OPINION: Confront Both COVID-19 and Climate Change

Crops of sugar, rice, and rubber in Thailand struggle amidst a severe drought. (Wikimedia Commons)

While the leaders of three major international agencies have issued a crucial joint statement focusing attention on how governments’ responses to COVID-19 could potentially disrupt the global food trade and jeopardize food security, a persistent and more basic foe of farmers worldwide dodges more flak than usual: climate change.

As of March 4, five provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta declared a state of emergency after experiencing the worst levels of saltwater intrusion and drought on record. According to World Politics Review, the “rice basket” region usually produces more than half of Vietnam’s rice, but this year’s extreme weather is expected to ruin thousands of hectares of rice paddies, Tuoi Tre News reports.

Farmers in Thailand are also grappling with the worst drought in decades, according to the Bangkok Post. Already, the country’s export prices for rice have climbed to about $550 per ton, a six-year high, while Vietnam’s prices exceed $400 per ton, the Nikkei Asian Review reports.

These droughts are just a few examples of the intense weather events that are associated with El Niño patterns, which have become more common over time. Also linked to the effects of climate change are the infamous Australian bushfires this year that killed thousands of livestock, severely impairing the country’s beef and dairy industries, according to ABC.

Right now, governments are taking steps to curb panic buying and maintain the flow of global food supply chains amid proliferating border controls. However, as the above examples and the late March frost that destroyed an estimated $142 million in fruit trees in Italy demonstrate, farmers are facing a second simultaneous threat to their livelihoods: the weather.

While immediate solutions to the current pandemic are important and necessary, governments must also continue working on longer-term solutions for the looming climate change-caused crises their citizens will face.