The rise of the Phoenix: Food and climate in times of COVID-19

As the World Environment Day approached this year, I wondered what relevance environmental issues had in the COVID-19 era, as the discourse is dominated by the loss of lives and livelihoods as a result of the pandemic. This is understandable, as the crisis caused by the pandemic is the worst that humanity has experienced in recent times.

Coincidentally, on this day, we co-hosted the first Online COVID-19 Food Systems Dialogue in partnership with Bayer, and I was surprised by the overwhelming interest on the topics of food and climate in a COVID-19 world. The dialogue was oversubscribed, with representation from business, civil society, research, governments and farmers, all with a common interest of averting food and climate crises as we respond to and recover from the pandemic. To me this was an indication that environmental issues are not ‘off the table’ but they are very much on it.

We are facing some very big challenges in the COVID-19 world, including greater poverty, hunger, and declining momentum for climate action, a perfect storm which will set us back in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. We can either sit back and blame it on COVID-19, or as the mythical phoenix rise from the ashes to transform our food system into one that enables us to achieve the SDGs in spite of the odds.

The response to COVID-19 shows us that ambitious and rapid responses to global challenges are possible. For example, from mid-February to mid-March 2020, Governments globally came up with more than USD 8 trillion for the COVID-19 response. In comparison, we only need USD 1.8 trillion by 2030 for climate action in our food system. The behaviour change which we have seen world over is also truly remarkable.

So what do we need to do to make this transformation happen? I was inspired by the words of Dr David Nabarro, Special Envoy for COVID-19 at the World Health Organization, “We need to 1. Engage Unusually, 2. Explore Collectively 3. Encourage Creativity 4. Emerge more powerfully ”. We need to put these principles into practice to support the most vulnerable in our food systems, often smallscale farmers at the frontline of climate change and a myriad of other challenges. How can we do this? We need to create context-specific ecosystems of the right ingredients which can help farmers thrive, as noted by Liam Condon, President of Bayer Crop Science.

We will discuss more about actions that can transform our food systems on 25 June, in an ‘around the world’ virtual event, ‘A new era for food and climate: Driving transformative actions’ when we discuss 11 key actions together with partners in 6 continents. Because, if not us, then who? If not now, then when?