ABSTRACT
The existing finite natural resources have witnessed unsustainable usage in the past few years, especially for food production, with accompanying environmental devastation and ecosystem damage. Regrettably, the global population and consumption demands are increasing ceaselessly, leading to the need for more resources for food production, which could potentially aggravate the sustainability and ecosystem degradation issues, while stimulating drastic climate change. Meanwhile, the unexpected emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and some implemented measures to combat its spread disrupted agricultural activities and the food supply chain, which also led to a reduction in ecosystem carbonization. This study sets out to explore policy framework and selected feasible actions that are being adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could potentially reduce the emissions even after the pandemic to promote a resilient and sustainable agri-food system. In this study, we reviewed 27 articles that focus on the current state of the agri-food system in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the decarbonization of the agroecosystem. This review has taken the form of a systematic methodology in analyzing the adoption and implementation of various measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on the impact of the agri-food system and reduction in ecosystem degradation. Up to 0.3 Mt of CO2 reduction from the agri-food system alone was reportedly achieved during the first 6 months of the pandemic in 23 European countries. The various adopted measures indicate that the circular economy approach is a panacea to achieve the needed sustainability in the agri-food system. Also, it dictates a need for a paradigm change towards improvement on localized food production that promotes sustainable production and consumption.
ABSTRACT
This study analyzed the determinants of morbidity, mortality, and case fatality rate (CFR) of the ongoing pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 disease 2019 (COVID-19). Data for 210 countries and territories available in public domains were analyzed in relation to mandatory vaccination with Bacille-Calmette-Guerin (BCG), population density, median age of the country population, health care expenditure per capita, life expectancy at birth, healthy life expectancy, literacy rate, per capita gross domestic production adjusted to purchasing power (PPP), burden of tuberculosis (TB), acquired immunodeficiency disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HI V-AIDS), malaria, cardiovascular disease (CVD), neoplasm, diabetes, deaths due to energy-protein (food) deficiency (EPD), and per capita government spending on safe water and sanitation. Mandatory BCG vaccination showed a highly significant (p<0.0001) negative correlation with COVID-19 morbidity (r = -0.62) and mortality (r = -0.58) rates, but no significant correlation with CFR. The median age of the nation showed a significant (p<0.0001) positive correlation with COVID-19 morbidity (r= 0.40) and mortality (r = 0.34) rates, but no significant correlation with CFR. The pandemic resulted in higher morbidity (r= 0.47, p<0.0001) and mortality (r= 0.25, p = 0.01) rates in countries with a higher PPP than in those with a lower PPP. COVID-19 CFR and morbidity and mortality rates showed no significant correlation with population density, the burden of malaria or diabetes, or the level of spending on safe water and sanitation. Only the burden of TB showed a positive correlation with CFR (r = 0.17, p = 0.05). However, COVID-19 morbidity showed a significant (p =0.05) negative correlation with the burden of TB, HI V-AIDS, CVD, and EPD. Mortality and morbidity in COVID-19 patients showed a positive correlation with per capita health expenditure, life expectancy, the burden of neoplasia, and PPP.