Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology

Vol. 25, No. 2, July-December, 2023: pp 69-83

DOI: 10.5958/0973-9149.2023.00011.4

Review Article

A Systematic Literature Review of COVID-19 and Climate Change Impacted

Global Food Security: Early Assessment

Sina Salajegheh Tazerji1,2*, Mohammad Hossein Kahalili3, Phelipe Magalhães Duarte4*, Nesar
Ahmed5, Mohd Iqbal Mohd Noor6,7, Hadi Tabarraei8, Ali Elahinia1, Mehdi Bahrami1, Pouneh
Hajipour9*, Sina Montajab9, Moeen Shirian1, Ava Shahrokhabadi10, Fatemeh Jahed10, Reyhaneh
Kheiri11, Seyedeh Mandana Mojtahedzadeh 12, Mohamed Fawzy13, Fatemeh Shahabinejad 14,
Niloofar Jafari15, Parisa Asgharpour1 and Setareh Samaei1*
1
Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Tehran, Iran
2
Young Researchers and Elites club, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran
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4
Postgraduate Program in Animal Bioscience, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), Recife, Pernambuco,
Brazil
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5
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia
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6
Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) (Pahang), 27600 Raub, Pahang, Malaysia
7
Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor,
Malaysia
8
Department of Veterinary Biomedical Science, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 52
Campus Drive, Saskatoon SK S7N 5B4, Canada
9
Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
10
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kazeroun Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kazeroun, Iran
11
Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
12
Department of Comparative Bioscience, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
13
Department of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt
14
Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Kerman Medical School, Kerman, Iran
15
Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry Medicine, Hormozgan Medical School, Hormozgan, Iran
(*Corresponding author) email ids: sina.salajegheh@gmail.com and sina.salajegheh@srbiau.ac.ir;
duarte.phe@gmail.com; pouneh.hajipour@vet.uk.ac.ir; setarehsamaei.id@gmail.com

Submission: 28-08-2023; Revision: 02-11-2023; Acceptance: 04-11-2023

ABSTRACT

Tazerji SS, Kahalili MH, Duarte PM, Ahmed N, Noor MIM, Tabarraei H, Bahrami M, Hajipour P, Montajab
S, Shirian M, Shahrokhabadi A, Jahed F, Kheiri R, Mojtahedzadeh SM, Fawzy M and Samaei S (2023).
A Systematic Literature Review of COVID-19 and Climate Change Impacted Global Food Security: Early
Assessment. Journal of Immunology Immunopathology, 25(2): 69-83.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic and climate change are rapidly influencing the global
economy, including food security. Food security is now evidently intertwined with both challenges. However,
research on the impact of these two factors on food security is still lacking. Therefore, this study reviews the
literature, specifically focusing on the effects of climate change and COVID-19 on global food security. The

69
 Sina Salajegheh Tazerji et al.

current study incorporates various research designs and a PRISMA-based Review (Preferred Reporting Items for
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). This review examined five peer-reviewed papers from 2020 to 2021,
focusing on the impact of climate change and COVID-19 on global food security. The Science of the Total
Environment published the most papers, followed by NPJ Science of Food, Environmental Resource Economics,
and Reviews in Fisheries Science Aquaculture. The majority of papers were in the field of environmental sciences
and ecology. However, the research has limitations. For example, only WOS (Web of Science) was used as the
core source. “PubMed, Google Scholar, and grey literature were excluded from the list of scholarly databases,
with only Web of Science (including Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts
Humanities Citation Index) and Scopus deemed scholarly. Another restriction was the inclusion of only articles
in English. The study concluded that the impact of COVID-19 and climate change on global food security fell
under the umbrella of environmental ecology. A comprehensive literature review may examine and explain current
trends and accessible research articles for future mitigation measures.

Keywords: Border closure, Extreme weather, Global warming, Greenhouse gas emissions, Home confinement,
Lockdown

INTRODUCTION epidemic and climate change, resulting in a

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hindrance to global economic activity. Unlike

