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COVID-19 is causing widespread human suffering, as the most acute global public health emergency of our generation. While the origin of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID‐19 remains uncertain, several wild species (particularly bats) are known to be important hosts for this family of zoonotic diseases. More generally, there is strong evidence that zoonotic disease emergence is linked to…

Smallholder producers’ access to markets is also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Immediate impacts tend to be more severe for high-value commodities (perishable products), which are often produced by smallholder farmers. Several countries are putting in place a variety of measures to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on smallholder producers. This brief builds on lessons learned in Guinea,…

Specific information about the virus responsible for COVID-19 is and remains scant; however, the behaviour and characteristics of the virus can be predicted based on data from similar viruses such as those responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Despite the hypothesis that the virus may have originated in bats and infected another…

Cities, with their high population density, are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and many cities in developing countries do not have adequate capacity to address the disruptions caused by the response to the health emergency. The risk is particularly high for the 1.2 billion people living in the congested and overcrowded informal urban settlements where conditions are already…

Rwanda is the Land of a Thousand Hills, but are these hills still healthy and productive? This is the story of how a small east African country took the unprecedented initiative to restore lands that had lost the ability to support people and biodiversity. Thanks to Rwanda's vision and forward-thinking laws and regulations, the country became one of the early adopters of the Bonn Challenge - a…

The COVID-19 pandemic and the global response required to stem it shows the importance of acting together to solve unparalleled threats to people and our planet. The far-reaching impacts of COVID-19 are a stark reminder of the catastrophic implications the world faces if we don’t. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is committed to ensuring that the world that emerges from the pandemic is…