In this article, the impact of the Russia–Ukraine conflict on food security in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is analyzed. With Ukraine being recognized as one of the major global grain producers and exporters, the conflict is seen as posing a significant challenge to MENA countries, which are heavily dependent on grain imports from Ukraine. The importance of global linkages in food supply chains and their influence on regional food security is highlighted in this context. Utilizing secondary data from 2002 to 2021 obtained from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the study focuses on demography and food security, analyzing how these factors intertwine with grain export dynamics. The escalating hostilities have disrupted transportation routes, damaged infrastructure, and hindered logistics, resulting in substantial export volume reductions. Geopolitical tensions have exacerbated these effects, diminishing confidence among MENA grain importers. The study highlights how these disruptions have influenced global supply chains, prices, and agricultural product availability, with a specific focus on the MENA region’s challenges in food security, compounded by conflicts, climate change, and import dependence. A detailed demographic analysis reveals the impact of population changes on food demand and distribution, offering insights into how population growth and urbanization, alongside shifts in malnutrition and obesity rates, affect food security. The study concludes that the MENA region’s increasing reliance on food imports, coupled with climatic and political variabilities, underscores its growing vulnerability to global supply chain disruptions and the need for robust strategies to address these challenges.

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The aim of this research was to identify the key factors determining the level of soil liming in Poland. Spatial analyses were conducted using data from the 2020 National Agricultural Census. The study presents regional variations in selected parameters that characterise agricultural production quality and structural features, including the market connections of farms. The Classification and Regression Trees (C&RT) method was employed to identify the factors that most significantly influence the intensity of liming in the examined districts. These factors include the share of permanent grasslands, labour inputs, the percentage of farms engaged in commercial production, farm size, and the level of mineral fertilisation (NPK). The results indicate that regions with larger farms and higher NPK fertilisation tend to apply more lime. In contrast, areas with a higher share of permanent grasslands and labour-intensive activities show lower levels of liming. These findings suggest that improving agricultural practices, particularly in regions with small farms and limited fertilisation, could enhance soil liming efforts and align them with the European Green Deal's goals for sustainable agriculture.

Environmental risks associated with climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainability transitions extend beyond the allocation of financial losses. Research recognises insurance’s role in environmental risk management and sustainable finance. It also considers climate adaptation and governance, but remains fragmented across disciplines and analytical levels. This study develops an integrative conceptual framework distinguishing risk transfer, established insurance incentive and portfolio effects, and risk transformation. Drawing on a theory-informed synthesis of the literature, it connects insights from environmental economics and principal–agent theory. Signalling and institutional theory provide complementary perspectives. Risk transformation is defined as an outcome in which insurance-related mechanisms make a demonstrable contribution to sustained and independently verifiable reductions in underlying environmental risk or its alterable drivers. Such transformation may occur within a single insured organisation; cross-level transmission may broaden or amplify its effects but is not a defining condition. The framework identifies four potential economic, behavioural, informational, and institutional pathways, which may operate separately or jointly, with capital allocation incorporated into the economic pathway. A context-specific operational protocol specifies ex ante magnitude, persistence, attribution, and verification criteria without imposing a universal scale across heterogeneous risks. The framework also identifies pathway complementarity, conflict, and single-path failure and specifies the boundary conditions that determine whether the pathways generate substantive risk reduction. It explains when effects remain confined to compensation, conventional incentives, insured-loss reduction, risk selection, portfolio de-risking, or symbolic compliance. The study concludes by formulating categorised research propositions and corresponding empirical strategies.

The article analyzes the impact of food imports from Russia and Ukraine on the food security of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The analysis focuses on data collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from 2000 to 2021 and a literature review of the impact of armed conflicts on food security. In the context of the war between Russia and Ukraine, it is emphasized that it negatively affects food security on the international stage, which may lead to a deepening food crisis. Correlation and linear regression analysis were used to determine the relationship between food imports from Russia and Ukraine and total food imports to GCC countries to examine whether there is a relationship between these variables. The correlation analysis showed a strong positive relationship between food imports from Russia and Ukraine and total food imports to GCC countries, while the regression analysis showed a moderate positive relationship. However, it was noted that GCC countries have taken steps in recent years to become more independent of a single supplier of agricultural products and improve food security. Ultimately, the results of the analysis suggest that food security in GCC countries requires further attention and action to increase independence and reduce the risk of food shortages.