As Amartya Sen argued, global hunger is not primarily a problem of food scarcity but of distribution and access. Despite the formal recognition of the right to adequate food as a fundamental human right in international law, recent crises such as disruptions to global supply chains during the Russia-Ukraine war, the prolonged conflict in Gaza and Sudan, and climate-induced drought in Madagascar have revealed persistent failures in ensuring equitable access to food. While international legal scholarship has extensively examined food production and humanitarian assistance, it has paid comparatively little attention to the legal infrastructure governing food distribution across borders and within crises. This project addresses this gap by examining how international law regulates food flows and by assessing whether fragmented legal regimes collectively enable or undermine equitable food distribution.

The project demonstrates how fragmented legal regimes governing food distribution create inconsistencies that undermine the effectiveness of responses to hunger. By redefining access to food as a matter of natural resource governance and clarifying the extraterritorial and universal dimensions of the right to food, this research proposes an innovative conceptual framework with implications for both international legal doctrine and institutional practice. At a time when access to food is becoming increasingly politicised in global crises, this research provides timely tools, based on rigorous analysis, for rethinking legal responsibility and protection.

Timeline:  September 2026 - August 2027.

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