Livelihood Strategies and Food Security nexus in Vanuatu: Implications for the new challenges of the food security agenda

Abstract

Food security remains one of the most pressing issues of our time. In recent decades, food security has been recognized as a multidimensional issue that is becoming increasingly complexed and challenging to address due to the emergence of newly developing trends, such as urbanization, climate change, globalization, liberalization of trade, changing diets, etc.. These newly emerging trends combined with unresolved food security issues from the past have become serious concern for governments all around the world, and more importantly, are starting to negatively affect people’s lives. This study attempts to comprehensively examine these newly emerging food security challenges and analyse their impact on livelihoods of Vanuatu people. DFID’s Sustainable Livelihood Framework is used as the analytical framework and guiding tool. Results of the analysis indicate that Vanuatu has been struggling to timely adapt to the challenges of the new food security agenda. Despite the fact that policy-makers have been doing their best to effectively address food security issues, the progress to date has been slow, with consequences felt hardest by the poorest, which also represent the most vulnerable segment of Vanuatu population. In order to reverse these trends, a more coordinated and focused approach, molded to the specific Vanuatu context, is needed. Simplified, uncoordinated, one-size-fits all approaches have not worked in the past and will most likely not work in the future. Therefore, food security challenges have to be prioritized on a national level, with new bottom-up approaches placing most vulnerable people in the center of their future planning. If not, the situation in Vanuatu has the potential to get out of control, resulting in deteriorating health conditions and reduced well-being of the general population, as is the case in many other Pacific Island Countries.Keywords: food security, food security agenda, Vanuatu, sustainable livelihood framework, trends, non-communicable diseases, nutrition