Northern Ethiopia currently faces a severe food shortage. A drought has stricken the region, disrupting livelihoods, crops, and livestock. High food prices, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, have reduced everyday purchasing power. Meanwhile, armed conflict between the Ethiopian National Defense Force and militia groups is hindering the delivery of aid. The situation has compelled USAID to write that Ethiopia faces a crisis “or worse” levels of food insecurity.
But another compounding factor exists more than 1,500 miles away: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Prior to the war, Ethiopia imported 301,000 tons of wheat from Ukraine, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. While Ukrainian wheat is not a majority of Ethiopia’s food source, the disruption of shipping routes on the Black Sea, coupled with other constraints, makes a fragile situation even more perilous.
Similar situations are playing out across the world in places that rely on maritime trade routes for their food and energy security. Today, three major trade routes face simultaneous disruptions due to geopolitical and environmental shocks.
About the author
Jason Steinhauer
Jason Steinhauer is an author and public historian in Washington, D.C. He is the founder of the History Communication Institute and author of the bestselling book "History, Disrupted: How Social Media & the World Wide Web Have Changed the Past." He is currently a global fellow at The Wilson Center and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Past bylines include TIME, CNN, and The Washington Post.
