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Pick Up1139. The Role of Diverse Genetic Resources for Resilient Crop Development
Since the late 20th century, agricultural innovations known as the Green Revolution have doubled yields of major crops, and a dire future with population growth leading to even more severe famines seemed no longer forthcoming. However, in the 21st century, the need for resilient crop development is greater than ever amid concerns that climate change will adversely affect crop growth and agricultural productivity. Next week, on November 22, 2024, the JIRCAS International Symposium 2024 will discuss the role of diverse genetic resources in the age of global boiling. -
Pick Up1138. Global Food Supply and Demand Outlook
We will hold a seminar to deepen our understanding of the future of global food supply and demand by inviting two government officials and researchers who have prepared med- to long-term global food supply and demand forecasts with a special focus on the U.S. agricultural commodity markets by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. -
Pick Up1137. Southeast Asia Liaison Office News #5: Vietnamese Fermented Rice Noodles "Bún"
Rice noodles made by fermenting rice are eaten not only in Thailand but also in other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Today, we will introduce Vietnamese fermented rice noodles "Bún". -
Pick Up1136. Global Food Price Trends for October 2024
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its World Food Price Trends on November 8. The value in October 2024 averaged 127.4 points, up 2% from September and the highest level since April 2023. All commodity price indicators, except for the meat indicator, increased, and the increase in oil prices reached 7.3%. This figure was 5.5% higher than last year, but 20.5% lower than the all-time high in March 2022. -
Pick Up1135. 2024 Is Expected to Be the Hottest Year in Recorded History
On November 7, the Copernicus Climate Change Service announced that 2024 will almost certainly be the warmest year and the first year above 1.5°C. -
Pick Up1134. COP29 Goals and Initiatives
The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22, 2024. One of the initiatives expected to be discussed at COP29 is Methane Reduction from Organic Waste. -
Pick Up1133. Climate Change Exacerbates Humanitarian Crises Associated with Floods in the Sahel Region
During the rainy season from July to September 2024, much of the Sahel region was hit by very heavy rainfall, and severe flooding hit the most vulnerable areas, significantly deepening the humanitarian crisis and squeezing the response capacity of aid organizations and government agencies. On October 23, World Weather Attribution, which analyzes the causal relationship between extreme events and climate change, emphasized the need to prepare for more extreme precipitation events under global warming in the future. -
Pick Up1132. International Symposium: Long-term Impacts of Climate Change on Global Food Supply and Demand and Food Security
We are hosting an international symposium featuring Dr. Seth Meyer, Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Dr. Keith Wiebe, Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The symposium will introduce the progress of the "Study on Prediction Models for Ultra-Long-term Global Food Supply and Demand Forecasts" initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in FY2022, and will include a panel discussion to debate global food security issues. -
Pick Up1131. JIRCAS International Symposium 2024
JIRCAS International Symposium, titled ‘Resilient Genetic Resources for Food Security in the Era of Global Boiling – Opportunities and Challenges for Conservation and Utilization’ will be held hybrid (UNU University x online) on November 22, 2024. -
Pick Up1130. Why Biodiversity Matters in Agriculture and Food Systems
Biodiversity, especially the diversity of crop genetic resources, is crucial to maintaining food security in an era of accelerating climate change and environmental crises. A paper published in the journal Science in October discusses the importance of preserving and harnessing genetic diversity in resilient food systems. -
Pick Up1129. The Lancet Countdown 2024
The Lancet Countdown 2024 report warned that extreme climate threatens many lives and livelihoods around the world, and called for coordinated, structural and sustained change across social systems to avoid the most severe health impacts of climate change. -
Pick Up1128. No More Hot Air…Please!
With greenhouse gas emissions at record highs and the effects of climate change becoming more severe worldwide, the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C target will not be met within a few years, and the 2°C target will not be achieved. The UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2024: No more hot air... please! called for the member states to commit to unprecedented and ambitious targets to reduce GHG emissions. -
Pick Up1127. CO2 Concentration Increased by 11.4% in Just 20 Years
On October 28, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, which showed that CO2 concentrations have increased by 11.4% in just 20 years. -
Pick Up1126. The Economic Impact of Global Warming
Extreme fluctuations in temperature and precipitation affect local and remote consumers throughout production and supply chains around the world. A study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has announced that irregular weather events, increasingly intensified by global warming, will hit the world's poorest consumers as well as high-income consumers. -
Pick Up1125. Tackling a New Threat: The "Old but New" Rice False Smut Disease
Rice false smut is one of the diseases in which yellow to dark green smut balls form on the rice panicles at harvest. Despite being a long-known disease, rice false smut has not attracted much global attention until recently. However, in recent years, the disease has been reported in major rice-producing regions worldwide. In response to this situation, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) organized the inaugural international workshop on rice false smut, held from October 14 to 17, 2024. -
Pick Up1124. The Recent Surge in Atmospheric Methane Driven by Increased Emissions from Microbes
The increase in the atmospheric methane recorded an all-time increase from 2020 to 2022. The paper, published in PNAS, estimates that the recent surge in atmospheric methane was primarily caused by increased emissions from wetlands, waste, and microbial sources from agriculture. -
Pick Up1123. Increase in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Forest Fires Related to Climate Change
Anthropogenic climate change has made forest fires bigger, more intense, and more common, but analyzing their causes is often difficult. Using a machine learning approach, the paper published in the journal Science analyzes differences in sensitivity to climate, anthropogenic factors, and vegetation across global forest pyromes and finds that climate change has significantly increased emissions of forest fires in the extratropics. -
Pick Up1122. The Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good
The world is facing an increasing frequency of water-related disasters such as floods and droughts, and it can be said that this is the first time in human history that such an imbalance in the water cycle has occurred. In order to achieve a fair and sustainable future for all, it is imperative to restore the stability of the water cycle. The Global Commission on the Economics of Water emphasized the importance of recognizing the hydrological cycle as a global common. -
Pick Up1121. UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16)
From October 21 to November 1, 2024, the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will be held in Cali, Colombia. The theme of this year's event is "Peace with Nature," and not only governments but also local governments, businesses, women, youth, and the general public, including indigenous peoples, will come together to accelerate actions toward the realization of the 2050 vision of a world in harmony with nature. -
Pick Up1120. Overconfidence in Climate Overshoot
Global efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions remain insufficient to meet the temperature targets of the Paris Agreement. For this reason, discussions are being held on the assumption of so-called overshoot pathways, which temporarily exceed the target global warming limit before returning the temperature to safer levels. A paper published in the journal Nature said there is no guarantee that temperature decline will be achieved after an overshoot, and called for short-term, rapid emissions reductions to reduce climate risks.