COVID-19 and Food Law: Policy Responses

This policy brief focuses on the topic of global emergence of infectious diseases and its links with consumption of wild meat, ecosystem disruption, habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. Emerging infectious diseases are a significant and growing threat to global health, economies and security. There is evidence that landscape changes and biodiversity loss are key drivers of the (re-) emergence of infectious diseases. More systematic research is needed to better understand the role of ecosystems in the regulation of diseases.

An analysis of wet markets and suggestions for their modernization.

It does not appear that there have been major developments in terms of identifying the precise origins of the virus. There are genetic similarities to existing bat viruses, but the research leaves open the possibility of animal mixing wherein a pangolin acted as an intermediate host. Although a Wuhan market was initially suspected to be the epicenter of the epidemic, the immediate source remains elusive. The Wuhan outbreak probably originated from a point source with subsequent human-to-human transmission, in contrast to the origin of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus that involved multiple organisms of the same species.

Pandemics as a whole are increasing in frequency. Some 70 percent of emerging infectious diseases in humans are of zoonotic origin. The most likely zoonotic disease hosts are rodents and bats. Bats make up about 50 percent of mammals in the most biodiverse tropical regions. Harvesting and raising animals are not the only venues for spillover. Humans increasingly share space with wildlife and alter it in perilous ways. One example is the Nipah virus, where deforestation caused displaced fruit bats to infect pigs on pig farms. As Earth’s human population hurtles toward 8 billion, no one thinks human-animal interaction is going to decrease. Many researchers say the coronavirus pandemic underscores the need for a more holistic “one health” approach, which views human, animal and environmental health as interconnected.

In the 1990s, as part of its economic transformation, China ramped up its food production systems to industrial scale. Smallholding farmers were undercut and pushed out of the livestock industry. They turned to farming wild species. This increased the frequency of contacts with viruses. Modern models of agribusiness can also contribute to the emergence of zoonoses. For example, birds in a given farm tend to be near genetic clones of one another – having been selected over decades for desirable traits. If a virus gets introduced into such a flock, it can race through it without meeting any resistance in the form of genetic variants that prevent its spread. Some believe this is why the avian flu strain has tended to come from more developed countries.

A focus on the global ban of animal markets, throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa and a lot of other Asian countries, has become a central focus. Another key factor for the origins of the corona virus was the ease of travel in the modern world. The UN biodiversity head came out for a permanent ban of wet markets- those that sell live and dead animals at the same time. These markets are mainly used for the sale of exotic animals for consumption. China has instituted a temporary ban.

China’s top e-commerce and express delivery operators are under pressure to become enforcers of the country’s temporary ban on the trade in wildlife. Right now, there isn’t enough regulation specifying the responsibility of online platforms. Some reforms are necessary to help online platforms know exactly what is legal or prohibited. China’s revision of laws appear to target consumption of meat from wildlife. This would mean the fur and leather industry, as well as the trade in animal parts procured for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) could carry on as usual. Currently, legal licenses allow some leeway for loopholes that are often at odds with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which China is a signatory.

To combat the outbreak, China announced a suspension on wildlife trade across the country in January and a crackdown (i.e., stricter enforcement) on illegal activities involving wildlife. An amendment to the law will be voted on to clarify permanent changes.

The article discusses how some in the scientific community in China seek bans on eating wildlife. However, this has to be balanced with the fact that trading in wild animals is a significant part of people’s livelihoods in China. A ban could just result in a large black market and widespread criminalization.

This is a scholarly article advocating for regulatory changes needed in China. A central point is that the NPC Standing Committee must amend or revise the current “Wildlife Protection Act.” It also advocates for a publication of a blacklist prohibiting the consumption of a range of wildlife species.

In the present report, submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to Council resolution 43/11, the newly appointed Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, provides an outline of the direction that he intends to take during his tenure, including his vision of the areas of concern and priority issues that will inform his future thematic reports.

This report tracks food insecurity in the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This report, which will be updated periodically, drives home the need for substantial, continued relief measures. The extent and severity of continued hardships like hunger, eviction, and homelessness will depend on whether such relief is robust and reaches those in need, as well as the trajectory of the pandemic and the pace of economic recovery. The implications for children in particular are significant: households with children face especially high hardship rates, which research has shown can have serious effects on children’s long-term health and financial security.

