Global political agenda of sustainable development in agricultural land use amid mounting global challenges
Objective. The article aims to identify the impact of the pandemic (COVID-19) on the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Program. The program contains an attempt to coordinate the actions of the world community in the fight against global problems. The important aspects of human activity is agricultural land use. Experts believe that modern land use leads to even more pollution of the environment. The anthropogenic factor increases its influence. Population growth requires the intensification of agriculture to solve the problem of hunger on Earth. But, intensive forms of agricultural land use lead to a violation of the eco-balance. Methodology. The authors employ a systemic interdisciplinary approach, in the perspective to economy and political science, and drawing from discourse, context, and semantic analysis. The main data sources include, among many others, UN FAO and the Russian Statistics Service. Results. As a universal shock, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the agreements by the global elite. Treaties and arrangements aimed at sustainable global development turned counterproductive, with the viral and some other challenges drastically reducing the levels of cooperation. The pandemic has shifted the focus of national governments into playing ahead of the curve, and these actions are set to continue hindering the efficiency of solving worldwide problems. The authors argue that the global elite should apply some effort to streamlining such negative externalities. Scientific novelty. The authors substantiate their assumptions of the impossibility of solving the issue of anthropogenic influence if not connected with forecasted levels of population and life support technologies, an integral part being political agendas set by national governments.