This blog by Thomas Verhagen, the Senior Programme Manager at Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership, details how Chinese banking regulators and collaborators are aiming to change Chinese food imports. 

This paper by researchers in the US and Australia reports the findings of a long-term field-trial-based investigation into the effect of elevated carbon dioxide concentrations (CO2) on soy yield and drought tolerance. Their findings challenge the widely-held belief that crop yield will be increased by elevated CO2 (the so-called CO2 fertilisation effect) both because of increased photosynthetic rate, and because of lower susceptibility to drought: it has long been assumed that in higher CO2 conditions, stomatal conductance will be lower, leading to slower water loss from the leaves, slower water uptake from the roots, and consequently more moisture remaining in the soil for longer, thereby sustaining crops in limited rainfall.

The authors used a species distribution model and applied this to the 887 marine fish (which represents 60% of global average annual catch in the 2000s) and invertebrate species in the world oceans under high and low emissions scenarios. The authors find that global maximum catch potential (MCP) is projected to decrease globally by 7.7% between 2010 and 2050, under the business as usual scenario, and the global revenue from this is predicted to decrease by 10.4% compared to 2010. Under the low emissions scenario, MCP is projected to decrease globally by 4.1% and revenue by 7.1%​

Ongoing discussions on agriculture within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will culminate this year at the COP22 climate negotiations in Marrakech, following a long process since their initiation in Durban in 2011. The talks in Marrakech follow the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 which, in its preamble, explicitly refers to safeguarding food security. Also, the vast majority of countries’ Intended Nationally Determined Contributions submissions (i.e. climate pledges) prioritise agriculture as a sector for adaptation and mitigation action.

For the first time in its history, G20 Leaders have referenced the importance of greening the financial system. In addition to the mention in their annual Communiqué, G20 members also published a Green Finance Synthesis Report that examines the need for and challenges of developing green finance.

The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) at the University of Gloucestershire has received EU funding for a 5-year project which will be looking at measures to prevent and remediate soil degradation in Europe.

This paper by Drew Schindell from NASA's ’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies looks at climate change trends and tries to explain the much publicised and contested slowdown in global surface temperatures since 1998.

The UK Government has invested £160 million in a new Agricultural Technologies Strategy.  This Strategy is intended to boost agricultural science and technology and it is aimed at delivering sustainable, healthy and affordable food for future generations. Described by some as new “green revolution,” investments will be focused on developing cutting edge technologies and taking innovative products such as “cancer-fighting” broccoli from the field to the shopping aisle. The strategy includes £30m for four agri-science research and innovation campuses set up by the Biotechnolocy and Biological Sciences Research Council.

This commentary in the Nutrition and Cancer journal discusses some of the concerns related to the promotion of “miracle foods” by the media. The recommendation made in the study is that nutritional scientists and epidemiologists should be cognizant of the public health messages that are taken from their individual studies and not sensationalize the findings of a single study.