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32. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - Global Forest Resource Assessment 2020

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has published an interactive report that contains the main findings of the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). The FRA provides a comprehensive report on the status and trends in world’s forests, land tenure and access rights, sustainable forest management, legal and institutional frameworks for forest conservation, and sustainable use of forest resources. Currently, the total forest area is 4.06 billion hectares, which accounts for about one-third of the world's land, and although the forest area has been declining globally since 1990, the rate of decline is currently slowing down.

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31.New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Great Lockdown vs. Great Recession

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has published a report, "Comparing Crises: Great Lockdown vs. Great Recession”. The Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s has been described as the worst recession since the Second World War. The economic crisis of the Great Lockdown associated with COVID-19 is expected to exceed the shock of the Great Recession, as it is certain to affect not only high-income countries but also low-income countries. According to the report, the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) will suffer the most from the crisis due to their dependence on food imports, tourism revenues and remittances.

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30. Transboundary Pests and the International Year of Plant Health ― Fall armyworm

Movement across borders has become difficult due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.Transboundary pests have no borders and can move long distances as shown by the desert locust outbreak that started in eastern Africa last year. The Lepidopterian pest fall armyworm is a a global transboundary pest that has greatly expanded in distribution areas in recent years. Although it is native to South America, it swept through the African continent in 2016 and arrived in Japan through the Asian continent in July last year. Recently, fall armyworm has also been reported in Australia which was heavily devastated by wildfires last year. This year 2020, as the world observes the "International Year of Plant Health" to raise awareness on mitigation of plant pests, it is essential to deal with transboundary pests in the same way as COVID-19, as both problems cannot be tackled by any one country and need to be resolved by international cooperation.

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29. PNAS Paper: The Future of Human Climate Niche

A paper entitled "Future of the human climate niche" was published in the multidisciplinary scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), on May 4, 2020. The paper demonstrates that, depending on scenarios of population growth and global warming, a niche suitable for human habitation will shift to higher latitudes on an unprecedented scale in the next 50 years, while population growth will occur in lower latitude regions. As a result, it is expected that a wide range of population distribution and climate mismatches will be amplified, and in the worst case scenario, one-third of the world's population or about 3.5 billion people will be exposed to mean annual temperature of 29 degrees or more. The regions most affected are the poorest regions in the world with low capacity to adapt to climate change, and climate change mitigation measures as well as improving human development should be a top priority.

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28. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Perspectives on Food Systems

As of early May 2020, the importance of the food system is highlighted as concerns about the food security crisis are increasing under the lockdowns to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientific report entitled “Food Systems at Risk: New Trends and Challenges” published in 2019 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Center for International Development Studies of France (CIRAD), and the European Commission introduced some useful concepts in constructing a robust food system at the time of COVID-19.

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27. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― IFPRI Dashboard: Tracking the Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Food Market

Amid the increasing impact of COVID-19 on the world economy, the international community is urged to monitor the ever-changing policy movements of food exporting countries and their impact on food importing countries through international cooperation. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has launched COVID-19 Food Policy Tracker to track food export restrictions around the world in the current COVID-19 crisis and their impact on the global food market. As of the end of April, 15 countries are implementing export restrictions, and it is estimated that the world trade in terms of calories will have an impact of about 5%.

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26. New Coronavirus Pandemic― FAO Policy Recommendations: Recession and Hunger

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a policy brief on April 24 to address long-term hunger and food insecurity due to the global economic recession caused by COVID-19, and expressed the need to mitigate the impact. It is noted that a COVID-19 triggered global recession and reduction in the growth rate of GDP by 2-10% in all countries in 2020 will result in an increase of 14.4 to 80.3 million undernourished people in net food-importing countries.

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25. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Food Security Crisis in East Africa: Urbanization and Structural Transformation of Agriculture

According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the East African region is currently facing the triple threat of COVID-19, floods and locusts. Although East Africa is home to only about 3% of the world's population, the region also hosts 22 percent of the world’s total number of acutely food-insecure people. It is expected that the socio-economic fallout from the pandemic will be far more devastating than the disease itself due the unemployment of people in the urban areas.

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24. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― World Bank Report: Implications of COVID-19 for Commodities

In April 2020, the World Bank released the “Commodity Market Outlook - Implications of COVID-19 for Commodities”, a detailed analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for major commodity groups including energy, agriculture, fertilizers and metals. As the pandemic continues to worsen, commodity prices saw sharp declines during the last three months, with the largest impact in the energy sector. This is a summary of the report and blog (World Bank, April 23, 2020).

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23. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― WMO Report: Economic Impact of Global Warming

The World Meteorological Organization released a report, “The Global Climate in 2015–2019”" on April 22, 2020. According to the report, the physical signs of climate change and the impact on our planet have gathered pace, reaching a crescendo in the past five years, and this trend is expected to continue. Whilst COVID-19 has caused a severe international health and economic crisis, failure to tackle climate change may threaten human well-being, ecosystems and economies for centuries.

International Organization

IRENA’s Global Renewables Outlook: Energy Transformation 2050

“Global Renewables Outlook: Energy Transformation 2050”, formerly known as “Global Energy Transformation: a roadmap to 2050”, was published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in April 2020. This comprehensive analysis outlines the investments and technologies needed to decarbonize the energy system in line with the Paris Agreement. It also explores deeper decarbonization options for the hardest sectors, aiming to eventually cut CO2 emissions to zero.

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22. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Hunger Pandemic

The United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) has expressed concern that the new coronavirus (COVID-19) could put 265 million people at the risk of acute hunger by the end of 2020. This number represents the scale of catastrophe we are facing. Of particular concern to the spread of health hazards from viruses are people living in conflict areas or forced to leave their homes and enter refugee camps. Viruses can spread in crowded camps. Similarly, people living in cramped and unsanitary urban slums will be at risk.

