GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY AND SOVEREIGNTY IMPACTED BY COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The current health crisis due to the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is challenging several of the assumptions of a globalized world. There are severe consequences over food security and sovereignty, especially among the poorest and most vulnerable populations. Particularly, since any infectious disease outbreak is directly correlated to an increase in hunger and malnutrition. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, this manuscript is set to analyze the impacts of the sanitary crisis on food security and sovereignty in the international context, and highlight how governments are acting to reduce consequences, through the use of an exploratory and analytical methodology. Hereon, some international government interactions: although the U.S. faced with confidence the health crisis at the beginning, the food crisis has overtaken, as a result of the growing unemployment. In Latin America, the pandemic is exacerbating food access and economic situation. The sanitary crisis has aggravated food shortages in Africa already going on, especially in rural areas. Asia suffered the most significant impact in food security. The new food security policy in the European Union aims to hold food security. Food insecurity and malnutrition are not just about agriculture production; they are also about food access limitations. In consequence, this health crisis cannot be allowed to become also a food crisis.