The world is currently experiencing a pandemic: a virus in the family Coronaviridae is causing serious respiratory infections in humans. The outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the WHO on 11 March 2020. The outbreak began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread throughout the world. Despite measures taken by governments throughout the world to contain and control the spread, economic disruption at the global level is imminent and will affect all economic sectors, particularly the food sector. In a post-pandemic scenario, the use of new technologies will be decisive in a new model of food commercialization. The production and distribution of food will be configured to make supply chains optimal and safe systems. Against this background, the present study aims to explore and analyze the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for global food security.

The present study contributes to the debate on the need to develop unconventional strategies for mitigating food insecurity in the world. Ancient peoples’ knowledge and experience may help to deepen the debate and establish a line of work based on the case study herein presented. The study proposes the promotion of indigenous food systems through the institutional resilience approach. There is a need to attack a global problem that affects the entire planet, including countries that have agricultural systems sensitive to the problem of climate change. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the population suffering from hunger has been growing in the last 3 years, which is similar to the famine levels recorded in the previous decade. This would contribute to the development of new strategies of action that allow not only the strengthening of today’s localized agrifood systems but also the revaluation of food systems forgotten or guarded by the indigenous populations that remain present.

This study critically examines the decarbonization of development in the context of the Anthropocene at the global level. A literature review is conducted that emphasizes the rationality of human beings to harmonize with the planet due to the low capacity of their human agency in the framework of the Anthropocene. The analysis recognizes that the possibility of transitioning to a decarbonized global economy or zero carbon emissions is not encouraging. Global energy production and CO2 emissions are concentrated in a dozen countries: China, United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran, India, Australia, Indonesia, and Brazil. These countries are part of societies with an advanced social metabolism that negatively impacts the production of CO2. In context, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided some level of environmental health for the planet, but the CO2 reduction levels are still insufficient to consider a positive impact towards 2030.

Indigenous social development scenarios must be understood as the possibility of improving the sustainability of the planet and human health in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Integrating the institutional resilience approach by learning from the experience of indigenous peoples’ informal institutions through the design of public policies can be a reality. To demonstrate the potential of this premise, a case study was conducted that examined the institutional resilience of one indigenous people, whose findings under nomothetic conditions may be useful for other territories around the world. These peoples provide lessons on how they cope with adversity, the COVID-19 pandemic being one of them. Institutional resilience is a step towards reaching out to the world’s ancestral populations to learn from their knowledge. These scenarios can help us understand the implications of international policies on the capacities of nations to secure access to food and resources and, subsequently, to be better prepared for future pandemics.

This paper examines the negotiation and subordination relationships of small horticultural producers in asymmetric social networks in the horticultural system of the Tepeaca Valley, Puebla, Mexico. Social networks are interstitial spaces where small producers, with a certain degree of autonomy, negotiate the retention of economic surplus with brokers and companies. We conclude that the organisation of the horticultural production system is achieved through asymmetrical social networks, where the small producer establishes trading and subordination relationships that are defined by each type of arrangement.Keywords: asymmetric social networks, horticultural system, social actors, rural Mexico. ResumenEn este trabajo se analizan las relaciones de negociación y subordinación de los pequeños productores hortícolas en las redes sociales asimétricas en el sistema hortícola del valle de Tepeaca, Puebla. Las redes sociales son espacios intersticios donde los pequeños productores, a partir de cierta autonomía, negocian la retención de excedentes económicos con intermediarios y empresas. Se concluye que la organización del sistema productivo hortícola se realiza mediante redes sociales asimétricas, donde el pequeño productor establece relaciones de negociación y subordinación que se definen según el tipo de arreglos.

En México, las intensas lluvias generadas por ciclones tropicales, frentes fríos y sistemas convectivos de mesoescala pueden causar inundaciones y deslaves, los cuales provocan daños a los sectores sociales, de servicios, económicos y financieros, entre otros, y dejan a la población con menos recursos y en mayor vulnerabilidad. Dado este escenario, el tema de la prevención de desastres tiene relevancia en la agenda de protección civil, en la cual se reconoce que es indispensable establecer estrategias y programas de largo alcance enfocados a prevenir y reducir sus efectos y no sólo prestar atención a las emergencias y desastres. El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el desempeño del modelo WRF para simular la precipitación pluvial acumulada en 24 horas en el estado de Puebla, considerando 768 combinaciones diferentes de parámetros físicos, en comparación con los registros de lluvia de estaciones climatológicas para el periodo del 1 de junio al 20 de agosto de 2017. Además, como parte de la investigación, se definieron las configuraciones óptimas para obtener el mejor rendimiento del modelo a nivel local y estatal.

En un análisis documental con enfoque cualitativo, se muestra el estado del arte de la movilidad por medio de sus manifestaciones en el ámbito territorial, identificando el desafío que representa para la vida urbana contemporánea en Latinoamérica. Se reconoce la relación entre movilidad y sostenibilidad como elemento imprescindible de supervivencia para las ciudades actuales, y la necesidad de una evaluación ambiental estratégica a través de un modelo de umbrales ambientales. Se analiza su influencia sobre la economía como principal componente de la demanda de transporte y su impacto en el planeamiento urbano, principalmente de las externalidades. La congestión se aborda como contraparte, y se analizan su origen, causas, problemas comunes en Latinoamérica, la contribución del transporte urbano y sus efectos en la sociedad. Finalmente se revisan las soluciones para mejorarla mediante ejemplos representativos, y la aplicación de políticas públicas con tres enfoques principales: la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos, la eficiencia, y la sostenibilidad. Se reconocen resultados tanto exitosos como fallidos. A través de la identificación de sus elementos configuradores, resulta un panorama que precisa la necesidad de incorporar estos conceptos al medir la calidad de vida de las personas.

The objective of this study is to explore the strengths of indigenous food systems in Latin America within the framework of effective food policies. The analysis is based on the adaptive capacity of human beings, and, in this logic, it considers the food systems of Latin America to be relevant since in the face of challenges, such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, indigenous peoples have been able to establish response strategies. However, beyond these responses, we find a region that has assumed a biopolitical stance with a tendency to design control policies in response to the pandemic. This situation has not improved the inequalities and vulnerabilities of a sector of the indigenous population in Latin America. The aforementioned challenges give a clear picture of the strengths of the region's indigenous people, and knowledge of this interactive dynamic can provide elements for the design of food policies. In this sense, an exhaustive literature review was carried out in order to approach the state of the art of the issue. The analysis was derived from three analytical categories that in synergy and from an open innovation perspective, make a proposal for the design and implementation of effective food policies that allow a region to learn from local indigenous experiences in a context of food insecurity.