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21. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Earth Day and Biodiversity

As of April 22, 2020, which marks the 50th anniversary of International Earth Day, the COVID-19 continues to spread around the world. According to the United Nations, 75% of new infectious diseases that occur every four months are of animal origin, showing a very close relationship between humans, animals and environmental health. The destruction of biodiversity by human intervention in nature is believed to be responsible for the increase in zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. On this day dedicated to Mother Earth, the UN referred to COVID-19, climate crisis and loss of biodiversity, and called for the urgency to shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet.

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20. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Global Economic Crisis and Climate Change Countermeasures

The COVID-19 outbreak that has been storming the world is ironically "kind to the planet". The suspension of economic activities has caused a record drop in carbon dioxide emission not seen since the end of the 2nd World War. However, it can’t be expected that this situation will last long and eventually, a drastic socio-economic transformation of the land use and energy sectors will be essential to avoid irreversible climate change risks. The recommendation of health experts to lower the infection peak and flatten the epidemic curve as a response the COVID-19 has prompted climate experts to regard extreme weather events caused by climate change in the same way as viral infection, and to improve the resilience of society by swiftly promoting the decarbonization of the economy to curb the rise in the average temperature of the world thus avoiding catastrophic damages to the society.

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19. Functions of yeast ― Potential of new industrial yeast

Yeasts are indispensable in the production of seasonings and fermented foods that are directly related to our diet. Yeasts in the genus Saccharomyces used for making bread and sake are called "industrial yeasts" and have been used as model organisms in the scientific field. On the other hand, about 100 genera of yeasts with different functions and properties from Saccharomyces yeast have been reported. For example, there are yeasts that have heat resistance and can be fermented at 40 ℃ or higher, and yeasts that grow and ferment under strong acidic conditions. These yeast species are called non-conventional yeast, and are expected to have high industrial potential such as oil and fat production, surfactant production, biodegradable plastic decomposition etc. JIRCAS focuses on the cell wall components of new industrial yeast that promote immune activation of animal cells, and we are conducting research to develop livestock feed supplement to suppress mastitis in dairy cows.

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18. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Channels of Transmission to Food and Agriculture

In response to the global spread of COVID-19, urban blockades and movement restrictions have been implemented in many countries. The prolongation of this crisis could delay food supply to the market and the procurement of materials and workers needed for agricultural production, which could lead to a food crisis. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that the COVID-19 pandemic affecting all elements of the food system, from primary supply, to processing, to trade as well as national and international logistics systems, to intermediate and final demand In addressing food security in developing countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of not only the production and consumption of food, but also the well-functioning of the food value chain, distribution and logistics.

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17. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Outlook on Oil Demand and Renewable Energy

Rapidly declining cost of solar and wind power generation has caused the acceleration of the transition to renewable energy globally, especially in the power sector. However, the global movement restrictions due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) combined with slowdowns of economic activities due to disruptions in the supply chain and closure of related equipment factories, have casted a shadow on the growth outlook for 2020. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the impact of lower oil prices on renewable energy is limited, but the short-term effects on renewable energy use including biofuels are becoming apparent in the transportation sector. The need for accelerating energy transformation, a key component of the long-term goals for the climate safe future remain unchanged ever after the coronavirus crisis. Rather, it is now necessary to pave the way toward the decarbonization of socioeconomic systems and thereby achieving Sustainable Development Goals (IRENA March 14, 2020).

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16. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Significantly Slow Growth in Developing Countries in the Asia-Pacific Region

The World Bank has released an analysis showing that the economic growth rate of developing countries in the Asia-Pacific (EAP) region will slow down significantly from + 5.8% in 2019 to + 2.1 ~ 0.5% in 2020 due to the new coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19). While tourism related services are expected to be the most severely affected, agricultural output is also projected to fall by around 3%. In addition, due to the high percentage of farmers in many countries in the EAP region, there are serious concerns that the income and health of small-scale farmers who have difficulty accessing public social security will be significantly affected. The World Bank is calling for bold national action and the need for deeper international cooperation.

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15. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― Impact on World Trade and Developing Countries Dependent on Commodity Crop Export

Cultivation of export commodity crops such as tea and coffee has become popular in developing countries located in the highlands of tropical and subtropical regions. Until recently, the flower and horticulture industry has also rapidly grown due to the establishment of air freight networks to major destinations, and is now integrated into the global value chain due to increased exports. The COVID-19 causes devasting economic crisis to developing countries that depend on commodity crop exports due to declining international demand and suspension of international flights. On April 8, 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) predicted a 13-32% drop in world trade volume in 2020, calling for unprecedented measures to protect people's lives and the need to pay close attention to the food security situation of food importing countries that rely on commodity crops for foreign currency acquisition, GDP, and job creation.

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14. New Coronavirus Pandemic ― World Bank Bulletin: The first recession in Sub-Saharan Africa in 25 years

2The World Bank announced on April 8, 2020 that due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the economic growth rate in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is projected to decline from 2.4 percent in 2019 to -2.1 to -5.1 percent in 2020, the first recession in the region in 25 years. Countries that depend on oil and minerals exports such as Nigeria, South Africa and Angola, and countries with strong value chain participation such as Ethiopia and Kenya, will be particularly hit hard. In addition, exports and movement regulations will also affect the agricultural production and is expected to contract between 2.6 to 7%. The World Bank, with the support of the SSA governments, has called for the need to avoid the outbreak of an African food crisis associated with COVID-19. Through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Japan has taken the position of strongly supporting development in Africa, the fastest-growing frontier of the 21st century, in cooperation with the public and private sectors.