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362. Climate Change Tipping Point
On August 20, it was reported that rainfall was observed on the top of an iceberg in Greenland from August 14-16 for the first time since observations began in 1950. In the climate change debate, it is said that the Earth is reaching a tipping point where anthropogenic activities are causing massive changes that are increasingly irreversible.
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361. Development of Environment-friendly Management System Against Transboundary Plant Pests Based on Ecological Characteristics
In recent years, damage to crops caused by transboundary insect pests has been increasing. In order to control the damage caused by transboundary pests, it is necessary to establish an international cooperative system that includes developing regions. The “Transboundary pest management” project aims to develop environment-friendly control technologies for transboundary pests, which have become a major problem worldwide, in collaboration with research institutes located in countries where transboundary pests occur. In addition, we will present economic evaluation models that will serve as a guideline for the development of efficient integrated pest management technologies in preparation for the emergence of new transboundary pests.
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360. Public Opinion Survey on the Need to Protect the Global Commons
In recent years, as anthropogenic economic activities have brought about irreversible crises such as global climate change and environmental destruction, the need for rules and consensus building to sustainably use, manage, and maintain the global commons has been recognized. In August 2021, the Global Commons Alliance released the results of a public opinion survey on the current state of global commons in the G20 countries. Among the key findings, 73% of people believe that the earth is reaching a tipping point due to human activities, and 83% express willingness to protect and restore the global commons.
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359. Q&A on the Launch Event of the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook
At the “Launch Event of the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook” held on July 14, 2021 (Pick Up 341), several webinar attendees posted questions addressed to the main speakers, Mr. Holger Matthey, FAO Senior Economist and Dr. Hubertus Gay, OECD Senior Agricultural Policy Analyst at the OECD, as well as to the commentators, Mr. Gen FURUHASHI, Senior Economist at the PRIMAFF, and Dr. Jun FURUYA, Director of the Social Sciences Division of JIRCAS. Here are the questions and corresponding responses from the speakers and commentators.
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358. Development of Comprehensive Agricultural Technologies for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption in Monsoon Asia
Agriculture is a major contributor to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and is also a heavily impacted economic sector. There is a need to develop and disseminate mitigation technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, as well as adaptation technologies to cope with extreme weather events such as droughts that are becoming more frequent with climate change. On the other hand, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all-solution’ for building sustainable agricultural production that is resilient to climate change, and it is extremely important to take into account the particularities of agricultural production in each country and region. In the project “Development of comprehensive agricultural technologies for climate change mitigation and adaption in Monsoon Asia”, we will develop and implement integrated climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies that will lead to behavioral change among farmers and contribute to the goals of the target countries in the Asian monsoon region.
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357. July 2021 is the Hottest Month on Record
On August 13, 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that July 2021 was the hottest month on record since records began 142 years ago. As the IPCC report released last week on August 9 mentions, this confirms the acceleration of climate change caused by anthropogenic activities.
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356. Causal Relationship Between Extreme Weather and Climate Change
Extreme phenomena such as heat waves, forest fires and floods in the northern hemisphere were reported from June to July 2021, and even in August, a record-breaking rainfall is predicted in Europe and Japan. Recent progress in climate science has made it possible to elucidate the causal relationship between extreme events and climate change within a few weeks of their occurrence.
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355. International Youth Day
International Youth Day (IYD) is a day of celebration established by the United Nations. This year's theme is “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health” and the young generation is expected to play an important role in building a sustainable society.
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354. When Soil Changes, Fertilizer Effectiveness Also Changes ― Towards Fine-tuning of Fertilizer Management―
In rice paddy fields in the tropics, where productivity is low due to nutrient-poor soils, it is desirable to increase crop yields by applying fertilizer. However, fertilizer is an expensive commodity so local farmers hesitate to apply fertilizer unless they can expect a reliable increase in crop yield. JIRCAS has clarified that it is possible to estimate the amount of increase in rice production when fertilizer is applied based on the property of paddy soils in Madagascar, and has also developed a method to easily measure the soil property. These results are expected to contribute to the realization of a fine-tuned fertilizer management based on soil properties and to the improvement of agricultural productivity.
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353. Climate Change is Accelerating and Increasing in Intensity －IPCC Report
On August 9, 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) and Working Group I Report (WG1) on the physical science basis of climate change was released. The report states that many of the anomalies observed in recent years have been unprecedented for at least the past 2000 years, and that there is no doubt that greenhouse gas emissions from anthropogenic activities are the cause of the temperature increase. The report also warns that within the next 20 years, we will exceed the Paris Agreement target of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C.
