Toward A More Comprehensive and Integrative Approach to Multidisciplinary Food Insecurity Research

Climate change is intensifying conditions that adversely affect both social and ecological drivers of food insecurity. Within this context, there is an urgent and critical need for multidisciplinary food insecurity research that contributes comprehensive and meaningful solutions to this growing humanitarian concern. Yet, current methodological challenges to multidisciplinary food insecurity research threaten its ability to offer such insight and solutions. For instance, integrated models that include adjustments for access, consumption, trade, and crop yields at local scales are necessary in order to create plausible estimates of climate impacts on food insecurity. Despite the interdependence of Food, Energy and Water sectors (FEW) within existing food insecurity policy frameworks, however, water and energy policies are largely developed in isolation of one another. This fragmentation in policymaking creates inefficiencies in development across sectors and fails to address related food insecurity outcomes. Lack of system thinking, and incomplete or unavailable data on energy, water, and other socioeconomic drivers of food insecurity across various geopolitical scales (particularly at the local scale) has largely led to policies that increase efficiency in one sector but create latent undesirable consequences in other sectors (e.g., agricultural electricity subsidies that result in unsustainable groundwater overdraft). Contributing to this problem, is lack of optimal integration within food insecurity research on energy, water, climate, and socioeconomic factors. This integration is necessary in order to contribute to effective policy that accounts for, manages, and links, these key sectors influencing food insecurity. We offer a novel and prescriptive stance on ways to develop and improve multidisciplinary food insecurity research. Specifically, we review the state of global food insecurity research, current methodological approaches within—and challenges to—multidisciplinary food insecurity research, and make recommendations for overcoming existing challenges/frailties of current approaches to multidisciplinary food insecurity research.