In line with the climate change summit hosted by U.S. President Biden on April 22, 2021, the Japanese government has also announced a significant greenhouse gas emission target. A few days earlier, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published the State of the Global Climate 2020, and reported that 2020 in which people's lives have been affected by extreme weather events caused by artificial climate change.

Food systems must increase output in response to population growth, meet nutrition and health needs, and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). An article published in the Annual Review of Public Health provided a comprehensive 12-month review of the literature on climate change, healthy diet and actions needed to improve nutrition and health.  

Fall armyworm is a crop pest native to the Americas that has greatly expanded in distribution areas in recent years. This pest causes great damage mainly to corn in many countries, and the development of effective control technology has been long awaited. In Australia, which is one of Japan's major food trading partners, local farmers described the fall armyworm as the “coronavirus of agriculture” and “the biggest threat to the agriculture industry Australia has ever seen”.

In small-scale agricultural systems in developing countries, livestock are not only a source of animal proteins such as meat and milk, but also play a role in ecosystem services, income, assets and insurance. It is necessary to study the development of effective feed production technology and improve the farming cooperation system. Based on the outputs of livestock research in the “Food Security in Africa” project in southern Mozambique, JIRCAS has created and published a technical manual provides reference information that can help local researchers and farmers understand and utilize silage and fermented total mixed ration (TMR).

The spread of the COVID-19 has been unprecedented, and many negative effects have been reported that include not only the threat to human health, but also the effects on employment and income, and loss of educational opportunities. An article published in the Spring 2021 issue of the National Chamber of Agriculture Policy Survey and Statistics provided an overview on the impacts of COVID-19 on global food security and nutrition that involve complex systems and channels with cascading effects on supply and demand and stockpiling shocks in international trade, disruptions and confusions in the supply chain, and loss of income and food access due to the economic crisis and widening inequality.

Sustainable development of the fisheries industry is extremely important for the food and nutrition of Japan and other Asian countries. The role of aquaculture has steadily gained in importance year by year in the sustainable development of the fisheries industry. A paper published in Nature in March 2021 provided an overview of the scale of the inland aquaculture sector and development trends in the value chain in recent years, and pointed out that aquaculture is becoming more integrated into the global food system. JIRCAS has been conducting applied research to stabilize the shrimp aquaculture industry, and in this context, Dr. Marcy N. Wilder received the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science Award for 2021 in recognition of her achievements in developing useful new aquaculture technology on an international level.