In this paper we present the first global assessments of COVID-19's impacts on food systems and their actors, focusing specifically on the food security and nutritional status of those affected in low and middle-income countries. The review confirms the magnitude and the severity of an unprecedented crisis that has spread worldwide and has spared only a few. The analysis shows that the dimension of food security that has been most affected is accessibility, with reasonably solid evidence suggesting that both financial and physical access to food have been disrupted. In contrast, there is no clear evidence that the availability of food has been affected. Overall, data suggests that food systems resisted and adapted to the disruption of the pandemic. This resilience came, however, at great costs, with the majority of the systems' actors having to cope with severe disruptions in their activities. In contrast, grocery stores and supermarkets made billions of dollars in profits in 2020.

Preliminary elements of a food system resilience research agenda I. Introduction 6 1.1. Background and justification 1.2. General objective of the study and scope of the report II. Analytical framework 8 2.1. Effects of COVID-19 on people life and food security and nutrition 2.2. Typology of impacts and affected actors III. Quality of evidence 11 3.1. Knowledge elaboration 3.2. Quality of data 3.3. Linking the quality of evidence to the review process IV. Key findings 16 4.1. Data analytics 4.2. Quality of the evidence and implications for the analysis 4.3. Emerging evidence on COVID-19 impacts 4.3.1. Loss of income and jobs 4.3.2. Clear but difficult-to-assess impact on food security 4.3.3. Expected impact on nutrition 4.3.4. Effect on different actors of the system 4.3.5. Mixed prices effects along the chain 4.4. Proposing a (more) holistic and dynamic assessment of COVID-19 4.4.1. Relative importance of COVID-19's disruptions across the food system 4.4.2. Impact pathways of COVID-19 on food system actors 4.5. Macroeconomic considerations 4.6. Some (still) open and uneasy questions 4.6.1. Changes in food prices 4.6.2. Who benefitted from COVID-19? 4.6.3. The specific case of the restaurant industry 4.6.4. Is COVID-19 really a global crisis? 4.6.5. Informal and... invisible V. First steps toward rebuilding a (more) resilient food system 39 5.1. Elements of food system resilience 5.1.1. Identifying actors' and value chains' sources of vulnerability 5.1.2. Understanding actors' responses to shocks 5.1.3. Testing and documenting what works and for whom (and where) 5.1.4. Social protection as a way to build people's resilience 5.1.5. Avoiding false debates 5.1.6. Learning from the first responses put in place and their outcomes VI. Synthesis and conclusion 51 6.1. Limitations of the assessment 6.2. Synthesis: the big picture after the first 12 months of COVID-19… 6.2.1. No global collapse of the system but a lot of suffering (for many) and some huge profits (for a few) 6.2.2. Not just economic but also physical hurdles 6.2.3. From convenience and proximity to 'constrained choice' 53 6.2.4. Some unknowns 54 6.3. Conclusions 55 References 57 Appendix 1: Detailed step-by-step methodology and analytical frameworks 71 Appendix 2: Literature on supply chain resilience

In Vietnam, agricultural practices such as fertilizer and pesticide use affect the landscape as well as the availability and safety of food. For instance, pesticides and fertilizer end up in surface water used for drinking water, crop irrigation, and in fish tanks. However, the link to actual food consumption and health is complex and information is lacking. This study considers potential water-related exposure to toxic hazards in northern Vietnam food systems, through the consumption of food commodities and of water. Water pollution is operationalized by considering the following two channels: i) pesticide and nutrient leaching to surface water (share of surface water) and ii) industrial runoff from facilities located in urban areas (share of urban areas). We explore how potential exposure to toxic hazard is related to food consumption choices. Using a sample of the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) for 2014, we estimate how shares of food consumption categories in total food consumption are affected by household and landscape characteristics, the latter also reflecting potential environmental pressures. In districts with higher shares of surface water, the share of fish consumption is higher and the share of meat consumption is lower. From an environmental and health perspective, households in water-rich areas thus may have a higher probability of being exposed to toxic chemicals due to higher fish consumption. In districts with higher shares of urban areas, the shares of meat and cereals in total food consumption value were lower, and the shares of fish and fruit and vegetables were higher. The results indicate that food consumption is affected by landscape characteristics that may also influence the level of exposure to water-related environmental pressures, and that this combined effect may potentially exacerbate food safety and health risks. The actual impact is more complex and should be analyzed with more sophisticated data and methods.

This is the protocol for a evidence and gap map. The main objective of this evidence and gap map is to provide access to a systematic overview of available indicators for diet-related consumer behaviours relevant to LMICs, to support policy makers and researchers to develop, monitor and revise food policies and programmes to leverage food systems transformations for healthier and more sustainable diets.

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