climate trends in the next two decades
July 2014
In many discussions of climate change impacts in agriculture, the large magnitudes of expected impacts toward the end of the century are used to emphasize that most of the risks are to future...
Frontiers in Food Policy: Perspectives on Sub-Saharan Africa
December 2013
Frontiers in Food Policy: Perspectives on sub-Saharan Africa is a compilation of research stemming from the Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium Series, hosted by the Center on Food...
Feed and fishmeal use in the production of carp and tilapia in China
November 2013
China dominates the global aquaculture industry, most clearly with its massive production and consumption of low trophic-level carp species and its rapidly rising output and exports of tilapia....
The case for distributed irrigation as a development priority in sub-Saharan Africa
July 2013
Distributed irrigation systems are those in which the water access (via pump or human power), distribution (via furrow, watering can, sprinkler, drip lines, etc.), and use all occur at or near the...
Estimating the world's potentially available cropland using a bottom-up approach
June 2013
Previous estimates of the land area available for future cropland expansion relied on global-scale climate, soil and terrain data.
Water and Agriculture in Africa: The politics of the belly or the politics of the mirror?
May 2013
The water and agriculture glass in Africa is half-empty: Africa has failed to develop its massive water resources and failed to achieve agricultural growth.
The Role of Agriculture in China's Development: Performance, policy determinants of success, and lessons for Africa
April 2013
The lost decades for China in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s look remarkably like the lost decades of Africa in the 1980s and 1990s.
African food systems to 2030: Toward inclusive business models
February 2013
Rapid population growth, urbanization and rising incomes will present an unprecedented opportunity for growth of commercial agriculture and agribusiness in coming years.
How Can Trade Improve Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa?
January 2013
For decades, earnings from farming in many developing countries, including in Sub-Saharan Africa, have been depressed by a pro-urban and anti-trade bias in own-country policies, as well as by...
An assessment of wheat yield sensitivity and breeding gains in hot environments
December 2012
Genetic improvements in heat tolerance of wheat provide a potential adaptation response to long-term warming trends, and may also boost yields in wheat-growing areas already subject to heat stress....
Discussant comments on “Food systems and human health and nutrition: An economic policy perspective with a focus on Africa”
October 2012
Eran Bendavid, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University provides commentary on nutrition and food policy expert Per Pinstrup-Andersen's presentation and paper on "Food systems and...
Searching for Solutions in Aquaculture: Charting a sustainable course
October 2012
Aquaculture is currently the fastest growing animal food production sector and will soon supply more than half of the world’s seafood for human consumption.
Green Revolution: Impacts, limits, and the path ahead
July 2012
Reprinted with full permission from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
India 1960-2010: Structural change, the rural non-farm sector, and the prospects for agriculture
May 2012
This paper looks at past and likely future agricultural growth and rural poverty reduction in the context of the overall Indian economy.
Redefining Security Along the Food-Health Nexus: report of a conference and center launch held at Stanford University on November 10, 2011
March 2012
For most scholars the concept of security encompasses issues of state legitimacy, economic and political sovereignty, and protection from military, nuclear, or terrorist assault.
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