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198. Recommendations on Transforming the Agri-food Systems

A paper published in Nature Sustainability in December 2020 (Bundling innovations to transform agri-food systems) stated that multiple innovations must be combined to address the transformation of agri-food systems.

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197. Sale of Cultured Meat Approved for the First Time

Last month, the sale of cultured meat has been approved for the first time in the world. Cultured meat is meat artificially produced by tissue culture of cells and can therefore reduce the environmental load as compared to livestock. In addition, it can be produced under strict hygienic management and does not require the slaughter of animals. The approval by the Singapore Food Agency on the sale of chicken cultivated in a bioreactor by a US company Eat Just is a milestone for the food industry.

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196. Diversity Loss and COVID-19

The loss of diversity creates opportunities for new pandemics. A paper published in Science of the Total Environment attributed the development of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 to the loss of human, biological and geochemical diversity, and emphasized the need for diversity conservation and interdisciplinary research efforts in order to address future global diseases.

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195. Towards Sustainable Use of the Ocean

Although the ocean occupies 71% of the Earth's surface, it has long been neglected in the global environmental policy processes. In response to this situation, the prime ministers of Norway and Palau convened the leaders of 14 countries, including Japan, to set up a high-level panel to protect the benefits that humankind has enjoyed from the marine environment.

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194. Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2020 and the Reality Towards the Paris Agreement

In December 2020, a dramatic reduction in fossil fuel-derived carbon dioxide emissions was reported due to the global lockdown caused by COVID-19. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), COVID-19 has temporarily reduced greenhouse gas emissions, but a 7% reduction is only as effective as reducing global warming by about 0.01°C by 2050.

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193. The Need for Systems Thinking in the Food System

An editorial published in Nature Food in November 2020 emphasized the importance of systems thinking in tackling the multidimensional problems in the food system. Research methods and frameworks provide the perspectives when analyzing a problem, and the way they are constructed or applied determine the scope of the solutions that can be explored. Therefore, the risks of disengagement from systems thinking should not be underestimated.

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192. Cause of ‘Godzilla’ Dust Storm

In June 2020, Saharan dust spilled into the Caribbean, reaching a historic scale known as the ‘Godzilla’ dust storm. A subtropical high-pressure system in Northwest Africa ejected dust in the Sahara region for four days, with strong westward atmospheric winds blowing across the Atlantic into the Americas. Some researchers believe that the jet stream is caused by Arctic warming and declining sea ice.

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191. The Least Developed Countries Report 2020

In December 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published "The Least Developed Countries Report 2020". According to the report, the GDP per capita of least developed countries (LDCs) is projected to contract by 2.6% in 2020 and to experience their worst economic performance in the last 30 years. It is also predicted that the poverty rate will rise from 32.5% to 35.7% due to the economic crisis caused by COVID-19.

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190. Lancet Health and Climate Change Countdown 2020 Report

In December 2020, The Lancet magazine published the Lancet Health and Climate Change Countdown 2020 report, which provided the latest data on the impact of climate change on health.

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189. JIRCAS 50th Anniversary International Symposium 2020 Video Released

The JIRCAS 50th Anniversary International Symposium “The role of international collaboration in agricultural research to address challenges in the post-COVID-19 global food system” video has been released online.

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188. World Soil Day

Tomorrow December 5th is World Soil Day 2020. This year’s campaign “Keep soil alive, Protect soil diversity” focuses on raising awareness about the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the challenges in soil management, fighting soil biodiversity loss, increasing soil awareness, and encouraging governments, organizations, communities and individuals to improve soil health.

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187. Uneven Impact of Climate Change – The Human-environment Interactions and Vegetation-rainfall Sensitivity in Tropical Drylands

A paper published in Nature Sustainability analyzed the vegetation trends across the planet’s driest areas using satellite imagery and found that vegetation regeneration is not commensurate with precipitation in developing countries in Asia and Africa. To avoid the negative impacts, it is important to take immediate mitigation measures through an understanding of the relationship between vegetation-rainfall sensitivity and associated drivers in tropical drylands.

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186. Climate Crisis Highlights the Need for a Multi-scale, Multi-disciplinary and Multinational Approach

The editorial article in the November 2020 issue of Nature Climate Change stated that although the field of ecology deals with studies on the impact of humans on the natural world, the ongoing climate crisis brings a new sense of urgency as it affects all organisms ranging from microbes to megafauna. The article also pointed out the need to take a multi-scale, multi-disciplinary and multinational approach in tackling the climate crisis.

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185. Proper Water Governance in Agriculture

Many farmers in developing countries that rely on rainfed agriculture are facing an increasing uncertainty of agricultural production due to the impact of climate change. Even in irrigated agriculture, proper management of water resources is also necessary. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA 2020) addressing the importance of proper governance for agricultural water resource management to ensure global food security and nutrition, and to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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184. Carbon Dioxide Levels Continue to Rise Despite COVID-19 Lockdown

On November 23, 2020, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that despite the industrial slowdown and movement restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, greenhouse gas emission continue at record levels, increasing temperatures, and driving more extreme weather, ice melt, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification.

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183. Climate Change can Change the Risk of Infectious Diseases

Agriculture is the largest contributor to land-use change which tends to increase the incidence of zoonotic diseases by increasing contact opportunities for wildlife, livestock and humans. On the other hand, is there any relationship between global warming itself and the outbreak of infectious diseases? A paper published in Science conducted a global meta-analysis of the thermal mismatch hypothesis about host-pathogen relationships. The resulting model showed that fungal disease risk increased in warm climates whereas the frequency of bacterial disease increased under warm abnormalities in cool climates.

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182. COVID-19 Impact

In mid to late November 2020, several vaccines being developed against COVID-19 have been reported to be 90% effective and in the final stage of clinical trials. However, even if vaccines become widespread, the effects of the pandemic economic crisis will be prolonged and the poor are likely to suffer the most serious damage. On November 19, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released the report “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development: Transitioning to a New Normal”, a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the economic crisis on world trade, investment, production, employment, and individual livelihoods.

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181. Milestone for Achieving Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries around the world agreed to limit global warming to below 2°C and ideally, to well below 1.5°C. In November 2020, the World Resources Institute published a report summarizing the milestones of climate action to be achieved between 2030 and 2050. In the agricultural sector, it is necessary to pay attention to the difference in achievement between developed and developing countries, and to take different measures such as improving yields in developing countries and reducing consumption of animal-based foods in developed countries.

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180. Race to Zero ー Toward the Realization of a Carbon-Free Society

Realizing a carbon-neutral or carbon-free society to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change is an international issue and the Race to Zero towards achieving net zero carbon emissions has become a global campaign that involves businesses, universities, cities, regions, and investors. In November 2020, the Climate Action Pathways Report was published, outlining action plans for the eight thematic areas (energy, human settlements, industry, land use, oceans and coastal zones, transport, water and resilience) to fully implement the Paris Agreement.

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179. Rising hunger

In November 2020, the United Nations reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had a tremendous impact on global food security and that hunger was rising again.