Background Guide

Agenda- Impact of Ukraine-Russia conflict on global food

security and related matters
Committee- Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
Greetings Delegates!
It gives us immense pleasure to welcome you to the Model
United Nations, 2023.
The following background guide has been formulated keeping in
mind various aspects to be discussed in the committee. Although
this Background guide covers a major part of the agenda that we
would like to see being debated upon in the committee, it is
important to know that this piece of document is not exhaustive
in nature and further reading on the part of delegates is more
than necessary in order to steer the committee in the right
direction. This background guide shall only serve the purpose of
bringing clarity and provide you with a generic understanding of
the agenda and the topics related to it. Also, not under any
circumstances can the background guide be quoted or used as
substantial proof in the committee sessions. Delegates are
expected to build their research upon the topics highlighted in
the further pages, though further independent research would be
highly appreciated.
Being a part of any conference for the first time or being new to
the concept of MUNs can be very overwhelming at times but it
is important to be clear on the objective with which you
participate. Showcase your best efforts to your best capacity and
don’t be afraid of speaking up. Your age or your experience is
never a barrier when you try to achieve something.
We are gladly looking forward to witnessing what you, members
of the committee, can bring to the table, both in terms of your
ideas in committee and your creativity in crafting solutions.
Regards

About the committee

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations was
established on 16 October, 1945 in Quebec City, Canada. It
th

works as a specialized agency under the Economic and Social

Council (established in 1945) with the mandate to achieve food
security for all and make sure that people have regular access to
enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.
The FAO is comprised of 194 member-states, along with the
European Union, Faroe Islands and Tokelau. There are 8
departments under the committee: Agriculture and Consumer
Protection; Economic and Social Development; Fisheries and
Aquaculture; Forestry; Corporate Services, Human Resources
and Finance; Natural Resources Management and Environment;
and Technical Cooperation. Operating in over 130 countries,
FAO strives to eliminate hunger and malnutrition, improve
productivity and sustainability in agriculture, reduce rural
poverty, ensure inclusive and efficient food systems and protect
livelihoods from disasters. The committee aids the countries in
doing the aforementioned by gathering and circulating
information, formulating policy recommendations and provision
of technical assistance.
One of the key actions of FAO was that it supervised the
establishment of important agreements and institutions,
including the World Food Programme, which delivers food
assistance to disaster stricken and impoverished communities.
An important factor that sets FAO apart from similar
international agencies is its ability to provide ‘global public
goods’. The kinds of global public goods that the FAO provides
include basic research, global analysis, statistics, and advocacy
on food policy and agricultural development. The FAO uses its
wide network of experts, including agricultural experts,
nutritionists, economists and social scientists, to provide these
essential services. This information allows ministers and
national and international leaders to plan for the future and
design policies that meet the needs of rural and food insecure
people.

About The agenda

Russia-Ukraine Conflict
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in February,
2014 with a covert invasion of Crimea by disguised Russian
troops. Over the years since, Russia made numerous attempts to
forcefully seize Ukrainian territories until February, 2022, when
Russia launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine.
Ukraine declared independence from USSR in 1991 and
emerged as a nation. Despite the separation, Russia and Belarus
continued to believe that Ukraine was meant to remain a part of
the Soviet Union and should not have a distinct identity. This
idea of uniting Ukraine and Soviet Union became the basis
around which the conflict between the two revolves. In a speech
conveying grievances and justifications to the actions of Russia,
Vladimir Putin listed expansion of NATO as one of the reasons
of conflict. But more than that, he emphasized on the deep
rooted unity of Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians due to
their common Keivan Rus origin. He suggested that the modern
Russia, Belarus and Ukraine should share a political destiny. He
called the distinct Belarus and Ukraine identities a product of
foreign manipulation and claimed that the West was using
Ukraine to start an “anti-Russia project”.
The Russian elites’ inclination towards Russian-Ukrainian-
Belarusian unity and Ukraine’s opposition to it led to the
dispute. Russia invaded Ukraine to dominate it politically,
militarily and economically, as well as to prevent NATO-
Ukraine membership.
Global Food Security
Global food security is an assurance that countries across the
world have healthy access to food through efficient flow of food
resources. The urgency of global food security rises during
unfortunate events such as a natural disaster or emergencies
which threaten the availability of food to people. The agenda
talks about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the
global food system.
Both countries have always been major food producers globally
and that is why the war breached the food security around the
world.
Role of Russia and Ukraine in the global agricultural system
Ukraine, being a major exporter of wheat and barley is known as
the ‘Breadbasket of Europe’. Both Russia and Ukraine together
export nearly 12% of food calories traded globally. They are key
providers of basic agro-commodities (Wheat, maize, sunflower
oil, etc.) and Russia is a supplier of fertilizers.
Several other regions depend on the two for their basic food
supply. Eastern Africa receives 72% and 18% of their cereal
from Russia and Ukraine respectively while North Africa and
Middle East import over 50% of cereal from the two.
Russia attacked Ukraine’s agricultural labour force, farms and
infrastructure. According to official estimates from Ukraine’s
Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food (MAPF) and the Kyiv
School of Economics (KSE) with support from the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the World Bank, and
the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, since
Russia invaded Ukraine, 84,200 pieces of agricultural machinery
have been totally or partially damaged, four million tons of
grains and oilseeds have been destroyed or stolen, and storage
for 9.4 million tons of agricultural products has been damaged
or destroyed. With heavy disruptions in agricultural logistics,
Ukraine faced a loss in billions.
Impact of war on the food supply
A year has passed since Russia’s invasion and yet the
reverberations it caused are still scattered around the globe. The
war caused disturbance in the flow of goods which along with
pre-existing challenges led to food shortage and rise in prices in
many countries. Russia is one of the largest producers of oil and
fuel. In the wake of the conflict, European countries banned oil
from Russia which caused a steep spike in the prices for a while.
The FAO Food Price Index reached an all-time high right after
Russia’s invasion in February, 2022 and these food prices still
remain significantly higher than they were in 2021. WFP claims
that over 349 million people over 79 countries faced acute food
insecurity. The worst affected were the low income, food
importing countries- those in Africa, Middle East and Asia.
Response to crisis
Foreign assistance for food security is mainly received as
investments in humanitarian assistance and agricultural
productivity. 2022 saw the emergence of a third type of
assistance to cover food-insecure countries’ food import bills.
For countries reliant on global markets for their food security,
high food prices caused import costs to soar. In early 2022, the
FAO proposed a Food Import Financing Facility (FIFF) to buffer
food costs for those countries most exposed to global food price
increases. The IMF took on the FAO’s proposal and is now
implementing it through its Food Shock Window.
Sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, United
States and other countries following the invasions aimed to
spare the export in agricultural sector to avoid side effects on the
global food security. These sustained the global market to a
meagre extent.
Foreign ministers from approximately 30 countries were
convened by the US government for a Global Food Security Call
to Action meeting at UN Headquarters, and a Global Food
Security Summit around the UN General Assembly was hosted
in September 2022. Also in May 2022, the G7 launched a
Global Alliance for Food Security and the leaders issued a
separate G7 Statement on Global Food Security at the G7
Summit in June, reflecting high-level deliberations on the issue.
Although these discussions have been held and measures have
been taken, the food security condition has not been helped
immensely. To this date, millions of people who are not even
linked to the nations at war are suffering and being deprived of
the most basic necessity of human life- food.