Page - 508 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE508 For households that rely on remittances to put food on the table, a drop in income can be catastrophic. National lockdowns and physi- cal distancing measures in the absence of government sponsored income-support programs mean that individuals have no way of seeking alternate sources of income to make up for lost wages abroad. Disruptions to the agri-food workforce are thus having multiple rip- ple effects across the world, including worsening a global food crisis. A Need for Compassion in Post-Pandemic Food Systems In April, the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems on COVID-19 (IPES-Food), released a report with a series of recommendations to respond to the current food system crisis and to “turn the existing seeds of change into the foundation of a new food system.”23 What should a post-pandemic food system look like? Food system governance scholars argue that a just food system must be a democratic one.24 It must also be a compassionate one. Our shared humanity must be at the heart of our responses to COVID-19 and efforts to rebuild post-pandemic food systems. Here, we can look to the South African concept of Ubuntu for guidance. Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes Ubuntu as a philosophy of interdependence: “my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours.”25 Tutu believed that Ubuntu could be a force to facilitate reconciliation in Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa. His message, that we can only survive together, is equally instructive for food system governance. We are theguardian.com/global-development/2020/apr/22/world-bank-warns-of-col- lapse-in-money-sent-home-by-migrant-workers>; “How is COVID-19 Affecting Remittances Flows into Emerging Markets?” (30 April 2020), online: Oxford  Business  Group <https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/news/how-covid-19-affecting- remittance-flows-emerging-markets>; Karl Lester M Yap & Siegfrid Alegado, “World Bank Forecasts Philippine Remittances to Drop 13% in 2020”, Bloomberg  News  Wire (24 April 2020), online: <bnnbloomberg.ca/world-bank- forecasts-philippine-remittances-to-drop-13-in-2020-1.1426277>. 23. “COVID-19 and the Crisis in Food Systems: Symptoms, Causes, and Potential Solutions” (April 2020), online (pdf): International  Panel  Experts  on  Sustainable  Food  Systems <http://www.ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/COVID-19_CommuniqueEN. pdf>. 24. See e.g. Ludivine Petetitin, “The COVID-19 Crisis: An Opportunity to Integrate Food Democracy into Post Pandemic Food Systems” [April 2020] European J Risk Regulation, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/err.2020.40. 25. Desmond Tutu, “Forward” in Dana Gluckstein, ed, Dignity:  In  Honor  of  the  Rights  of  Indigenous  Peoples  (Brooklyn, NY: PowerHouse Books, 2010).