The G20 ag ministers met (virtually) this week to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the global food supply—and it’s clear that One Health is critical to ensure our supply chains can remain resilient in the face of this pandemic, or whatever comes along in the future.
The meeting: The G20 agriculture ministers met Tuesday, April 21, in an “extraordinary” meeting, where they agreed “that emergency measures to stop the spread of the new coronavirus must not upend global food supply chains,” reports Reuters.
What they said: “We agree that emergency measures in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic must be targeted, proportionate, transparent, and temporary, and that they do not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption to global food supply chains, and are consistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.”
What does COVID-19 have to do with food? “Restrictions on movement within and across countries can hinder food-related logistic services, disrupt entire food supply chains and affect the availability of food,” said the UN FAO, International Fund for Agriculture Development, World Bank, and World Food Program in a joint statement after the meeting.
In other words, we don’t need to worry and hoard—individually, or as a country—but the pandemic can affect supply chains if we’re not careful. “Impacts on the movement of agricultural labor and on the supply of inputs will soon pose critical challenges to food production, thus jeopardizing food security for all people, and hit especially hard people living in the poorest countries,” they continued.
How can the supply chain remain resilient? We, collectively, must invest in recovery efforts (particularly for vulnerable populations), and strengthen the sustainability and resilience of food systems against future pandemics or pests.
And One Health is key. “The devastating economic impacts of COVID-19 reinforce the need for investments that prevent future outbreaks of such infectious diseases, recognizing the interconnections between people, animals, plants and their shared environment—the One Health approach,” they said.
What’s BIO got to do with it? BIO supports the One Health approach and the establishment of an interagency One Health Program to better safeguard human, animal, and environmental health. With industry-wide collaboration, we can better understand these links and find solutions to problems ranging from pandemics to the sustainability and resilience of our food supply.
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