This report tests the validity of the hypothesis that there exists a critical paradox between the dynamic features of food insecurity and static policy response in a protracted emergency context. It does so by presenting a review of the food security situation and related stakeholders' responses in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more than ten years of war have generated one of the most severe humanitarian crises since the Second World War.

This report discusses the extent to which household coping strategies have led to an efficient adaptation of livelihoods in the region of Beni-Lubero ( North Kivu ) and if food security interventions have facilitated or blocked the adaptation process. This region was chosen because of its particular characteristic of being in a state of ‘neither-war-nor-peace'. In this context, households often show a great degree of inventiveness in their short-term coping strategies. Whether or not this inventiveness leads to greater resilience is the main question of this report. Finally, recommendations are given on adapting existing food security programmes in such complex and volatile contexts.

The problematic relationship between land tenure, food security and conflict has recently generated a considerable body of research. Land disputes are increasingly recognized as dynamic processes generated by (perceived) land tenure insecurity. Conflicts, however, can also lead to intensified struggle for land, especially when politico-military elites seek to consolidate their power base and reward their supporters by extending control over land as part of their war strategies. This report provides a systematic description of the particular links between local mechanisms of land distribution and conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It focuses on a number of regions where local patterns of land use and land access can be identified as key dynamics behind local tension and dispute.