On August 27, 2020, researchers at the Centre for Competition Regulation and Economic Development of the University of Johannesburg published an article entitled “Africa has a growing food security problem: why it can’t be fixed without proper data” in the online forum, The Conversation. As the pandemic continues to spread, the article emphasized the need for access to accurate and timely information about market markets, food production and prices in establishing a resilient and integrated regional agricultural system over the medium to long term.

On 20 August 2020, the United Nations released the UN Climate Change Annual Report, summarizing the key achievements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) intergovernmental process and the activities of the Secretariat. The report declares climate change as a planetary emergency, and that before it’s too late, there is an urgent need for global cooperation to make drastic changes in the way we produce, consume and procure energy in order to protect our ecosystems and strengthen resilience to climatic stresses.

The Earth Overshoot Day is defined as the day when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds the Earth's renewable supply capacity. This year, the Earth Overshoot Day for 2020 was moved to the 22nd of August, three weeks later than 2019, as a direct consequence of COVID-19 pandemic and reduction of humanity’s ecological footprint.

An international workshop entitled “Applicable Solutions Against Rice Blast in Asia” will be jointly organized by JIRCAS and the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC) as online conference at 10:00-17:30 (Japan time) on September 18, 2020.

On August 14, 2020, Food Security published a paper "Enabling trade across borders and food security in Africa." While progress has been made worldwide in efforts to eliminate hunger over the past three decades, Africa still faces food security challenges. This paper attempts to analyze whether the elimination of trade barriers through reductions in documents, time and costs to export and import paperwork will improve food security in Africa.

On August 6, 2020, a paper entitled "Current and future global climate impacts resulting from COVID-19" was published in Nature Climate Change. According to the authors' analysis using national mobility data, it is estimated that the the cooling effect due to pandemic-driven response such as movement restrictions will be negligible. On the other hand, it is possible to avoid future global warming of 0.3°C by 2050 with an economic recovery geared towards “green” economic stimulus measures and reduction in fossil fuel investments.

The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) is leading a study aimed at understanding the diversity of traditional African vegetables used by Malagasy farmers, assessing their conservation status, and exploring opportunities for income generation and increased consumption. Details of the study supported by the Darwin Initiative are presented in an article by Ritha Luoga and Sognigbe N'Danikou published in the WorldVeg website.

On August 6, 2020, the World Bank published an article entitled “Beyond the Pandemic: Harnessing the Digital Revolution to Set Food Systems on a Better Course” addressing the issues on pervasive information asymmetry and transaction costs in vast food systems and the need for transformation to a more comprehensive, resilient and sustainable model.

On July 24, 2020, the article "Ecology and economics for pandemic prevention" was published in Science Magazine. This paper evaluates the cost of monitoring and preventing disease outbreaks due to extensive loss and fragmentation of tropical forests, and the flourishing wildlife trade. Analysis shows that the costs associated with precautionary measures are far less than the economic and mortality costs associated with countering these pathogens.