COVID-19 building back greener and more resilient

Besides creating a severe health crisis, the COVID-19 epidemic has led to a considerable increase in the number of poor and food insecure people as well as a sharp projected decrease of production of agricultural goods in many parts of the world. With its Technical paper Covid-19 building back greener and more resilient: Contributions of agroecology to a “new normal” in Asia and the Pacific, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) aims to contribute to the regional dialogue on how to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. 

The paper first highlights some of the impacts of the pandemic on agriculture and food security in the Asia Pacific Region. Here, labour and job markets, agricultural input markets, marketing and supply chains as well as health and nutrition are examined.

The second part of the paper provides selected examples of how agroecological approaches can contribute to transforming food systems and developing a greener, more resilient and more inclusive “new normal”. This part is based on FAO’s ten elements of agroecology, underscoring the latter’s capacity to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability.

(FAO/sri)

Download the paper at the FAO Website