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352. The Future of Biodiversity: A Guide for Global Action by 2030
On July 12, 2021, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Secretariat released a draft of the Global Biodiversity Framework. The framework includes 21 targets for 2030 and provides guidelines for the world to take action.
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351. Strengthening function as an international hub for providing strategic information on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and mobilizing new research partnerships 〜 Information Program
Today, the global food system is constantly exposed to global crises including climate change and pandemics. At the same time, the global food system is one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change, while failing to provide healthy diets universally with double or triple burdens of hunger, i.e., malnutrition and obesity. Science, technology and innovation are urgently needed to build sustainable good systems serving both human and planetary health. The ‘Information Program’ aims to collect and analyze information, and address the challenges affecting the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector and the global food systems from various perspectives, and to provide strategic and evidence-based information on potential solutions.
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350. JIRCAS Efforts to Establish a New Food System〜Food Program
JIRCAS has started a five-year "Food Program" in April 2021 to promote the development of technologies to improve productivity, sustainability and resilience with the aim of building a new food system. This program contributes to stable food production, international food supply and demand, and food and nutrition security in the target areas through the development of technologies that meet the needs of the diversifying food systems in developing regions.
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349. Technology development for climate change measures, resource recycling and environmental protection〜The Environment Program
The Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) is working with national agricultural research institutes and other organizations in developing countries of tropical areas through cooperation, to develop technologies needed by small-scale farmers who are exposed to the effects of climate change. In addition, as part of the Green Food System Strategy, which is the culmination of Japan's science and technology innovation, a model for initiatives in the Asian monsoon region, we are promoting international joint research with countries in the region.
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348. Discovery of Maize Compounds that Improve the Earth's Nitrogen Cycle
Modern agriculture is sustained by high inputs of nitrogen fertilizer. On the other hand, crops grown in the field, such as maize, cannot utilize more than 50% of the applied nitrogen fertilizer, and the unused nitrogen fertilizer flows out of the farmland. Most of this wastage is caused by nitrification by soil microorganisms. JIRCAS aims to reduce nitrogen loss from farmland by utilizing the BNI (biological nitrification inhibition) compounds produced in the roots of crops. This time, our research group searched for BNI compounds in maize roots and discovered four compounds, including one new highly active compound, zeanone. With the identification of these four compounds, JIRCAS will proceed with the construction of a new agricultural system.
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347. Earth Overshoot Day 2021
Earth Overshoot Day marks the day in a given year when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services exceeds the Earth's ability to regenerate and supply them. This year, it falls on July 29, three months earlier than last year's August 22, due to COVID-19 pandemic deterrence policies and other factors, and has reverted to 2019 levels.
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346. Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit: Signs of Hope in COVID Crisis
This September, the UN Food System Summit will be held in New York in parallel with the UN General Assembly to discuss the global food system. Prior to this, the Pre-Summit was held in Rome, Italy from July 26-28, described as a "People's summit" and brought together many people, including government officials, farmers, producers, indigenous people, youth, women, civil society and the private sector.
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345. Counting Carbon― Measuring Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Absorption
Recently, carbon neutrality, which means achieving zero emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by subtracting the amount absorbed by forests, has become a hot topic. By using both bottom-up and top-down approaches, combining observations with model estimates, and improving the sophistication of greenhouse gas emission source estimates, it is possible to distinguish carbon emissions from agriculture and fossil fuels from natural processes. According to the European Space Agency, at the current rate of emissions, we have only 10 years left to keep global warming below 1.5°C.
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344. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Nutrition: An Additional 141 Million People in Low- and Middle-Income Countries Without Access to Healthy Food
From July 26 until today, the 28th, a pre-summit of the United Nations Food System Summit is being held in Italy, where global issues related to food and nutrition are being discussed. The Standing Together for Nutrition Consortium (ST4N) is multidisciplinary consortium of experts in nutrition, economics, and food and health systems. Here, we summarize two ST4N papers published in Nature Food on the impact of COVID-19 on nutrition in low- and middle-income countries.
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343. Breeding Rice for Adaptation to Water Saving Technologies
Rice is a major food source for almost half of the world's population and is one of the most important food crops. On the other hand, methane emissions from rice paddies are one of the major sources of greenhouse gases. At the same time as breeding rice that is resilient to climate change, it is also necessary to breed rice in line with the development of cultivation techniques that reduce methane emissions from paddy fields. A review article, “Breeding rice for climate change by improving adaptation to water-saving technologies”, coordinated by JIRCAS Senior Researcher Dr. Matthias Wissuwa, has been published online in Theoretical and Applied Genetics.