In June, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) published its Sustainable Development Report 2021 (SDR 2021). In the wake of the new coronas, for the first time since the agreement of the SDGs in 2015, progress towards achieving the SDGs has reversed globally. The report explains the need for a strong multilateral system to confront not only pandemics, but also other global challenges such as climate change and the biodiversity crisis.

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, recipient of the 2021 World Food Prize and one of the world's leading experts on fish farming in developing countries, has made a significant contribution to increasing food production, micronutrient intake, and livelihoods of the people of rural Bangladesh by introducing local indigenous small fish farming into the commercial fish farming system and encouraging related food system transformation. In fact, in developing countries and regions of the world, there are strong concerns about health problems caused by inadequate intake of animal protein and micronutrients. In the research project “Ecosystem approach to aquaculture” under the Food Program, JIRCAS is working on the development of technologies for enhancing the stocks of small indigenous fish and their utilization to improve the nutritional deficit in rural areas in tropical regions.

In recent years, unusually heavy rains due to the effects of climate change have become more frequent, and have been accompanied by many human and economic losses. To mitigate the impact of such climate change damage on food supply, various adaptation technologies are being developed. Crop insurance, which secures food and stabilizes farmers' income, is a prime candidate for climate change adaptation.

Tomorrow, June 29, is "International Day of the Tropics". To celebrate this day, we would like to introduce the JIRCAS Tropical Agriculture Research Front (TARF) in Ishigaki Island. The people of Ishigaki Island refer to TARF as “Nekken”, its acronym in the Japanese language. As the only agricultural research institute under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in Japan located in a subtropical environment, TARF will continue to make full use of its unique features and play a role in contributing to agriculture both in Japan and overseas, while promoting research with all its staff.

On June 21, 2021, meteorologists and climatologists from around the world have launched the "Show Your Stripes" campaign to show the average temperature trends over the past 100 years in each country, with the aim of highlighting the need for urgent action on climate change. In many countries and regions, the stripes show a transition from blue to red as they approach recent years, reflecting rising temperatures. The year 2021 will determine the success or failure of climate change action to avoid the worst impacts represented by frequent extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and storms.

Agriculture is both a contributor to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and an economic sector that is heavily impacted. At the UN Food Systems Summit and COP26 scheduled for 2021, countries will need data to inform specific strategies for mitigating climate change in the food system. The paper, published in Environmental Research Letters, estimates greenhouse gas emissions from the food system at the pre-shipment, land use, pre- and post-production stages, and shows that they are equivalent to about one-third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and that fossil fuel emissions from food transportation and supply chains have increased in particular from 1990 to 2018.

According to the Food Price Index released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on June 3, 2021, world food prices rose sharply in May 2021 for the first time in more than a decade, since October 2010, despite the prospect of global cereal production reaching an all-time high. This is due to the rising international prices of vegetable oil, sugar and grains.

Soybean is one of the most economically important crops in the world, used as a source of edible oil as well as livestock feed due to its high protein content. Soybeans come in a variety of colors and sizes, and each has a different use. The seed size of soybean is an important factor in determining yield, and its shape is very important for processing in terms of the food industry.

The SDGs, which tackle global food and environmental problems, eradication of hunger and poverty, and these activities are supported by the land at our feet. In the world, 2 billion hectares of land, including agricultural land, are devastated, and 12 million hectares are becoming a desert each year due to desertification, land deterioration and drought.