willingness to make small sacrifices, to prioritize the safety of others before our own comfort, to think about others and how our actions affect our community. We can give up coffee or take-out dinners for a month and make a donation to a group most affected by the pandemic. We can stand up for an immigrant being harassed on the bus or speak out when a friend or family member makes racist comments, even if it makes us uncomfortable.
COVID-19 was a moral test of our time, assessing our ability to think about others before ourselves and to take action for the greater good. It was a test, but not the final exam. We still have the opportunity to learn. We can still build on the character strengths and fix the moral weaknesses that COVID-19 laid bare.
Adverse Impact of a Global Pandemic
There have been at least 209.2 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide with 4.4 million dead.10
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, global economy, hospitality, food systems, and the world of work. The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic has been devastating: tens of millions of people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty, while the number of undernourished people, currently estimated at nearly 690 million,11 could increase by up to 132 million by the end of the year. Numerous people are having to make base decisions: feed the family, pay for a roof over their heads, or pay for healthcare. Many cannot even afford to choose two out of those three choices without falling into inextricable debt.
Millions of enterprises also face an existential threat. Nearly half of the world's 3.3 billion global workforce were at risk of losing their livelihoods.12 Informal and gig economy workers were particularly vulnerable because the majority lacked social protection and access to quality healthcare in addition to losing access to productive assets. Without the means to earn an income during lockdowns, many were unable to feed themselves and their families. For most, no income meant no food, or, at best, less food and less nutritious food.
The pandemic also affected the entire food system and has exposed its fragility. Border closures, trade restrictions, and confinement measures prevented farmers from accessing markets, including for buying inputs and selling their produce, and agricultural workers from harvesting crops, thus disrupting domestic and international food supply chains and reducing access to healthy, safe, and diverse diets. The pandemic decimated jobs and placed millions of livelihoods at risk. As breadwinners lost jobs, fell ill, and died, the food security and nutrition of millions of women and men came under threat, with those in low-income countries, particularly the most marginalized populations, which include small-scale farmers and Indigenous peoples, being hardest hit.
Millions of agricultural workers—waged and self-employed—while feeding the world, regularly faced high levels of working poverty, malnutrition, and poor health, and they suffered from a lack of safety and labor protection as well as other types of abuse. With low and irregular incomes and a lack of social support, many of them were compelled to continue working, often in unsafe conditions, thus exposing themselves and their families to additional risks. Further, when experiencing income losses, they were coerced into resorting to negative coping strategies, such as distress sale of assets, predatory loans, or child labor. Migrant agricultural workers were particularly vulnerable, because they faced risks in their transport, working, and living conditions and struggled to access support measures put in place by governments. In the future, guaranteeing the safety and health of all agri-food workers—from primary producers to those involved in food processing, transport, and retail, including street food vendors—as well as better incomes and protection, will be critical to saving lives and protecting public health, people's livelihoods, and food security.
During the COVID-19 crisis, food security, public health, and employment and labor issues—in particular, workers' health and safety—converged. Adhering to workplace safety and health practices and ensuring access to decent work and the protection of labor rights in all industries are crucial in addressing the human dimension of the crisis. Immediate and purposeful action to save lives and livelihoods should include extending social protection toward universal health coverage and income support for those most affected. These include workers in the informal economy and in poorly protected and low-paid jobs, including youth, older workers, and migrants. Particular attention must be paid to the situation of women, who are overrepresented in low-paid jobs and care roles. In fact, several studies found that, financially, women suffered disproportionally during the pandemic.13 Different forms of support are key, including cash transfers, child allowances and healthy school meals, shelter and food relief initiatives, support for employment retention and recovery, and financial relief for businesses, including micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. In designing and implementing such measures, it is essential that governments work closely with employers and workers.
Countries dealing with existing humanitarian crises or emergencies were particularly exposed to the effects of COVID-19. Responding swiftly to the pandemic, while ensuring that humanitarian and recovery assistance reaches those most in need, continues to be critical.
Now is the time for global solidarity and support, especially with the most vulnerable in our societies, particularly in the emerging and developing world. Only together can we overcome the intertwined health and social and economic impacts of the pandemic and prevent its escalation into a protracted humanitarian and food security catastrophe, with the potential loss of already achieved development gains.
We must recognize this opportunity to build back a better world for all, as noted in a press briefing issued by the United Nations Secretary-General. The UN is committed to pooling their expertise and experience to support countries in their crisis response measures and efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.14 We need to develop long-term sustainable strategies to address the challenges facing the health and agri-food sectors. Priority should be given to addressing underlying food security and malnutrition challenges, tackling rural poverty, in particular through more and better jobs in the rural economy, extending social protection to all, facilitating safe migration pathways, and promoting the formalization of the informal economy.
We must rethink the future of our environment and tackle climate change and environmental degradation with ambition and urgency. Only then can we protect the health, livelihoods, food security, and nutrition of all people, and ensure that our new normal is a better one.
Apocalypse Bingo
First the pandemic, which divided us, economically devastated us; it has killed nearly 4.1 million15 of us worldwide.16 Then the racial unrest, erupting at the deaths of more Black Americans at the hands of police: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Daniel Prude—to name a few.
Combine that with extreme weather patterns. For only the second time in history, the National Hurricane Center moved into the Greek alphabet for storm names. The wildfires of 2020 were bigger, deadlier, and more frequent than in years past. For months in several West Coast cities of the United States, people could not breathe properly.17 Many were evacuated, lost their homes, and there was widespread destruction. On a personal front, we almost got evacuated ourselves and experienced a level of anxiety and stress that we had never faced before. We also caught a glimpse of an inevitable bleak dystopian future with red skies, an ash-covered moon, and a blotted sun for days.
In record numbers,