Family farmers, especially those operating at a small-scale level, are particularly exposed to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Temporary movement restrictions hinder their access to markets, and the perishable goods and small animals they mostly produce and keep are the most affected by being cut off from markets and slaughterhouses.

This brief draws on historical evidence and demonstrates that reductions in national food availability caused by severe weather events tend to be considerably larger in magnitude when they occur during global economic downturns. The risks posed by this dual threat are particularly high for poorer countries that are net food importers. Taking actions to mitigate these adverse effects in the short-term, while building the resilience of agri-food systems to future shocks is critical for avoiding major contractions in food availability and associated risks of food insecurity.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns are creating health and economic crises that threaten food and nutrition security. The seafood sector provides important sources of employment and nutrition, especially in low-income countries, and is highly globalized, allowing shocks to propagate internationally. This article uses a resilience ‘action cycle’ framework to study the first five months of COVID-19-related disruptions, impacts, and responses to the seafood sector. Looking across high- and low-income countries, we find that some supply chains, market segments, companies, small-scale actors and civil society have shown initial signs of greater resilience than others.

Sporadic shocks in the food systems make the route to achieving Zero Hunger and eliminating all forms of malnutrition by 2030 even much more onerous. Since many parts of the continent had already been fighting desert locusts, one can say that COVID-19 outbreak has come at a worse time. Supporting efforts to build the resilience of farmers to face such shocks remains one of the key priorities for intervention.

The impact of COVID-19 affects migrant workers disproportionally. Often precarious working conditions and overcrowded living and transport arrangements increase their vulnerability to contagion and loss of employment, threatening their health and livelihoods. Those working under informal arrangements, commonly in the agriculture sector, are largely excluded from accessing real-time reliable information, social protection, healthcare and government response measures.

The One Health approach provides a platform to work on the interface between human, animal and plant health and their shared environment. Working on the synergies among these areas is key to preventing the outbreak, or mitigating the impact of new diseases. Under a One health approach, economic development and agriculture production pay attention to the impact of anthropogenic activities on the environment, animal health and welfare. Attention is also paid to wild animals and fauna, the protection of forests and biodiversity and mitigation of climate change.

This brief examines the relationship between low-wage work (“worker distress”) and recent county-level COVID-19 positive test rates. There is a strong relationship between low-wage work and COVID-19 positivity, and identify those industries with the greatest prevalence of low-wage work. Lastly, this brief estimates the number of private sector workers in firms exempted from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s (FFCRA) paid leave provisions, by industry.

This brief identifies some of the areas that governments may want to strengthen to build more resilient food supply chains and illustrates how appropriate regulatory frameworks can contribute to ensuring food security and economic development. As such, it contributes to FAO’s Strategic Objectives on enabling inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems (SO4) and increasing the resilience of livelihoods to disasters (SO5). Further, this brief follows FAO's Legal Office's objective of undertaking research and studies on important and relevant legal topics and provides national governments with expert analysis on the impact of the current emergency on food supply chains and the effective regulatory measures to counter them and build resilience.

This brief presents a series of general and policy recommendations to help prevent the rise of inequality during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. It urges countries to prioritize the reduction of inequalities and to take a medium- and long-term approach in addressing existing inequalities in order to ensure that eventual economic recovery will reduce the poverty brought on by COVID-19.

This brief is focused on wholesale food markets (WFMs) – common facilities that group multiple food businesses involved in the sale of foodstuffs to food business operators. It offers a set of considerations for ways in which local, provincial and national government can collaborate with WFM authorities and food system actors to protect merchants, workers and customers and to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Economic turmoil caused by the pandemic threatens both economic and physical access to food (FAO, 2019). Declining incomes may make food, particularly nutritious food, less affordable for some, especially the poor. Disruptions to and possible breakdowns of marketing, logistics and trading systems could make food unavailable in some locations at some times. This brief will assess the current situation, provide some examples of how governments and other stakeholders are attempting to build more resilient food systems in response, and offer some broad policy recommendations.

This brief identifies some of the areas that governments have intervened through emergency law to strengthen a resilient fisheries and aquaculture food supply chains and illustrates how these regulatory measures can be adopted by other countries thereby contribute to ensuring food security and economic development for all especially the indigenous peoples and women. As such, it contributes to FAO’s Strategic Objectives on the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition (SO2).

