The impacts of COVID-19 and climate change on smallholders through the lens of SDGs; and ways to keep smallholders on 2030 agenda

Abstract

This paper set out to show the impacts of COVID-19 and climate change on smallholders through the lens of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ways to keep smallholders on the 2030 agenda. Descriptive statistical analysis of quantitative secondary data is applied to investigate the issues in question across world regions. Increasing energy and food demand have triggered greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with effects on the environment, socioeconomic and related sectors. If unchecked, climate change will jeopardize progress towards SDGs' agenda of ending hunger and poverty by 2030. COVID-19 exacerbates the underlying climate change impacts compromising food and water security. The widespread famines of Biblical proportions caused by COVID-19 effects are likely to cause more deaths than the virus. Improvement of water availability and food production is crucial to ending hunger and poverty. There is a need to strengthen smallholders' adaptation and mitigation capacity through cooperatives' platforms thereby reach out to smallholders who are the furthest first. International cooperation is urgent to support smallholders' adaptation of climate-smart agriculture to reduce GHG emissions thereby subdue climate impacts resulting in higher productivity, food security, poverty reduction and sustainable development. Cooperatives need support to facilitate adaptation and mitigation by applying site-specific technology to local needs and possibilities.

An overview of approaches and methodologies for supporting smallholders: ICT tools, blockchain, business models, sustainability indicators, simulation models

“…With the increase in population, food production should be doubled by the year 2025 in order for the market to meet this growing demand [59]. However, increasing yield is not the only problem that smallholders face as they face challenges in production, delivery, and increase in raw material price due to the COVID-19 pandemic [60][61], climate change [62][63], and political instability [64][65]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to optimize different fronts in the agriculture supply chain, from allocating land to different crops [66] up until pricing the product [67].…”

Understanding Needs and Potentials for Gender-Balanced Empowerment and Leadership in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Africa

“…One such global emergency is COVID-19 and its impacts. The pandemic unveiled and further amplified existing climate change vulnerabilities, including those related to gender inequalities [106,126,127]. Furthermore, there has been a concern that the pandemic might undermine actions taken towards climate change mitigation and reduction of gender imbalances [128][129][130].…”

COVID-19 response in Africa: impacts and lessons for environmental management and climate change adaptation

“…The compounding effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on climate change threaten to undo the gains made towards realization of various SDGs, such as poverty and inequality reduction (Hughes et al, 2021 ; Ingutia, 2021 ; Pradhan et al, 2021 ). This is a major concern for Africa, which remains off-track with the 2030 SDG targets (Hughes et al, 2021 ).…”