Marta Rivera: "The food system is directly related to climate change and the emergence of pandemics"

Marta Rivera, director of the Chair in Agroecology and Food Systems at UVic-UCC, took part in the debate on "Covid-19, a challenge for planetary health," which discussed the relationship between planetary health and the Covid-19 pandemic. The round table discussion was part of a series of six debates on the impact of the current health crisis on our society, and was organised by the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Issues (CETC) with the Ministry of the Vice-presidency and of the Economy and Finance of the Government of Catalonia and the Advisory Council for Sustainable Development (CADS).

The talk, which was held on the Zoom platform on Thursday 21 May, addressed issues such as what planetary health is and how it is related to pandemics, scientists' opinions regarding the causes of Covid-19 and how it spreads, the relationship between climate change and pandemics, and the challenges this issue poses for us in the future. In addition to Rivera, the guest speakers were the lead researcher at ISGlobal and Professor of Medicine at Pompeu Fabra University, Josep M. Antó, and the lecturer in Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Barcelona and researcher at the IRBio, Jordi Serra.

Linking people's health with the health of the planet

Marta Rivera analysed the current situation of food systems, and emphasised the need for an analytical perspective which links the health of people and the planet, instead of only focusing on the biophysical planetary limits that guarantee life. According to Rivera, "the food system is directly related to climate change and the emergence of pandemics," because phenomena such as deforestation, habitat fragmentation, the intensification of agriculture, increasing globalisation and biodiversity loss contribute to zoonosis processes that cause pandemics like Covid-19. Her speech and the entire debate can be viewed via the following link.

A discussion on the role of farmland in the health and environmental crisis

On 20 May, Marta Rivera also participated in the debate "Como agua de mayo: el papel del campo en las crisis sanitaria y ambiental" [A godsend: the role of farmland in health and environmental crises] organised by Greenpeace. The round table discussion examined the role of farmland in the current health and environmental crisis and other crises, such as fires, droughts, intensive practices such as macro-farming, and agrochemical abuse. The debate can be viewed here.