It is said that two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered with water, or about 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water. However, the only water we can use is freshwater, excluding seawater, which accounts for only about 2.5% of the water on the earth. Furthermore, excluding glaciers and groundwater, only 0.01% of freshwater (rivers, lakes, marshes, etc.) is in a state that is easily accessible to humans. Today, we would like to introduce a report of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) on the change in global freshwater storage.

Incorporating tropical and subtropical fruit trees into our daily diet is a delicious and enjoyable way to get the nutrition we need. On the other hand, cultivating fruit trees of uniform quality is not an easy task, and in order to cope with the ever-changing global environment, it is necessary to study a wide variety of genetic resources and utilize the useful ones. Today, a JIRCAS researcher who is engaged in research on tropical fruit trees at the Tropical Agriculture Research Front on Ishigaki Island elaborates on the good relationship between fruits, people, and the earth.

One year has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the uncertainty surrounding global food security has increased dramatically. Global food security requires coordinated international efforts to avoid supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical factors, and technical assistance in regions where food crop productivity is stagnant is of critical importance.

Dr. Marcy N. WILDER, Project Leader of the Fisheries Division, has been selected by the Association of Japanese Agricultural Scientific Societies to receive the 2023 Japan Prize of Agricultural Science / Yomiuri Prize of Agricultural Science. The award is recognized as the highest honor given to agricultural science researchers in Japan.

According to reports from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and a World Bank blog, international food prices have calmed down from last year's peak, but domestic prices for food remain high around the world and inflation is being recorded in many countries.

Until now, negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have focused on two strategies: mitigation and adaptation to climate change. However, "too little, too slow" in responding to climate change has necessitated a third negotiation: loss and damage (L&D). The article, "Responding to loss and damage in food systems," recently published in Nature Food, emphasized the need for a long-term perspective that is more in line with the needs on the ground, rather than a crisis-by-crisis humanitarian response.

On February 8, the heads of five international organizations issued a joint statement expressing support for the victims of the recent earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, while sounding the alarm about the deteriorating environment surrounding poverty and food security worldwide. The statement called for a balanced response that takes into account both emergency relief and long-term resilience-building efforts, such as "hunger hotspot" relief and trade promotion.

In sub-Saharan Africa, crop productivity is low, and food shortages are chronic. JIRCAS has established a technology to produce phosphate-added soil compost using materials available to small-scale farmers in the region. We have also demonstrated that using phosphate rock-rhizosphere soil-added compost not only increases yields on a par with chemical fertilizers but also improves the biological and chemical properties of the soil. This achievement is expected to be an effective technology against the sharp rise in global fertilizer prices.

The European Union (EU), known for its passionate commitment to environmental issues, has stated its goal of restoring soil health in Europe and beyond. Maintaining soil health is important for a sustainable society, but how to achieve it is the challenge. In this issue, we would like to introduce the challenges facing soil diversity conservation from the article “Soil biodiversity needs policy without borders” published in Science.