Late last year, World Weather Attribution, which analyzes the causal relationship between extreme events and climate change, concluded that climate change has intensified extreme weather events in 2023 and predicted more record-breaking events in 2024.

Thank you for visiting the Pick Up section in 2023. As we look back on the year 2023, we will cover the news of the scientific journal's breakthrough obesity drug, the growing poverty and food crisis in a world of rising inequality, the global health crisis caused by the state of our food system, and the Food System Transformation Declaration endorsed at COP28.

In April 2022, JIRCAS initiated the Green Asia project, with a primary focus on showcasing and advocating for the adoption of technologies that enhance both productivity and sustainability in the Asia-Monsoon region. and has been actively involved in various initiatives aimed at catalyzing the development of the food system in the region. In particular, several international conferences on agriculture and food systems were held from October to December this year. JIRCAS took advantage of these opportunities to present the overarching goals and specific undertakings of the Green Asia Project, with the aim of disseminating key information to our collaborators in the Asia-Monsoon region and international organizations. and fostering the expansion of our international network.

Tillering in rice and other cereal crops is an important trait for determining panicle number, but it is also a trait that can be easily affected by unstable environments such as climate change and nutrient deficiencies. The MP3 gene, recently discovered at JIRCAS, has been shown to promote tillering and moderately increase panicle number even in such unstable environments, and is expected to be a useful technology for sustainable food production.

Compared to sudden disasters such as earthquakes, floods and wildfires, droughts develop quietly, but their frequency and severity have increased in recent years, with far-reaching impacts on ecosystems, local economies and people's lives. The Global Drought Snapshot 2023 report, released at COP28 in Dubai, warns of the inadequacy of drought responses for the future, citing the recent occurrence of droughts by region and the extent of damage.

In the climate change debate, the tipping point is defined as the threshold at which a small perturbation can cause a qualitative change in the state of the system. The Global Tipping Point report, compiled by world-renowned researchers, points out that global warming could accelerate the crossing of several tipping points and threaten the stability of our societies.

Soybean seed provides more than 71% of the world's vegetable protein and 29% of its oil, but they are negatively correlated, making it difficult to develop varieties with high content of both. Wild soybean, the ancestral species of soybean, is an important genetic resource for improving the protein content of cultivated soybean varieties. JIRCAS has succeeded in identifying genes derived from wild soybean that increase protein content without reducing lipid content.