Global Sea Lanes Under Siege: A Threat to Food Security and Humanitarian Aid

The world's food supply chains are under siege, threatened by the rising tide of conflict and violence. India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, has sounded the alarm on the critical need to safeguard global sea lanes, emphasizing that secure and predictable maritime trade routes are indispensable for uninterrupted movement of food, fertilisers, and fuel.

The UN Secretary-General has warned that conflict and violence are driving hunger hotspots worldwide, with at least 266 million people facing acute food insecurity. The year 2025 saw the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II, and among the highest levels of global acute hunger on record.

Disruptions to maritime trade routes can have devastating effects on food security, particularly for developing countries. India is cautioning against over-reliance on grain crops such as rice, wheat, and corn, and encouraging climate-resilient crops such as millets. The country is calling for collective action to preserve the safety and freedom of navigation, ensuring that commercial shipping and humanitarian shipments can proceed without undue impediment.

The international community must work together to safeguard critical sea lanes and maritime infrastructure. This requires facilitating safe, rapid, and unimpeded humanitarian access, supporting de-confliction arrangements where appropriate, and ensuring that the UN Security Council's own measures, including sanctions regimes, do not inadvertently impede humanitarian assistance or legitimate food and agricultural trade.

India is emphasizing the need to strengthen domestic agricultural production, diversify supply chains, improve storage and logistics infrastructure, and promote climate-resilient agriculture. Predictable and affordable access to fertilisers, quality seeds, technology, and concessional finance remains indispensable, particularly for developing countries.

Open, transparent, and rules-based trade in food and agricultural inputs is critical to global food security. The international community must also address the root causes of conflict and underdevelopment, including political instability and lack of access to resources.

The UN's latest Hunger Hotspots report shows that conflict and violence are the primary drivers in 12 out of 13 hunger hotspots of greatest concern. The Strait of Hormuz carries around a fifth of global oil supplies, and a third of global fertiliser trade. Restrictions and closures have driven up commodity prices, and made availability plummet. Attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea are further threatening supply chains for food and other commodities.

India is calling for timely assessments of disruptions to critical supply chains, including food, fertiliser, fuel, and humanitarian logistics. Such assessments must remain objective, evidence-based, and free from politicisation. Member States, international financial institutions, regional organisations, and development partners must work together to address the humanitarian consequences of conflict on food security.

In conclusion, the world's food supply chains are under siege, threatened by the rising tide of conflict and violence. India is calling for collective action to safeguard global sea lanes, emphasizing the need to preserve the safety and freedom of navigation, and ensuring that commercial shipping and humanitarian shipments can proceed without undue impediment.