The pandemic triggered by COVID-19, the
pandemics, climate-related effects typically manifest
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novel coronavirus disease of 2019 caused by the

indirectly and exhibit heterogeneity in terms of time
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SARS-CoV-2 virus (severe acute respiratory

syndrome coronavirus 2), led to the implementation
of global restrictions and regulations. These
measures included lockdowns, self-quarantine or
home confinement, border closures, and movement
control orders, all aimed at flattening the curve of
cases (Azra et al., 2021; Belton et al., 2021; Hasan
et al., 2021; Islam et al., 2021; Kumaran et al.,
2021). “Manlosa et al. (2021) reported that, as of
28 July 2022, the virus had spread to 228
countries and territories, resulting in 578,800,915
confirmed cases, 548,792,461 recovered cases,
and 6,412,347 deaths worldwide (WHO, 2021). It
is expected that the COVID-19 pandemic could
pose important challenges to various food security
issues (van Senten et al., 2021; Murray and Piot,
2021; Langford et al., 2021; Manlosa et al., 2021;
Islam et al., 2021). For example, the pandemic
has had a negative influence on fish stocking and
the supply of fish feed for aquaculture, which has...”
impacted the consumption, distribution, input
supply, and production of aquaculture (Ahmed and
Azra, 2022; Hashim et al., 2021).
Low- and middle-income countries have borne
the brunt of the negative effects caused by the
and space (Hasan et al., 2021; Manlosa et al.,
2021; van Senten et al., 2021). Farmers facing
socio-economic loss es due to COVID-19 have also
encountered the impact.
“The impact of global warming on various
activities over the last decade is undeniable. There
is no doubt that the current COVID-19 crisis has
significantly influence d the global community in
terms of its economic, social, cultural, health, and
ecological aspects (Hasan et al., 2021; Manlosa et
al., 2021; van Senten et al., 2021). The research
area focusing on the impact of climate change
and COVID-19 on global food security is relatively
new, with only a few studies addressing it.
Nevertheless, it is crucial to learn from the
challenges faced along the way in order to best
prepare for...” Upcoming challenges (Sarà et al.,
2022; Kecinski et al., 2020; Ayanlade and Radeny,
2020; Batlle-Bayer et al., 2020; Aldaco et al., 2020).
The aim of this systematic review was to further
clarify how global food security is impacted by
climate change and the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic by
assessing the existing literature.

70 Vol. 25, No. 2, July-December, 2023

 A Systematic Literature Review of COVID-19 and Climate Change Impacted Global Food Security
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Stakeholder Engagement
A focus group discussion, comprising multiple
stakeholders and experts, was conducted in order
to formulate the scope and focus of this review, the
focus group participants were based in Malaysia.
They included (i) researchers from University
Terengganu Malaysia (UMT) and University
Teknologi Mara (UiTM), (ii) local community
representatives (heads of local community and the
Fisherman Organization), and (iii) governmental
administration representatives (Wildlife Agency,
Department of Irrigation and Drainage, and
Department of [add the missing text]).
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“The primary objective of the discussion was
to ensure that the scope and focus of the review
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were manageable and relevant to the current
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situation in Fisheries. Search terms for this review,
along with the criteria for inclusion and exclusion
of resources, were recommended during the
discussion”.
Components of the primary question
The primary question addressed the impact of
climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic on
global food security. This question was structured
using the PECO framework
Population/subject: Food security in global
settings
Exposure: COVID-19 pandemic and climate
changes.
Comparator: No intervention or modification to
intervention.
Outcomes: The two specific outcomes of interest
in this review were (i) the impact on the supplier
side (farmers, producers, and distribution) and (ii)
the impact on the consumer side (economy,
environment, and nutrition).
Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology
Search Strategy
The search strategy for this review was
structured in accordance with the ROSES
(Collaboration for Environmental Evidence and the
Reporting Standards for Systematic Evidence
Syntheses) guidelines (Haddaway et al., 2017).
Electronic literature databases were searched from
the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to April 2021
to identify eligible publications reporting the effects
of climate change and COVID-19 on food security.
The keywords used in the search were connected,
and the search was conducted to ensure a
comprehensive and thorough review of relevant
literature. With “Climate Change,” “COVID-19,” and
“Food Security,” various related keywords were
combined (Table 1). Forward and backward
tracking were carried out using the Scopus and
Web of Science (WOS) computerized databases
to ensure that the search strategy was both
systematic and structured. The Boolean operators
“OR “ and “*” for single characters were employed
to combine Search terms : The “AND “ Boolean
operator was employed to merge keywords into a
search string. Given that English is the prevailing
international language for academic publications
and considering the global scope of the review,
we restricted the language of the search terms to
English. The EndNote library was utilized to
eliminate duplicate records and document their
respective numbers.
Article Screening and Criteria for Study
Eligibility
Screening of Articles
Eligibility criteria were applied at three levels
to assess the articles: (i) title, (ii) abstract, and (iii)
full text. Initially, two authors independently
assessed articles based on their titles.
Subsequently, the same two authors evaluated the
eligibility of articles based on their abstracts. The
authors utilized a standardized evidence table to
71
 Sina Salajegheh Tazerji et al.

