EN
FR
ES
REPORT
April 2020
COVID-19 and the Crisis in Food Systems
Symptoms, causes, and potential solutions
This page is automatically translated from the English original using DeepL and may contain errors.
COVID-19 is a wakeup call for food systems that must be heeded. The pandemic has exposed the systemic risks, fragilities, and inequities in global food systems, which will only be compounded by climate change in the years to come.
Yet, it has also provided glimpses of food system transformation, with communities and public authorities rallying to sustain food production and access, and warns of the powerful actors using the crisis to accelerate unsustainable, business-as usual approaches.
In this special report, IPES-Food explores a transformation that promises benefits for both human and planetary health, and recommends a focus on building resilience to future shocks at every level:
- Take immediate action to protect the most vulnerable by swiftly establishing or enhancing social protection and emergency food assistance;
- Build resilient agroecological food systems to transition from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems;
- Rebalance economic power for the public good, emphasizing multi-level governance, social and economic inclusion, and food sovereignty;
- Complete the global governance reforms initiated in the wake of the 2007-2008 food price crisis, and put in place the tools to accelerate food system transformation.
Related news
Involved in this report
Other Reports
Food Security
Local Food Systems
Climate & Biodiversity
Corporate Power
Equity & Health Climate & Biodiversity
Governance & Policy Local Food Systems Corporate Power Governance & Policy Equity & Health Food Security Governance & Policy
Agroecology Climate & Biodiversity Governance & Policy Corporate Power Food Security Governance & Policy
