There is a unanimous agreement among various stakeholders that the effects of the covid19 pandemic would linger for a while, perhaps running into years. These effects range from socio-economic, climate change, food security, among several other micro-effects that are too numerous to mention.
News emerged a few days ago about Russia's commencement of vaccine administration to its citizens, starting with their doctors, scientists, and even the president's daughter just to show the world their level of confidence in the vaccine. However, virtually everyone is skeptical as to the genuineness of the vaccine as accusation emerged that Russia refused to follow the World Health Organisation's protocol for vaccine testing. It might sound like Russia is trying to cut corners for economic gains but time either proves the rest of the world right or wrong. Considering the extent of the pandemic, it may seem like there would be a shift in the world's economic power depending on which country is able to produce the first effective vaccine.
A huge change to the planet due to the covid19 pandemic was witnessed a few weeks ago as far as the environmental impact of human activities is concerned. Due to the total or partial lockdown observed by virtually all the countries of the world, the negative impacts of man on the environment experienced a significant drop. The ocean experienced less pollution, emissions into the atmosphere greatly reduced as a result of a reduction in industrial activities and vehicular movement, and some animal diversity that have gone into hiding due to the activities of humans were seeing roaming deserted streets in some areas. The planet witnessed a breath of fresh air that only lasted for a while as normal activities are gradually resuming in several countries as humans are finding a way to coexist with the covid19 virus while awaiting a breakthrough in terms of vaccine development.
The role that pollution plays in global warming and climate change cannot be overemphasized. Increased emissions cause more radiation from the sun to be trapped by the layer of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, leading to an increase in global temperature. This increase in global temperature, otherwise known as global warming, causes the climate in different parts of the world to become erratic - consequence of which might spell doom for humans if something is not done to stem the tide. Increased desertification, irregular precipitation, melting of the polar ice cap, rise in sea level, loss of habitats, loss of biodiversity, etc. are some of the effects of global warming and climate change just to mention a few.
Considering the effects of the climate change on agriculture and world's food security and now the additional effects of that of the covid19 pandemic, perhaps one of the most pertinent, yet less discussed issues that could spell doom for humans in some parts of the world in the next few years is a food shortage. Already before the pandemic, as of 2018, one out of every nine people in the world's population is hungry, taking the totality of the number of hungry people in the world as at then to about 820 million. These figures are according to the 2019 report of the Food and Agricultural Organisation arm of the United Nation.
Even though deliberate efforts are being made to ensure that the covid19 pandemic does not disrupt food production and distribution across the world, there is no doubt that things cannot be the same. Either directly or indirectly, the effects of the pandemic on agriculture and food production would still prominent, although this might not be felt in the short term. Several farmers reduced their activities during the lockdown and those that did not experience scarcity of labor force or some other constraints. Several farm produce was damaged due to logistics and many farmers lost funding supports due to the economic effect of the pandemic on their backers.
Summary
The covid19 pandemic and the lockdown all over the world that followed suit has shown that the planet has the capacity to heal from the debilitating effects of anthropogenic pollution. A significant part of the world's population was already in hunger before the covid19 pandemic, thanks in no part to the effects of climate change on agriculture. The socio-economic effects of the pandemic will further worsen the world's hunger situation in the medium and long term. It may seem a long call but the world might be sitting on a time bomb if efforts are not concentrated towards mitigating climate change and improving food production.
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