Table 1: The used search terms for the present study

Terms used Keyword Search string
Population terms Food security ((“food security*”) OR (“nutrition security*”) OR (“food availability*”) OR (“food
utilization*”) OR (“access to food”) OR (“food insecurity*”) OR (“food safety*”) OR
(diet) OR (“food supplement*”))
Intervention terms COVID-19 ((“COVID-19”) OR (pandemic) OR (coronavirus) OR (“SARS-CoV-2”))
AND
Climate change ((“climate* change*”) OR (“climate* risk*”) OR (“climate* effect*”) OR (“climate*
variable*”) OR (“climate* variety*”) OR (“climate* extreme*”) OR (“climate*
uncertainty*”) OR (“climate* hazard*”) OR (“climate* disaster*”) OR (“climate*
shock*”) OR (“climate* stressor*”) OR (“climate* impact*”) OR (“climate*
condition*”) OR (“global warm*”) OR (“global climate*”) OR (“global change*”)
OR (“seasonal* variety*”) OR (“weather* variable*”) OR (“extreme* event*”) OR
(“environment* variable*”) OR (“environment* impact*”) OR (“environment*
change*”) OR (“environment* factor*”) OR (“anthropogenic effect*”) OR
(“temperature risk*”) OR (“temperature effect*”) OR (“sea level change*”) OR
(“sea level risk*”) OR (“el-nino”) OR (“la$nina”) OR (drought*) OR (precipitin*)
OR (rainfall*) OR (“carbon dioxide”) OR (“greenhouse gas”) OR (“greenhouse
effect*”) OR (“air temperature*”) OR (“atmospheric temperature*”) OR (“sea
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surface* temperature*”) OR (runoff))

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report the results, incorporating information were included. Studies that mentioned only one of
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retrieved from the articles. Abstracts
This table presents details on the study design
and measures of impact. Data were compared to
ensure reviewer consistency, and any
discrepancies were resolved through discussion
to establish agreement for continuing the
screening process. Full-text articles were obtained
following the title and abstract screening, with one
author responsible for screening all full-text articles.
Discrepancies among authors were reconciled by
reviewing the initial criteria for article validity and
screening during the Kappa analysis at each
screening level.
Criteria for Study Inclusion
The inclusion criteria for the final articles
comprised
Relevance of population/subject: Articles must
have food security as their main objective. Studies
focusing on other subjects were excluded.
Relevance of intervention types: Studies
addressing both climate change and COVID-19
the interventions were excluded. However, studies
that mentioned both interventions, plus other
relevant factors, were considered. Interventions, if
any, were included.
Relevance of outcome: Any outcomes related to
the pillars of food security, such as availability,
accessibility, utilization, and stability, were reported.
Relevance of study design: Both analytical and
empirical studies were included. Policy discussions,
commentaries, reviews, and simulation studies were
excluded.
Language: Only English articles available in full
text were included.
Assessment of Study Validity
Qualitative Comparative Assessment (QCA) was
employed to analyze all retrieved full-text articles.
The standard quality assessment of the articles
was conducted using the checklist and approach
provided by the Health Technology Assessment Unit
Initiative (Kmet et al., 2004). The assessment
criteria of the checklist include: (1) a sufficient

72 Vol. 25, No. 2, July-December, 2023

 A Systematic Literature Review of COVID-19 and Climate Change Impacted Global Food Security

Table 2: Types and categories for data extraction in this study

Data Explanation
Title Publication title
Year Paper publication year
Location Country of the lead author’s affiliated institution
Journal Title of the journal
Number of citations Number of citations in Web of Science
Research areas Research areas in Web of Science
Study type Empirical: Study arriving at conclusions based on empirical evidence of the primary or
secondary kind
Analytical: Study arriving at conclusions on the basis of conceptual, mathematical, or statistical
assumptions
Methodology Statistical sampling – survey: Empirical study of data acquired through structured
questionnaires
Statistical sampling – secondary data analysis: Empirical study analyzing data originally
gathered for other primary aims
Experimental design: Empirical study manipulating causal variables in order to observe
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how the change affects control and treatment groups

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Case study: In-depth empirical examination of one or many cases

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Expert interview: Empirical study collecting data by interviewing experts

