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407. Record High Greenhouse Gas Concentration and Temperature in Asia in 2020
On October 25, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2020. Then on October 26, it released the "State of the Climate in Asia 2020", reporting that Asia has its warmest year on on record in 2020. Improving the food and nutrition security situation in Asia will require innovations that are resilient to extreme weather risks and mitigate climate change. In particular, innovations must be adapted to local conditions to enable reductions in greenhouse gases from agricultural sources while maintaining food productivity.
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406. The Concept of Food Sovereignty
Food sovereignty is often contrasted with food security. As the definitions of the two have changed, they have become non-conflicting concepts, but the difference is that food security is an explanatory concept and tool for understanding hunger and malnutrition, while food sovereignty involves political strategies.
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405. Limiting Global Temperature Rise to 1.5°C
The Paris Agreement, and also COP26, which will be held from October 31, discusses limiting the increase in average temperature to well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels and within 1.5°C as much as possible. According to the IPCC 1.5°C Special Report published in 2018, in a 1.5°C warming world, climate-related risks would be higher than today, but lower than in a 2°C-warming world, allowing more time to develop adaptation measures. A rapid and widespread system transition in energy, land use, cities, infrastructure, and industry will be required to avoid exceeding 1.5°C.
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404. JIRCAS International Symposium 2021 ― Program and Start of Registration
Registration is now open for the JIRCAS International Symposium 2021 to be held on November 17, 2021. The theme of this year's symposium is “The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation in Achieving Sustainable Food Systems in the Asia Monsoon Region: A Platform for International Collaboration” with the aim of contributing to the ‘Strategy for Sustainable Food Systems, MeaDRI’ and to provide a forum for discussion with various stakeholders from research institutes, universities as well the general public towards the realization of sustainable food systems.
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403. Impacts of Climate Change in Africa
On October 19, 2021, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released the State of the Climate in Africa 2020 report. Weather and climate change in Africa is increasing, causing disturbances in economic, ecological and social systems. One of the most symbolic effects of climate change is the melting of glaciers, which at the current rate could disappear by the 2040s. It is important for Africa to aim for a sustainable and green recovery from the effective pandemic of climate change.
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402. Contribution of Fruits and Vegetables to Improved Nutrition and Challenges in the Food System
This year is the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables as designated by the United Nations. According to a study on the state of vegetable and fruit consumption in low- and middle-income countries conducted by researchers from Wageningen University & Research (WUR), millions of people in Asia and Africa are suffering not from food insecurity, but from a lack of healthy food, mainly because vegetables and fruits, though nutritious, are expensive and not readily available. In addition, agricultural and development policies have focused on cereals and vegetables such as onions and tomatoes, and not much attention has been paid to healthier leafy vegetables.
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401. Elucidating the Unique Reproductive Behavior of Desert Locust Leads to Reduction in Use of Pesticides
Desert locusts are found in semi-arid regions from West Africa to India, where they often cause serious agricultural damage. JIRCAS is conducting research to develop efficient control technologies based on the ecology of desert locust. In this article, we introduce our research on the reproductive behavior of the desert locusts, which can lead to environment-friendly pest control that does not require the use of pesticides more than necessary.
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400. Earth System, Food Systems and Innovation
October 16 was World Food Day which provided an opportunity to remind us that the way we produce, consume and waste food is taking a heavy toll on our planet. To mark our 400th blog, today’s Pick Up briefly features Prof. Ruth DeFries’ argument on the relation between the earth systems, food systems and innovation.
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399. Development of New Production Technology for Larval Shrimp～Balancing Basic and Applied Research～
There are many species of shrimp, but the most widely farmed shrimp in the world is the whiteleg shrimp of the family Penaeidae. The current production methods that support the huge shrimp farming industry are not very efficient and place a heavy burden on the parent shrimp. Based on biological findings, JIRCAS is promoting research to develop a new maturation promotion technology that is friendly to shrimp and efficient.
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398. Agriculture IoT Solution Expected to be Used in Developing Countries
In order to solve food problems caused by climate change and constraints on the agricultural workforce in developing regions, there are growing expectations for smart agricultural technologies that enable labor-saving, reduced workload and increased efficiency in agriculture through the use of advanced technologies and digital information.
