FAO has published "Thinking about the future of food safety—A foresight report". Food safety is the cornerstone of the agri-food system, and all stakeholders must be prepared to navigate the threats, disruptions, and challenges that may arise in the future, while addressing multiple challenges such as climate change, population growth, and natural resource depletion. This report describes the factors and related trends that will impact food safety and ultimately, consumer health, the economy, and even international trade.

Today, global food production is on a scale unprecedented in history, but the amount of land used has begun to decline. This means that it is possible to feed more people while restoring natural ecosystems. On the other hand, looking around the world, the hotspot for rangeland expansion is shifting from arid and temperate regions to biodiversity- and carbon-rich tropical regions. Increasing crop yields and agricultural productivity in the tropics is extremely important.

A joint research group of JIRCAS and King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) has been developing a saccharification technology to efficiently and inexpensively obtain glucose, which is necessary for the production of biofuels and biochemicals, from cellulose-based biomass, including stems, leaves, peels, and lees from harvesting and processing agricultural crops, and food residues, fiber and paper waste from everyday life. The newly developed “microbial saccharification” is a revolutionary technology that converts cellulose to glucose using only microbial culture, without the need for any enzyme addition, and is expected to be applied to materials such as waste cotton fiber that have not been recycled before, since it is expected to reduce costs.

For the first time in nearly two years, the government has decided to reopen the entry of foreign tourists to the country on June 10, after having stopped it as border measure to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has expressed its commitment to "green recovery” and has published a website summarizing the need for investments. Meanwhile, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is threatening food security through high food, fuel, and fertilizer prices, putting a damper on the road to recovery from COVID-19.

June 8 is World Oceans Day. It was established to create an opportunity to raise global awareness of the challenges facing the international community regarding the oceans. Also, 2022 is the  International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. In today's Pick Up, we introduce two examples of international joint research related to small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in the field of fisheries featured in the JIRCAS Research Highlights.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its World Food Price Index on June 3. After reaching an all-time high in March 2022, the food price index declined for two consecutive months in April and May, but remained 29.2 percentage points (22.8%) higher than the same period last year. This drop reflects declines in vegetable oil and dairy price indeces, while grain and meat price indeces rose on June 3, which also marked the 100th day since the start of the war in Ukraine. UN agencies reported that they are committed to negotiations with Russia and other countries concerned to avert a food security crisis in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Social change is needed alongside technological improvements to improve people's quality of life and ensure the prosperity of both the economy and the eco-system while achieving the goals of climate action. A recently published opinion paper in PLOS CLIMATE highlights the importance of social science in climate change action.

The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened lives and livelihoods around the world and caused fluctuations in food prices. In this issue, we present a paper that analyzes its impact on retail food prices from around the world.
 

Along with climate change, the possibility of catastrophic disasters due to heavy rainfall as well as heat waves and droughts is predicted to increase. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) have announced that they will change the way they communicate disaster prevention information, such as the threat of linear precipitation zones and storm surge warnings for inland areas. Across the ocean in the Atlantic, hurricanes are given alphabetical names, and Ida, which caused extensive damage last year, has been placed on the "retired" list. With the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events expected to increase under global warming, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries will be severely impacted and food security may be affected. Averting catastrophic events will require the development of early warning systems as well as the creation of resilient socioeconomic and food systems through both climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.