The 2020 IFIAD conference gathered experts in the fields of climate change, agriculture, policy, social justice, and development, along with a diverse audience, to discuss ‘Covid-19 and Sustainable Food Systems’. The topics of discussion were how the Covid-19 pandemic can serve as an opportunity for transitioning to resilient food systems as well as the future of the EU-Africa Partnership.
The pandemic’s effects on global food and economic systems have had disproportionate impacts on vulnerable and marginalized people, accentuating a major theme that flowed throughout each speaker’s subjects: the connections between climate change and Covid-19.
The consensus was that the pandemic serves as an opportunity to address both crises in a systems thinking manner, which requires major transformations in the current approach to these vicious and entangled global issues. The speakers had different strategies for this goal, and each approach went beyond merely managing the crisis, while instead using it as a tool for rebuilding and addressing interconnected issues such as nutrition deficiency, tenure rights, and gender equality.
The discussion around strengthening and sustaining more effective relationships between the EU and Africa was highlighted with Ireland’s support and commitment. The speakers of this session outlined how the future of this partnership depends on vigilant responses to the pandemic, avoiding the risk of potential reversal of already made progress.
Whether it’s “Building Back Better Diets” or the “Need to Build Forward Better”, these converging crises are a moment for our governments, policy makers, private sectors and civil societies to assemble and address human health while respecting planetary boundaries. At the forefront, we need to amplify the voices of those impacted the most, as Michael Taylor, the Director of the International Land Coalition (ILC) said “some voices are louder, more powerful, and more organized than others”, and protecting the most vulnerable can mean equipping some of the greatest agents of change.