Not On The Menu: Why the global food system triggered the COVID-19 pandemic.
Viruses don't have a plan. They don't care who they infect, or how they get the job done. They only seek a host to reproduce copies of themselves and to help with transport to the next host. Dirty hands, uncovered mouths, and close contact can give viruses an advantage, but, as we discuss in this kick off episode of season 6, so too can our global food system. Haroon Akram-Lodhi presents a compelling case as to why a global capitalist food system triggered COVID-19 and why it will likely trigger the next pandemic from a virus that crosses the species barrier. Haroon Akram-Lodhi teaches agrarian political economy. He is Professor of Economics and International Development Studies in the Department of International Development Studies at Trent University, Peterborough, Canada, where he is also a Fellow of Champlain College. Haroon Akram-Lodhi is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies and an Associate Editor of Feminist Economics. Trained as an economist, the focus of Haroon Akram-Lodhi's research interest is in the political economy of agrarian change in developing countries, on the economic dimensions of gender relations, and on the political ecology of sustainable rural livelihoods and communities in contemporary poor countries. He currently acts as a Gender and Poverty Adviser to the United Nations Development Programme's Gender Team, working on gender-responsive economic policy in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. He also is a Poverty and Gender Analyst for the United Nations Environment Programme's Poverty - Environment Action and a Gender and Women's Empowerment Adviser to UN Women. Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish