Article Synopsis
- Armed conflicts lead to food insecurity by causing cropland abandonment and making it hard to collect relief information.
- Satellite remote sensing can effectively gather data during these conflicts and assess food security conditions.
- Analysis of satellite images in South Sudan revealed a 16% decrease in cultivated land from 2016 to 2018, underlining the impact of war on food supply and highlighting remote sensing's importance in improving aid distribution.
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Article Abstract
Armed conflicts often hinder food security through cropland abandonment and restrict the collection of on-the-ground information required for targeted relief distribution. Satellite remote sensing provides a means for gathering information about disruptions during armed conflicts and assessing the food security status in conflict zones. Using ~7,500 multisource satellite images, we implemented a data-driven approach that showed a reduction in cultivated croplands in war-ravaged South Sudan by 16% from 2016 to 2018. Propensity score matching revealed a statistical relationship between cropland abandonment and armed conflicts that contributed to drastic decreases in food supply. Our analysis shows that the abandoned croplands could have supported at least a quarter of the population in the southern states of South Sudan and demonstrates that remote sensing can play a crucial role in the assessment of cropland abandonment in food-insecure regions, thereby improving the basis for timely aid provision.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00417-3 | DOI Listing |
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