Conceptual: Analytical study building logical relationships
Mathematical: Analytical study aiming to develop novel mathematical relationships
Food security pillars The study focuses on one or more outcomes: (i) supplier issues and (ii) consumer issues
Key findings Hypothesis
Summary of main findings to address the review questions of the study

description of the objective or question, (2) an
appropriate and clear study design, (3) a complete
description, justification, and relevance of the
sampling. “strategy, (4) clearly stated, unbiased
data collection methods, and (5) systematic and
clearly explained data analysis. Two, one, and zero
points were given to the articles if they fully
satisfied, partially satisfied, or didn’t satisfy the
underlying criteria, respectively. The maximum
paper quality score based on this method was 10
points. Articles had to meet a quality requirement
of...” At least five in order to be considered.
Extraction and Synthesis of Data
We utilized Alinaghian and co-workers’
framework to extract and synthesize data for this
investigation (Alinaghian et al., 2021). The two
categories of data extraction are (i) descriptive
and (ii) thematic (Table 2). Descriptive information
encompasses the title of the publication, authors’
affiliation, year of publication, and citation. The
thematic category includes the key findings of the
articles, encompassing the study hypotheses
assessing the impact of climate changes and
COVID-19. “On food security, the two-step coding
process of thematic analysis consisted of
ascertaining the main effects on food security
through a line-by-line review of the articles and
assigning a code label to every article to make the
clustering of the information’s common themes
possible. To achieve a robust set of common
themes, the coding process was carried out
independently by two of the authors, and all the

Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology 73

 Sina Salajegheh Tazerji et al.

Searching
Records identified through Web of Records identified through Scopus
Science (WOS) searching (n=55) searching (n=109)

Records after duplicates

Duplicates (n=37)
removed (n=127)
Screening

Records after title and abstract Excluded titles and abstract

screening (n=54) (n=73)

Articles after full text screening Excluded full texts, with

(n=5) reasons (n=68)
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Critical appraisal and

Articles / studied included in

synthesis

the review (n=5)

Figure 1: The results of the study selection criteria for the present research area (adapted from Haddaway et al.,
2017)

authors participated in the discussion. Table 2
presents the extraction categories and data type
for the current study.”
RESULTS
Study Selection
The SCOPUS and WOS databases yielded a
total of 109 and 55 articles, respectively, that were
potentially relevant. After examining all articles, the
duplicate articles (n= 37) were removed. The
articles underwent screening based on their titles
and abstracts, and the relevant articles were
included. A total of 73 articles were excluded after
the title and abstract screening. Additionally, a
manual search of the short listed articles ‘
bibliographic references led to the identification of
several more articles. Finally, the remaining articles
underwent full-text review.
Screening was conducted, and some
participants were further excluded based on the
inclusion and exclusion criteria (n= 68). The
systematic review ultimately incorporated five
articles after removing irrelevant and duplicate ones.
Figure 1 illustrates the flow of the study ‘s selection
method.

74 Vol. 25, No. 2, July-December, 2023

 A Systematic Literature Review of COVID-19 and Climate Change Impacted Global Food Security

Descriptive Results authors). Finally, the majority of the articles were

This study reviewed five articles published
between 2020 and 2021 from four peer-reviewed
journals. The descriptive analysis for each article
is displayed in Table 3. The journal “Science of
the Total Environment” had the highest number of
articles (two), while “NPJ Science of Food,”
“Environmental Resource Economics,” and
“Reviews in Fisheries Science Aquaculture” each
had one article. The article by Aldaco et al. (2020)
received the highest number of citations.
The Web of Science database (30 citations) is
followed by an article by Batlle-Bayer et al. (2020),
which has 11 citations. The lead authors of the
articles were from various countries, with Spain
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from the environmental sciences and ecology
research area.
Main findings on the impact of climate change
and COVID-19 on food security
Table 4 and Table 5 summarize the reviews of
articles on the effects of COVID-19 and climate
change on food security. Two articles employ life
cycle assessment to describe food consumption
behavior during the implementation of movement
control policies. Two publications used an online
survey to depict respondent perceptions of the
pandemic ‘s impact, while one article used
secondary data to forecast the impact of the

being the highest contributing country (2 lead pandemic and climate change. “Changes in rice
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Table 3: Descriptive results and analysis for the present study

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Title of publication References Source title Year Total Location Research area(s)
(Citation) (Journal name) published citation*
Food waste management Science of the 2020 30 Spain Environmental
during the COVID-19 Total sciences ecology
outbreak: A holistic climate, Environment
economic and nutritional
approach
Environmental and Science of the 2020 11 Spain Environmental
nutritional impacts of Total sciences ecology
dietary changes in Spain Environment
during the COVID-19
lockdown
Environmental and Environmental & 2020 4 USA Environmental
regulatory concerns during Resource sciences ecology;
the COVID-19 pandemic: Economics business economics
Results from the pandemic
food and stigma survey
COVID-19 and food NPJ Science of 2020 4 African Food science
security in Sub-Saharan Food regions technology
Africa: Implications of
lockdown during
agricultural planting
seasons
The synergistic impacts of Reviews in 2021 1 Global Environmental
anthropogenic stressors Fisheries level sciences ecology;
and COVID-19 on Science & fisheries
aquaculture: A current Aquaculture
global perspective

*Total citation data was generated until 30th May 2021.

Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology 75

 Sina Salajegheh Tazerji et al.

Table 4: Summary of articles related to the impact of COVID-19 and climate change on food security
Article title Objectives Study design Study stakeholders Data timeline
Food waste To assess the Quantitative (life Food production, Baseline: week 11–
management during economic, nutritional, cycle assessment post-harvest, 15 of 2019COVID-
the COVID-19 and environmental – input and processing and 19 scenario: Week
outbreak: A holistic consequences along outputs of packaging, 11–15 of 2020
climate, economic, the Spanish food Spanish food distribution and
and nutritional supply chain basket along the retail, households,
approach supply chain) and domestic
consumption
Environmental and To assess the Quantitative (life Household and Baseline: monthly
nutritional impacts of nutritional and cycle assessment food-away-from- consumption in
dietary changes in environmental impacts – weekly food home consumption 2019COVID-19
Spain during the (global warming basket that scenario: weekly
COVID-19 lockdown potential, blue water provides the consumption in
footprint, and land required intake of March and April
use) of food energy and 2020
consumption of an nutrients)
average Spanish
citizen during the
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COVID-19 lockdown
Environmental and To analyze residents’ Quantitative 1050 United States May to June 2020
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regulatory concerns concerns about (online survey – of America residents

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during the COVID-19 violations of pandemic food

pandemic: Results environmental policies and stigma
from the pandemic and food safety survey)
food and stigma regulations during the
survey pandemic
COVID-19 and food To examine the Quantitative Maize and rice Not Included
security in Sub- potential impacts of (secondary data – supply side
Saharan Africa: COVID-19 movement rice and maize
Implications of restrictions on food crop statistics;
lockdown during security in Sub- COVID-19 data)
agricultural planting Saharan Africa
seasons
The synergistic To determine the Quantitative Aquaculture farmers May 2020
impacts of potential effects of the (online survey –
anthropogenic COVID-19 pandemic economic loss
stressors and on the aquaculture and
COVID-19 on sector’s economic and anthropogenic
aquaculture: A socio-ecological stressors)
current global dynamics
perspective

and maize crop farming are discussed in the
following sections. Table 5 presents a summary of
articles based on four criteria: (i) availability, (ii)
sustainability, (iii) accessibility, and (iv) utilization
of food. Food availability is defined as ‘the quantity
and quality of food sufficient to meet individual
dietary needs, free from harmful elements and
acceptable in a particular culture, supplied by
domestic or imported production.’ It is also easily
defined as ‘the quantity of food physically available
for consumption over a certain period.’ Food
sustainability is defined as a characteristic of
resources.” Managed in a way that ensures the
non-declining status of natural capital stock over

76 Vol. 25, No. 2, July-December, 2023

 A Systematic Literature Review of COVID-19 and Climate Change Impacted Global Food Security

Table 5: The summary of the articles related to the impact of COVID-19 and climate change on food security
(continued)

Article title COVID-19 related Climate change-related Issue of food security Main pillar
problems issue
Food waste Lockdown control Greenhouse gas Changes in feeding Access to food
management during measures emissions habits impacted the
the COVID-19 because of food supply chain
outbreak: A holistic emerging COVID- through food loss and
climate, economic, 19 cases in Spain waste management
and nutritional
approach
Environmental and Nutritional and Environmental impacts Possible future food Food utilization
nutritional impacts environmental related to climate shortages or low food
of dietary changes impacts of food change (global warming accessibility during
in Spain during the purchase and potential, blue water home confinement
COVID-19 eating habits footprint, and land use)
lockdown during the COVID-
19 lockdown in
Spain
Environmental and Survey perception Changing of Residents’ concerns Access to food
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regulatory concerns during the early environmental about violations of food

during the COVID- COVID-19 practices, regulations, safety regulationsand
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19 pandemic: pandemic in the and conditions and fear of going without

