Editor’s Letter
According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, unless there are prompt and large-scale actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now, the desire to restrict warming to temperatures between 1.5°C or even 2°C is going to be beyond our grasps.
The world is headed towards an inferno — sea levels are rising, natural disasters are growing more intense, crop yields are decreasing, and the list goes on.
These are all very alarming, and while we continue to mount pressure on governments and corporations to decarbonise, what can we do as consumers to contribute to our global endeavour towards a greener planet?
In this issue, we explore the alternative protein space, learn about new approaches to building a more viable food system, and how a certain university is aiding in the move towards a more sustainable future.
First off, we have Monique Suryokusumo from Monde Nissin Corporation to share with us the current innovations in the alternative protein arena and the key factors that will integrate it into the mainstream (p.20).
In Spotlights, we spoke to professors at the Singapore Institute of Technology to learn more about how the institute and its collaborators will push for a more sustainable Singapore with their key initiatives (p.26). Next, we covered key highlights from the Future Food Asia 2021 conference, where we hear about the new developments in the agritech food space and how we may utilise technology to build a more balanced food system (p.30).
Moving away from agrifoodtech and sustainability, we gain new insights on the importance of a child’s 1,000 days and the crucial role of maternal mental health (p.34), and in Columns, we have Dr. Sanjay Prabhu to enlighten us about a rare condition plaguing children with COVID-19 in India (p.16).
Finally, in our News section, we hear of the different ways we can utilise machine learning to predict heatstroke (p.48), a test strip to protect the bees (p.8), and take advantage of gene editing to improve our crops (p.6, 50, 51).
A blazing hot future lies ahead, but with science, the right investments, and international cooperation, we may just forge a way out of this hellfire.
Carmen Chan
Editor