Global crisis as challenges and threats to the stability of food systems in the world

The article reflects the impact of global crises on food security through the prism of a hierarchical risk scheme structured into three levels of threats, which allows us to systematize the interconnected challenges of the modern world. The first level covers external crises: economic crises, political instability, and pandemics that destabilize global food supply chains and provoke sharp price increases, inflation, and debt crises in countries of the Global South. Political instability, in particular the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2022, blocked the export of key grains (wheat, corn, oilseeds) from two leading suppliers, causing panic in the markets and the threat of famine for dependent countries in Africa and the Middle East. The second level of threats is formed by environmental and climate challenges, including global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, which cause extreme weather – droughts, floods, heat waves – and resource degradation: soil erosion, salinization, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem transformation. These factors reduce yields by 25% in tropical regions, especially in Africa and South Asia, where the agricultural sector is becoming the basis of the economy and adaptive capacity is limited; this affects the stability of production for 9 billion people by 2050. The third level is demographic factors: population growth, migration from rural to urban areas, and urbanization, which increase demand by 2.5 times in Africa, improve logistics, reduce the labor force in the agricultural sector, and lose land for development, increasing inequality in access to food. The synergistic effects of polycrisis are analyzed, where the interaction of levels (for example, war + climate = grain shortages in different regions) has led to an increase in progressive hunger by 122 million people since 2019 (up to 800 million, or 9% of the world). Strategies for transforming food systems are proposed: market diversification, sustainable resource management, environmentally friendly agriculture, and reducing dependence on imports. Prospects for further research are identified: the role of AI, precision agriculture, and vertical farms in adaptation; models of international cooperation amid reduced humanitarian funding in 2025–2030; regional cases for the Global South. Keywords: food system, global crises, food security, urbanization, environmental challenges, migration, economic crisis, political instability.