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Results from the USA concerns over extreme food because of the
pandemic food and weather events such as COVID-19 pandemic
stigma survey tornadoes and
hurricanes, which are
linked to climate change
COVID-19 and food Potential impacts Climate change and Effects on planting Food availability
security in Sub- of COVID-19 variability (conducive season for major crops
Saharan Africa: movement environment for farming (usually March to April),
Implications of restriction in Sub- such as rainfall as the includingeffects through
lockdown during Saharan Africa main source of water for restricted access to
agricultural planting impacted crops) and changes in important farm inputs
seasons agriculture global temperature as
activities much as 2°C led to
reduction of crop
production
The synergistic Global web survey Anthropogenic-driven Impacted aquaculture- Food
impacts of of various changes or climate related activities and sustainability
anthropogenic stakeholders change (heatwaves, food sustainability
stressors and during the active harmful algae, local through aquaculture.
COVID-19 on period of COVID- pollution, storms,
aquaculture: A 19 at the global sudden changes in
current global level salinity, flooding,
perspective eutrophication, etc.).

time, while preserving production opportunities for
the future. The FAO defines access to food as the
ability to obtain food physically, economically, and
socially, at the individual or household level.
Additionally, ‘access to food’ implies access to an
adequate quantity (calories) and quality,
encompassing variety, diversity, nutrient content,
and...” “Safety.” According to FAO, food utilization
means the “utilization of food through an adequate
diet, clean water, sanitation, and health care to

Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology 77

 Sina Salajegheh Tazerji et al.
achieve a state of nutritional well-being where all
physiological needs are met.”
Thematic Findings and Discussion
This review identified four impacts of COVID-
19 and climate change on food security: (i) impact
on consumption habits, (ii) impact on regulatory
compliance, (iii) impact on the farming season, and
(iv) impact on socioeconomic factors (Table 6).
Theme 1: Impact on Consumption Habits
Two studies focused on consumption habits
during the implementation of movement control
policies at the onset of the pandemic (Batlle-Bayer
et al., 2020; Aldaco et al., 2020). The results of
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both studies revealed... “There was a noticeable
shift in the eating habits of citizens in Spain, as
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they began stockpiling food and consuming more
unhealthy options due to lifestyle disruptions and
the psychological stress of the lockdown.
Contagion fears and the lockdown itself triggered
panic purchases, contributing to increased food
loss and waste per capita. Consequently, there
was a rise in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
associated with both the production and
consumption of food.”
Table 6:
Article title
Food waste management during the COVID-19
outbreak: A holistic climate, economic and
nutritional approach
Environmental and nutritional impacts of dietary
changes in Spain during the COVID-19 lockdown
Environmental and regulatory concerns during
the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from the
pandemic food and stigma survey
COVID-19 and food security in Sub-Saharan
Africa: Implications of lockdown during agricultural
planting seasons
The synergistic impacts of anthropogenic stressors
and COVID-19 on aquaculture: A current global
perspective
78
According to Aldaco et al. (2020), the total food
loss and waste during the COVID-19 outbreak were
12% higher than in 2019, and the total purchased
food increased between 10.9% and 29.8% during
the outbreak. Food loss and waste management
costs increased by 17% during the pandemic. This
finding aligns with earlier studies conducted on
food waste during the economic crisis (Caldeira et
al., 2019). A total of 4.7 euros of food w ere wasted
by each citizen in Spain compared to 3.8 euros
before the pandemic. CO2 eq emissions increased
by 21%. “(equal to 12 kg CO2 eq per capita per
week) for each household during the pandemic.
This represents a 43% increase compared to the
pre-pandemic situation. All food categories
exhibited higher emissions during the outbreak,
with red meat identified as the primary contributor
(Batlle-Bayer et al., 2020; Aldaco et al., 2020).
These findings suggest that the pandemic and
climate change have introduced uncertainty into
people’s decisions and behavior. However, this
crisis may present a silver lining for policymakers
“Because it has given them an opportunity to
change, awareness and education campaigns
focusing on sustainable consumption habits can
be highly effective during this outbreak. Consumers
facing uncertainty can re-evaluate their
Consumption Regulation Farming Socio-economic
habits compliance season factors
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Vol. 25, No. 2, July-December, 2023
 A Systematic Literature Review of COVID-19 and Climate Change Impacted Global Food Security
consumption values, behavior, and perceptions
(Marchant-Forde and Boyle, 2020; Baptista et al.,
2021; Hashem et al., 2020; Hafez and Attia, 2020).
Theme 2: Impact on Regulation Compliance
“To mitigate COVID-19 issues, governments all
around the world implemented movement control
policies where citizens are put in lockdown and
only certain economic activities that are deemed
essential can be carried out. This lockdown policy
has had short-term positive environmental impacts
(lower air pollutants, increase water quality, less
noise pollution). However, in some countries, this
pandemic has caused many environmental policies
and Regulations are often relaxed or suspended
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under crisis conditions as an excuse. Based on
the article review, citizens have different perceptions
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regarding policy interferences. This aligns with
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earlier studies related to disasters and climate
change issues (Campbell, 2021; Altieri and Nicholls,
2020; Seleiman et al., 2020). The study revealed
a significant relationship between food safety,
pandemic impact, and environmental concern.
“Those who were directly impacted by the pandemic
were highly concerned about the risk of extreme
weather events, such as tornadoes and hurricanes,
related to climate change (dos Santos Mesquita
and Bursztyn, 2018; Marx-Pienaar and Erasmus,
2014; Kim and Hall, 2019). Additionally, they were
concerned about violations of regulations and
policies related to environmental safety and food
security. As the pandemic...”
The situation got longer, and the degree of
concern increased (Boyacé-Gündüz et al., 2021;
Aldaco et al., 2020). According to the review findings,
individuals directly impacted by COVID-19 were
more inclined toward a positive perception of
regulations against it. Food security and climate
change education and awareness programs are
crucial mitigation measures for these issues.
Building individuals’ capacity by educating them on
the pandemic, climate, and food nexus is essential.
Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology
“Significantly more effective than just focusing
on top-down policy enforcement, when
stakeholders are informed of the broader policy
objectives behind such measures, especially the
exact extent and nature of the impact of climate
change, it can influence small everyday individual
choices to reduce GHG emissions.
Theme 3: Impact on farming season
“In most developing countries, agricultural
activities depend heavily on rain-fed farming.
Climate change poses a significant threat to this
industry by disrupting rainfall patterns. A study
conducted by Ayanlade and Radeny (2020)
illustrated the impact of the current COVID-19
pandemic and the persistent threat of climate
change on maize and rice crops in African
countries.
Africa’s food security has been adversely
affected by climate change, pests, and other crop
diseases. Maize and rice production face
substantial challenges due to climate-related
factors.
Change. It has been reported that a 2°C rise
in global temperature might reduce crop yields by
17%. Desert locust invasion, partly caused by
climate change, has also resulted in food insecurity
in African countries, most notably in the Horn of
Africa. This situation has imposed financial
hardship s on many smallholder farmers, making
it increasingly challenging for them to afford seeds,
fertilizers, and pesticides to sustain their
operations.
Based on Lobell et al. (2011), farmers have
attempted various mitigation measures to address
these issues, including modifying farm management
practices and optimizing water usage through
changes in cropping calendars. While this option
may not ensure the highest possible yields of maize
and rice, the integrated approach that combines
meteorology and agricultural science with traditional
79
 Sina Salajegheh Tazerji et al.
indigenous knowledge proves to be the most
effective strategy for determining a suitable
seasonal calendar. However, it is noteworthy that
this mitigation measure has coincided with the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Other sectors faced the same issue during the
pandemic (Tonsor et al., 2021; Beckman and
Countryman, 2021; Daglis et al., 2020; Muhammad
et al., 2021). The implemented movement
restrictions have posed limitations on social
