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Pick Up459. Setting Targets for Food System Transformation
As we have frequently discussed in Pick Up over the last year, research dealing with global food and nutrition issues is shifting from approaches that address production, consumption, and value chains in isolation to approaches that address the safety, networks, and complexity of the food system itself. An article published in Nature Food in December 2021 emphasized the need for policy change in food system transformation by setting common goals and timelines for systemic change, such as the "net zero" goal in the Paris Agreement on climate change.
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Pick Up458. Record-breaking Weather in 2021
On January 13, 2022, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other U.S. research organizations announced that 2021 was the sixth warmest year on record and that ocean heat content (OHC), which measures the amount of heat that accumulates on the surface of the ocean, was at an all-time high. The year 2021 is the warmest year on record under La Niña, and the past eight years have been the warmest consecutive years on record.
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Pick Up457. Global Food System Transformation from the Perspective CGIAR’s 50-year History
It has been 50 years since CGIAR led international agricultural research, changing missions and organizational changes in response to the changing global challenges of the times. A paper in a special issue of JARQ, "Changing Agendas of CGIAR's International Agricultural Research," looks back at the changes ing factors that have contributed to improving global food and nutrition security in the context of the changes in CGIAR's mission and organizational history with reference to Japan's contribution, and looks forward to the future of food system transformation. -
Pick Up456. Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit MAFF Side Event Video Archive Available
On December 7 and 8, 2021, the Government of Japan hosted the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit 2021. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) organized a side event in conjunction with this summit, in which JIRCAS participated. -
Pick Up455. Global Risks Report 2022
The Global Risks Report, released every January by the World Economic Forum (WEF), has been attracting attention for its ability to predict trends in global issues from the perspective of world leaders. This year's report identifies "social cohesion erosion" and "livelihood crises" as short-term risks, while "climate action failure”, "extreme weather" and "biodiversity loss" as environmental and climate change-related risks that will pose the most severe risks to humanity and the planet in the next decade. -
Pick Up454. Global Warming and Climate Change in the Arctic
The Arctic Ocean is considered to be the region where global warming is most pronounced, and it has been pointed out that its effects may extend beyond the Arctic Circle to mid- and low-latitudes. According to a report released by the Danish Arctic Monitoring Service Polar Portal on January 7, Greenland's ice sheet recorded a net loss for the 25th consecutive year, drawing attention to the anomalies observed during 2021. -
Pick Up453. JIRCAS-CCFS Society Workshop Video Now Available
The Workshop on the "Effects of Climate Change and the Spread of COVID-19 on Food Supply and Demand - Food Security under Uncertainty" was held online on December 17, 2021 under the auspices of JIRCAS and the CCFS Society, and co-sponsored by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO). The video of the workshop is now available on the JIRCAS YouTube Channel. -
Pick Up452. JARQ Special Issue - Disseminating Information on the Scientific Contributions of Japanese Researchers to CGIAR
The CGIAR is an international organization established in 1971 for the purpose of improving the productivity and technological development of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in developing countries, and 15 centers under its umbrella (as of 2020) function as independent research institutions. As a frontier of international agricultural research, these centers contribute to solving global food and environmental problems in line with various themes such as crops, livestock, forest, fisheries and natural resource management. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of CGIAR in 2021, we have compiled the scientific contributions and major achievements of Japanese and Japanese researchers in CGIAR institutions as a special issue of the Japan Agricultural Research Quarterly (JARQ), and all the papers have now been published on the JIRCAS website.
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Pick Up451. Stabilization of Fruit Set and Production of Subtropical Fruit Trees
Tropical and subtropical fruits play an important role as food and source of nutrition as well as a source of income for small-scale farmers in tropical and subtropical production areas. There are many kinds of tropical and subtropical fruit species, with dozens of species belonging to different families, and with fruits of diverse taste and appearance. In recent years, the demand for these attractive tropical and subtropical fruits has been increasing in various subtropical and temperate regions of the world, but there have been many reports of unstable production due to the effects of global climate change. In order to stabilize the production and widespread consumption of tropical and subtropical fruits, it is important to elucidate the environmental conditions that inhibit flowering and fruiting of each species and to select a cultivar suitable for the cultivation area. -
Pick Up450. Welcome Year 2022
As we enter the year 2022, an editorial article in Nature cited the emergence of new coronavirus variant and the issue of vaccine disparities, as well as developments in international goals at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as scientific events to watch in 2022. This year, we will continue to provide information on global issues related to agriculture, forestry and fisheries, such as climate change and food systems.
