The World Economic Forum published a report “Nature Risk Rising: Why the crisis engulfing nature matters for business and the economy” in January 2020. Five factors, including land use change, have contributed to 90% of natural loss over the last 50 years. All businesses depend directly or indirectly on natural capital and ecosystem services. Estimates show that more than half of the world's total GDP worth $44 trillion of economic value is dependent on nature and its services, and is therefore at risk from nature loss.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Monitoring and Analysis (FPMA) Bulletin Monthly Report in July 2020, wheat export prices continued to decline in June, and international rice prices decreased for the first time this year. In contrast, the prices of maize which have been on a downtrend for the past few months, have turned upward due to strong global demand.

International trade has been significantly affected by the border blockade caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, in developing countries, which are commodity exporters of agricultural products, lockdown measures imposed by governments have caused severe disruption to supply chains. Even in Kenya, where foreign currency income is dependent on export crops such as tea, fruits and vegetables, a sharp decline in demand in Europe and the Middle East in March 2020 and a rise in freight costs due to a decrease in passenger flights severely hit the agricultural sector. In the case of Kenya, there are reports that exports of some commodities such as tea and fruits withstood the coronavirus shock and are recovering.

In July 2020, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) published a report “Preventing the next pandemic — Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission”. The report identifies the key anthropogenic drivers for the emergence of zoonoses including increasing demand for animal proteins, unsustainable and intensive agriculture, exploitation of wildlife resources, and climate change.

The World Bank released a report “Thailand Economic Monitor, June 2020: Thailand in the Time of COVID-19”. The shock of the new coronavirus that hit Thailand in early 2020 highlighted the vulnerabilities of the Thai economy driven by a sharp deterioration in global and domestic demand.

A paper on increasing trends in regional heatwaves was published in Nature Communications on July 3, 2020, showing that the intensity, frequency and duration of heatwaves has changed dramatically in almost every region since 1950. In addition, on July 6, 2020, the National Geographic magazine published an article on the outbreaks of wildfires in Siberia and how heat wave has thawed the tundra.

The Sustainable Development Report 2020 contains a comprehensive analysis of the current state of each index towards achieving the SDGs, past history, forecasts for 2030, and SDG outlook amidst the COVID-19 among member countries of the United Nations. Japan ranks 17th among 166 countries.

On June 30, 2020, The Africa Report, an online website on African political and economic information, published an article “End food insecurity crisis in Africa through agricultural change”. In many African countries, COVID-19 has been blamed for the disruption of the supply chain and the vulnerability of the food system in Africa. The international community should approve and support the agricultural transformation agenda of African countries to achieve the common goal of food security.

The CGIAR system, which promotes various researches around the world in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on food security and regional economy, has launched the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub on June 23, 2020 to provide a wide range of information that would help countries around the world to take appropriate measures.