As the third edition of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’(FAO) report on The Impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security is released, global disaster risk governance is facing a critical period. While capping off a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, 2020 has also added new – and unprecedented – challenges. The covid-19 pandemic is the most widespread and devastating disease event in recent history. Its economic and social impacts have disrupted nearly all aspects of life; agricultural livelihoods have been particularly hard hit. Meanwhile, vast swarms of desert locusts have been ravaging crops and grazing land, further menacing the food security of already vulnerable populations; megafires have carpeted large areas of forests and arable land, while other areas were submerged under record floods.