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Food insecurity and violent conflict: Causes, consequences, and addressing the challenges

Rising food prices contribute to food insecurity, which is a clear and serious threat to human security. Interest in food security as a catalyst for political instability and conflict has grown rapidly since 2007–2008, when food protests and riots broke out in 48 countries as a result of record world prices. In February 2011, the food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reached a new historic peak, and the rise in food prices contributed to the wave of protests across North Africa and the Middle East that toppled Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.