interactions and caused certain sectors of the
agriculture value chain to close. The policy affected
labor mobility and availability, impacting about 70%
of the total workforce in African countries. The
forecast for economic growth in the African region’s
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agriculture industry has shown a decline from 2.4%
in 2019 to -2.1%. The global food production
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decreased by 5.1% in 2020 due to the pandemic.
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To mitigate these challenges, policy makers should
simultaneously focus on different levels of the food
value chain by developing holistic strategies.
Incentives beyond financial aid, which concentrate
more on building capacity among farmers, are
necessary. The technology side of operations
needs improvement as a part of mitigation. Labor
constraints and human contact can be minimized
by implementing precision farming during
lockdowns. Policy makers also need to increase
investments in research and development
programs.
Seed grants that assist businesses or
researchers in developing farming techniques less
reliant on rain-fed systems will be necessary in
the future (Tonsor et al., 2021; Beckman and
Countryman, 2021; Daglis et al., 2020; Muhammad
et al., 2021).
Theme 4: Economic Impact
The majority of business industries worldwide
have been adversely affected by the COVID-19
outbreak, impacting communities negatively,
80
regardless of their income levels. This impact is
exacerbated by the added factor of climate change.
Four articles highlighted the adverse effects. Effect
of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic on
food security. Unlike the pandemic, climate-related
impacts tend to be heterogeneous across space
and time and manifest more indirectly.
Pan et al. (2020) showed that farmers who
reported no financial losses due to COVID-19 also
reported a lower frequency of anthropogenic factors
affecting their activities in the last decade. Farmers
reporting an economic loss due to COVID-19
reported a rise in anthropogenic factors. Effects
on their activities were found to be significant.
Farmers with the greatest financial losses due to
COVID-19 recorded flooding and eutrophication
most frequently, while diseases and salinity
increase were often reported among farmers
affected by moderate and low economic loss,
respectively. Diseases, hypoxia, pollution,
eutrophication, and heat waves were found to be
more damaging in land-based systems, while
among sea-based intensive systems, storm effects
were the more relevant issue. In these systems,
harmful algae, flooding, and an increase in salinity
were reported to be more damaging. Overall, the...
Already vulnerable and locally suffering
aquaculture systems were further pushed into a
crisis by the COVID-19 pandemic. During any
natural or man-made disaster, throughout its value
chain, food production has experienced a
combination of demand shocks, supply disruptions,
and internal industry conflicts (Daglis et al., 2020;
Tonsor et al., 2021). Over time, these disruptions
to the markets and production have led to
increased food prices. To mitigate these issues,
policy makers should simplify the process and
prevent disruptions in market operations. The
resilience of the supply chain can be improved in
the long run through market participant innovation.
Vol. 25, No. 2, July-December, 2023
 A Systematic Literature Review of COVID-19 and Climate Change Impacted Global Food Security
LIMITATIONS
Although the findings from the present study
provide insight into the scientific framework and
network, it does have its limitations. First, this study
considered only scholarly articles related to COVID-
19, climate change, and global food security
research reflected in WOS (core collection only)
and Scopus, and did not include articles in PubMed,
Google Scholar, and grey literature. Another
limitation is the inclusion of only articles in English.
Second, the five included studies were
conducted in different regions and cities. Beliefs
or cultural perspectives can differ in countries
regarding the impacts of climate and... Pandemics.
The theme synthesis in this review may not be
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applicable to all food value chains worldwide. Third,
this review examined the effect of COVID-19 and
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climate change on food security globally. Thus,
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the results may favor the negative findings in the
original studies. Finally, the studies reviewed here
were identified through searches conducted in April
2021. Although prepublication articles were included
in this study, knowledge of COVID-19 is rapidly
changing. More studies about the disease may
have been published while this manuscript was in
development.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
From the perspective of the producers, climate
changes have had a greater impact on food
security, and most of the COVID-19 impact resulted
from the total lockdown restrictions aiming to
mitigate the issues caused by the pandemic. Even
though the COVID-19 crisis was unprecedented,
policymakers are urged to use this crisis as an
opportunity to make the food sector more
sustainable and resilient against climate change.
It is recommended that more advanced
technology and integrated approaches be...
Employed to reduce dependence on humans
and focus on prevention, enhancing species
Journal of Immunology and Immunopathology
diversity, increasing species with higher added
value, and raising survival rates. According to the
findings, farmers cultivating more than one species
were less likely to be affected by COVID-19 and
climate change. As specific knowledge gaps have
been identified in this study, we recommend further
research be done on climate change and COVID-
19 and their impact on global food security.
CONCLUSIONS
This is the first systematic review aiming to
identify how food security worldwide was affected
by COVID-19 and climate change. This review
followed a design guided by the reporting
standards for systematic evidence syntheses
(ROSES). Through thematic synthesis, the review
revealed five studies about consumption habits
(n=2), regulation compliance (n=2), farming season
(n=2), and socio-economic factors (n=4). The
impacts of climate change and the COVID-19
pandemic were felt all along the value chain by
producers and consumers. The lead authors of
the articles were from various countries, with Spain
being the highest contributing country, and most
of the articles were from the environmental
sciences ecology research area.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
COVID-19: Coronavirus Disease-2019,
PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic
Reviews and Meta-Analyses, SARS-CoV-2: Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, PECO:
Population, Exposure, Comparator, and Outcome,
UMT: University Terengganu Malaysia, UiTM:
University Teknologi Mara, ROSES: Reporting
Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses,
WOS: Web of Science, QCA: Qualitative
Comparative Assessment, GHG: Greenhouse Gas.
DECLARATIONS
Ethics approval and consent to participate:
Not applicable.
81
 Sina Salajegheh Tazerji et al.
Consent for publication: Not applicable.
Availability of data and materials: The data used
to support the findings of this study are available
from the corresponding author upon request.
Competing interests: The authors declare that
they have no conflict of interest.
Funding: Not applicable.
Authors’ contributions: Conceptualization and
supervision, S.S.T. and P.M.D.; Writing – review
and editing: All authors. All authors have agreed
to the submitted version.
Acknowledgment: Not applicable.
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