Nepal at the edge of sword with two edges: The COVID-19 pandemics and sustainable development goals

Humanity has been threatened by pandemics since several decades with devastating effects on all human activities including the economy, and environment. Currently, the world is reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major threat to the livelihood of billions of people w...

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Main Authors: Toyanath Joshi, Ram Prasad Mainali, Srijana Marasini, Krishna Prasad Acharya, Santosh Adhikari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2021-06-01
Series:Journal of Agriculture and Food Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154321000405
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author Toyanath Joshi
Ram Prasad Mainali
Srijana Marasini
Krishna Prasad Acharya
Santosh Adhikari
author_facet Toyanath Joshi
Ram Prasad Mainali
Srijana Marasini
Krishna Prasad Acharya
Santosh Adhikari
author_sort Toyanath Joshi
collection DOAJ
description Humanity has been threatened by pandemics since several decades with devastating effects on all human activities including the economy, and environment. Currently, the world is reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major threat to the livelihood of billions of people worldwide. Nepal is not an exception to this and has been seriously threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The thousands of the peoples who depend on daily wages to join hand to mouth has been under the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic because of job loss, disruption in the food supply chain. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic has thwarted Nepal's targets to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals including an unprecedented state of vulnerability to hunger and poverty in the country. Though some informal shreds of evidence have reported the negative impacts of COVID-19 on Sustainable Development Goals, none of the scientific literature has been available regarding such impacts in Nepal yet. This review aims to synthesize extant literature that reports the effects of COVID-19 on the Nepalese economy and implications for achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals.We found that the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to achieve the country's committed United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals for Nepal. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique “income shock” that is supposed to precipitate household food insecurity in developing economy like Nepal. Our review indicated that the percentage of populations below poverty could rise even more than the present national reported value of 18% in the post-pandemic era. We emphasized generating employment and income-earning opportunities to build a resilient food system. Further, we urged to build international consensus to reset and rethink the course of sustainable development goals.
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spelling doaj.art-ed33cd498138498d8e6137fadfa301c22022-12-21T22:05:59ZengElsevierJournal of Agriculture and Food Research2666-15432021-06-014100138Nepal at the edge of sword with two edges: The COVID-19 pandemics and sustainable development goalsToyanath Joshi0Ram Prasad Mainali1Srijana Marasini2Krishna Prasad Acharya3Santosh Adhikari4Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock Development, 44600, APO, Singhadarbar, Kathmandu, Nepal; Corresponding author.National Agriculture Genetic Resources Center, NARC, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, NepalDepartment of Agriculture, 44712, APO, Hariharbhawan, Lalitpur, NepalAnimal Quarantine Office (AQO), 44600, APO, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, NepalMinistry of Agriculture & Livestock Development, 44600, APO, Singhadarbar, Kathmandu, NepalHumanity has been threatened by pandemics since several decades with devastating effects on all human activities including the economy, and environment. Currently, the world is reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major threat to the livelihood of billions of people worldwide. Nepal is not an exception to this and has been seriously threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The thousands of the peoples who depend on daily wages to join hand to mouth has been under the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic because of job loss, disruption in the food supply chain. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic has thwarted Nepal's targets to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals including an unprecedented state of vulnerability to hunger and poverty in the country. Though some informal shreds of evidence have reported the negative impacts of COVID-19 on Sustainable Development Goals, none of the scientific literature has been available regarding such impacts in Nepal yet. This review aims to synthesize extant literature that reports the effects of COVID-19 on the Nepalese economy and implications for achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals.We found that the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to achieve the country's committed United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals for Nepal. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a unique “income shock” that is supposed to precipitate household food insecurity in developing economy like Nepal. Our review indicated that the percentage of populations below poverty could rise even more than the present national reported value of 18% in the post-pandemic era. We emphasized generating employment and income-earning opportunities to build a resilient food system. Further, we urged to build international consensus to reset and rethink the course of sustainable development goals.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154321000405COVID-19Sustainable development goalsFood securityFood supply chainAgricultureImpacts
spellingShingle Toyanath Joshi
Ram Prasad Mainali
Srijana Marasini
Krishna Prasad Acharya
Santosh Adhikari
Nepal at the edge of sword with two edges: The COVID-19 pandemics and sustainable development goals
Journal of Agriculture and Food Research
COVID-19
Sustainable development goals
Food security
Food supply chain
Agriculture
Impacts
title Nepal at the edge of sword with two edges: The COVID-19 pandemics and sustainable development goals
title_full Nepal at the edge of sword with two edges: The COVID-19 pandemics and sustainable development goals
title_fullStr Nepal at the edge of sword with two edges: The COVID-19 pandemics and sustainable development goals
title_full_unstemmed Nepal at the edge of sword with two edges: The COVID-19 pandemics and sustainable development goals
title_short Nepal at the edge of sword with two edges: The COVID-19 pandemics and sustainable development goals
title_sort nepal at the edge of sword with two edges the covid 19 pandemics and sustainable development goals
topic COVID-19
Sustainable development goals
Food security
Food supply chain
Agriculture
Impacts
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666154321000405
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