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397. International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2021: International Cooperation for Developing Countries
The United Nations has designated October 13th as "International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction" to promote global risk-awareness and disaster reduction. Disasters have a significant impact on food and nutrition security through their impact on agriculture. This year’s theme is “International cooperation for developing countries to reduce their disaster risk and disaster losses”.
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396. JARQ Special Issue on the Scientific Contributions of Japan and Japanese Researchers to CGIAR
The CGIAR is an international organization established in 1971 for the purpose of improving the productivity and technological development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in developing countries. The 15 CGIAR research centers (as of 2020) function as independent institutions and have contributed to solving global food and environmental problems as a frontier of international agricultural research, covering a wide range of topics such as crops, livestock, forests, fisheries, and natural resource management. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the CGIAR in 2021, a special issue of the Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly (JARQ) focuses on the scientific contributions of Japan and Japanese researchers to CGIAR and their major achievements.
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395. Alliance of the UN Food Systems Summit and Tokyo Nutrition Summit 2021
The “Nutrition for Growth Year of Action” was launched in December 2020. As we have reported in the past, the UN Food Systems Summit was held in September this year. And in December, the Tokyo Nutrition Summit 2021 will be held. Together, these two summits address the need for all stakeholders to unite and actively participate in the mission to ensure that all people have access to safe, affordable and nutritious food by 2030.
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394. Practical application of global research results and establishment of a model platform for promoting private-sector research collaboration and creating new business ventures (Research applications/ventures)
Up until the present, research results/technologies generated by JIRCAS have been mainly disseminated and established by research organizations and government agencies in the relevant target countries. In this way, examples of institute researchers directly utilizing their research results to contribute to their rapid development and dissemination have been limited. In the “Research applications/ventures” project, JIRCAS will take up the challenge of establishing a business model for the first time, in order to create a platform for disseminating research results and revitalizing research activities. Such activity will serve to refine JIRCAS-generated technologies in context of the needs of the relevant target countries and regions, and optimize their usage through various collaborations with domestic/overseas organizations and the private sector.
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393. Prepare for the Looming Water Crisis
Floods and droughts due to climate change and changes in rainfall patterns at the global and regional levels due to rising temperatures are having a major impact on food security and human well-being through changes in the agricultural season. On October 5, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its white paper, 2021 State of Climate Services: Water, stressing the urgent need for policy development and investment in sustainable development goals, climate change adaptation, and disaster crisis mitigation.
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392. International Cooperation Day
Today, October 6th is International Cooperation Day, which has been established in 1987 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Since its establishment as the Tropical Agriculture Research Center (TARC) in 1970, JIRCAS has been a leader in international joint research on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in tropical and subtropical regions and other developing regions for half a century, and currently conducts joint research with 66 research institutions in 29 countries. In order to promote joint research with research institutes in these regions, we also invite administrators and researchers from joint research partners to Japan.
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391. The Road to COP26
The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Glasgow, UK from October 31 to November 12, 2021. This conference is seen as the last chance for the international community to take control of the climate emergency. Climate change action requires a global response, and while many countries are setting ambitious goals for COP26, the fact is that many developing countries need support for capacity.
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390. Protecting Sugarcane from Disease
Sugarcane white leaf disease is causing serious damage to sugarcane production in various parts of Asia, especially in Thailand, the world's second largest exporter of sugar. This article introduces some of the research JIRCAS has conducted in collaboration with local research institutes and other organizations on the development of methods to control sugarcane white leaf disease, as well as some aspects of research life in the field.
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389. Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals
In September 2021, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a new report on the relationship between climate change and sustainable development goals (Climate Development and Sustainable Development: Demonstrating the Interconnections). Of the 17 SDGs, the one affected by all seven indicators is SDG 2, "Zero hunger," and requires the use of scientific and technological innovations to address climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.
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388. An Innovation that Enables Improved Food Production and Reduced Environmental Impact
Ahead of COP26 in November, the international community is required to make bold and effective commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In modern agriculture, the application of nitrogen fertilizers for food production has always resulted in the emission of nitrous oxide, which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. For many years, JIRCAS and its partners have been working on an innovation to resolve this contradiction - the development of crops with improved biological nitrification inhibition (BNI). Wheat is one of the most important cereals, using almost one-fifth of the world's chemical fertilizers. An article published on September 10 in the online scientific journal Anthropocene discusses the potential of this work to both increase productivity and reduce environmental impact.