The COVID-19 pandemic is a health and human crisis threatening the food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world. Hundreds of millions of people were already suffering from hunger and malnutrition before the virus hit and, unless immediate action is taken, we could see a global food emergency. In the longer term, the combined effects of COVID-19 itself, as well as corresponding mitigation measures and the emerging global recession could, without large-scale coordinated action, disrupt the functioning of food systems. Such disruption can result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century.

If the health and economic crisis triggered by the current pandemic spreads over time, the region as a whole is likely to experience an unprecedented food supply crisis sooner or later. Such a scenario requires that we take the necessary precautions and prepare strategies to deal with a crisis of this magnitude, regardless of whether it eventually happens or not. In this new issue of the newsletter we analyze a contingency plan in the event of a possible crisis in the food supply.

On 10 April 2020, one month after the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic, FAO published ‘How is COVID-19 affecting the fisheries and aquaculture food systems’ (FAO, 2020a). That policy brief, while global in scope, addressed the situation in some Asian countries. This paper provides an update, incorporating new data, developments and observations. During its writing, the pandemic was in full swing with no clear end in sight.

This brief compiles evidence from current and previous epidemics to explore the socio-economic implications of the impact of the pandemic on food systems and rural economies, and how a gender-sensitive approach can help address key policy issues related to the functioning of food and agricultural systems and the special circumstances of rural women. It also provides concrete policy recommendations to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on rural women and girls.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally, generating significant challenges that could result in risks to food security and nutrition in many countries. Countries are ordering lockdowns, restricting movement and observing physical distancing to curb the pandemic. Disruptions in supply chains resulting from blockages on transport routes, transport restrictions and quarantine measures are resulting in significant increases in food loss and waste, especially of perishable agricultural produce such as fruits and vegetables, fish, meat and dairy products.

In the wake of the global pandemic, COVID-19, Countries are taking measures to halt its spread. However, such measures can have unintended consequences for food security, namely availability, access, utilization and stability of food supplies at global, national, local levels. Countries need to know and take into account the human right to food in adopting such measures to safeguard the same in those measures to avoid potential food shortages and disruptions in the supply chain. Therefore, the following legal recommendations should be understood in the context of the legal frameworks that countries already have in place, and as part of governments’ efforts to strengthen emergency preparedness legislation.

The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting urban food systems worldwide, posing a number of challenges for cities and local governments that are obliged to deal with rapid changes in food availability, accessibility and affordability – which strongly impact the food security and nutrition situation of urban populations. The majority of the urban population in developing countries relies on informal sector activities and casual labour including those related to food systems (street food vendors and those working in wet markets) and have access to limited or no assets or savings. Policies to limit the effects of the virus such as lockdowns, or physical distancing can spell disaster for the livelihoods of those individuals and their families leading, inter alia, to food insecurity and deficient nutrition.

Countries with existing humanitarian crises are particularly exposed to the effects of the pandemic, which is already directly affecting food systems through impacts on food supply and demand, and indirectly through decreases in purchasing power, the capacity to produce and distribute food, and the intensification of care tasks, all of which will have differentiated impacts and will more strongly affect the most vulnerable populations. The effects could be even stronger in countries that are already facing exceptional emergencies with direct consequences for the agricultural sectors, such as the ongoing desert locust outbreak in Eastern Africa, the Near East and Southwest Asia.

The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) took stock of the global pandemic, with a communiqué on COVID-19 and the crisis in food systems. What are the symptoms and causes of this food crisis? Why are we in the midst of this perfect storm? What can be done immediately to avert more damage to society and the economy? And what are the structural changes we now need to protect people and planet?

This policy brief provides recommendations on measures to consider in order to keep the supply chain alive in these times of crisis. As the COVID-19 pandemic turns into a global crisis, countries are taking measures to contain the pandemic. Supermarket shelves remain stocked for now. But a protracted pandemic crisis could quickly put a strain on the food supply chains, which is a complex web of interactions involving farmers, agricultural inputs, processing plants, shipping, retailers and more. The shipping industry is already reporting slowdowns because of port closures, and logistics hurdles could disrupt the supply chains in the coming weeks.