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Pick Up449. Looking Back at 2021
In 2021, the international consensus and paradigm on climate change has shifted dramatically, and the transformation of the food system has become an important part of the international agenda. The UN Food System Summit was held in September and the Tokyo Nutrition Summit was held in December, recognizing the need for the entire food system to work together to achieve global food and nutrition security, decarbonization, and environmental conservation. The importance of up-to-date information on international agriculture, forestry, and fisheries research as well as essential and comprehensive analysis of trends is now greater than ever. -
Pick Up448. French Fries and the Global Food System
As reported in Japan recently, a major hamburger chain has decided to temporarily suspend the sale of some of its French fries products starting on the 24th of this month. Although Canada's potato production was bumper compared to the previous year, record rains that hit western Canada in November disrupted the transport infrastructure to the ports and slowed down exports. This is a symbolic event that shows that the global food system is extremely interconnected.
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Pick Up447. JIRCAS-CCFS Society Workshop Report
On December 17, 2021, the Workshop on the "Effects of Climate Change and the Spread of COVID-19 on Food Supply and Demand - Food Security under Uncertainty" was held online under the auspices of JIRCAS and the CCFS Society, and co-sponsored by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO). The workshop focused on the impact of climate change and COVID-19 pandemic on food and nutrition supply, and presented the results obtained through the projects previously undertaken by JIRCAS and the Grants-in Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). -
Pick Up446. Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture－Key Facts
A few days ago, we introduced the key messages of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's report entitled “The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture - Systems at breaking point (SOLAW 2021)”. Here are some of the key facts about land and water from the report.
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Pick Up445. OECD Consensus Document on Cultivated Plants: Publication of a Revised Version for Rice
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) publishes a series of consensus documents on the Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology (HROB), for the assessment of environmental risks and safety of genetically modified plants. For the first time in about 20 years, the OECD has now published a revised version of the 1999 consensus document on the biology of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Japan served as the lead in the preparation of this document, and JIRCAS researchers have contributed to the revised version as a member of the external expert group. -
Pick Up444. State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture－Key Messages
In December 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released the Synthesis Report of the State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW 2021), warning that human activities are pushing land, soil and water systems to the limits of their productive capacity and that we are on the verge of a "systems at breaking point" situation. Climate change is putting additional pressure on rainfed and irrigated production systems that are already facing environmental constraints due to decades of unsustainable practices. -
Pick Up443. Field Crops Research Special Issue on Sustainable Productivity Enhancement of Rice-based Farming Systems in Africa
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Africa Rice Center, one of the international agricultural research centers of CGIAR, the Field Crops Research, an internationally renowned research journal, publishes a special issue on "Sustainable productivity enhancement of rice-based farming systems in Africa”. The papers in this special issue were written by researchers who are conducting cutting-edge research on rice agronomy in Africa, and 10 papers have been published as of December 15. JIRCAS researchers contributed to two of the papers in this special issue. -
Pick Up442. Workshop on “Effects of Climate Change and the Spread of COVID-19 on Food Supply and Demand - Food Security under Uncertainty” Goes Online Today
The JIRCAS-CCFS Society Workshop “Effects of Climate Change and the Spread of COVID-19 on Food Supply and Demand - Food Security under Uncertainty” goes online today (December 17) at 11:30 AM JST. We hope you will join us.
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Pick Up441. Impact of Climate Change on Global Agriculture
Climate change is expected to have a major impact on agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released a study showing that maize yields will begin to decline around 2030 due to climate change. In order to maintain global food security, we need to develop varieties and cultivation techniques that can maintain or improve yield levels even as temperatures rise. The JIRCAS-CCFS Society Workshop to be held online tomorrow (December 17) will focus on the cost of adaptation to climate change and the impact of climate change on the supply of food and nutrients. We will also report on the impact of the spread of COVID-19 on the future food supply. We hope you will join us. -
Pick Up440. Trends in World Population and Agriculture・Food Systems
Understanding the possible patterns of future population levels is crucial in considering international development issues and measures to combat climate change. The rapid population growth since the 20th century has been driven by the agricultural revolution, but as the world's population approaches 8 billion, the food system has reached its planetary boundaries. Please watch the JIRCAS-CCFS Society Workshop to be held online on December 17.