Dear Colleagues,

The new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has triggered a global pandemic, putting human health at risk. Various rules aiming to restrict human activity have thrown entire societies into chaos. The economic effect has been devastating for both firms and families, greatly affecting small firm sectors and people employed in the gig economy, causing a notable worsening of poverty and inequality worldwide.

These impacts have triggered governments around the world to adopt some unprecedented measures to protect families and the productive sectors most affected by the pandemic. While massive social transfers and production subsidies have contributed to alleviating the enormous pains of the pandemic, they have also caused large fiscal disequilibria in many countries.    

This is happening in a context in which climate deterioration has already reached critical levels because of global warming. This phenomenon has affected the climate, especially since human activities have accelerated the spread of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere over the last century. This has resulted in climate change, environmental degradation, and water scarcity. In August 2021, the IPCC working group presented the Sixth Assessment Report, which focuses on the most up-to-date physical knowledge of climate change, incorporating important evidence for understanding the global crisis. If future global warming reaches the 1.5-degree threshold, it will have long-term consequences for our society.

Human society is currently dealing with a triple shock—COVID-19, climate, and economic crises. The impact of COVID-19 on the environment and climate change will have a significant impact on post-epidemic government policies and vice versa. The pandemic and the government responses may accelerate or slow down climate deterioration.   

We want to assess how the probable effects of these triple shocks may affect physical, social, and economic factors. Many unknowns remain on the possible evolution of the climatic phenomenon: How will the pandemic itself affect the speed and intensity of climate change? how would the massive policy changes developed around the world in response to the pandemic affect climate change and how these policies would impinge upon the capacity of countries to adapt to new climatic conditions? How would the economic and social changes brought about by the pandemic and its government responses in combination with climatic deterioration be likely to affect poverty and income distribution over the next decade or so?  What is the likely effect on women of this triple combination of shocks?

These are some of the vital questions which arise from these shocks. Many others could be analyzed. These important questions motivate the present Special Issue of the journal.

We thus invite you to contribute to developing research themes in these and related areas, providing rigorous evidence of what can be expected for the intermediate run.

We invite you to submit papers, on the following general topics of interest:

• the triple shock and raw material markets
• stability/sustainability of water supply
• incentives for development of sustainable production
• sustainable policy: transnational co-operation
• impact of COVID-19 on investments and energy market
• social and economic paradigms, and solutions in developing countries in the post-COVID-19 era.
• gender issues: how the triple shock is likely to affect the economic and social conditions of women.
• poverty and income distribution in relation to the triple shock.

Prof. Dr. Ramon López
Dr. Roberto Pastén
Dr. Jean Pierre Doussoulin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• COVID-19
• climate change
• economic
• agriculture
• sustainability
• water
• soils
• mining
• gender
• natural resources
• governance and decentralization