Global Environment Note #08
“Note on Global Environment from Hokkaido” is a special series that will send you a report of Environment of the world, Japan and Hokkaido NOW, and give you hints to begin Eco-friendly life Now, to reduce the GHG (Green House Gas) by 6%, in order to avoid the global warming.
The key for the 8th series is “61%”
61% of the food consumed in Japan depends on overseas food imports. Day by day, a large amount of food is being imported to Japan carried by ships and aircraft. Did you know that they have serious impact on global warming? Using this Global Environment Note as a guide, let us think of the relationship between food and the Earth.
What did you eat today?
Where is a hometown for Japanese food?
Sushi, sukiyaki, curry rice, pasta and Hamburg steak….. everyday we see a variety of food set on a dining table, and there are various restaurants in a city. We can say that food life in Japan is very rich. Do you know where those rich foods come from? Surprisingly, most of the foods consumed in Japan are not “born in Japan”.
Most part of the tempura soba are “born overseas”
For instance, let us take Ebi tempura soba (Buckwheat noodles with fried prawn) as an example. First, let’s consider the prawn used in tempura. About 95% of the prawns consumed in Japan are imports, and only 5 % are caught in Japan. The buckwheat used in noodle are 78% imports, wheat used in tempura coating are 87% imports, and also soybeans used as ingredient of tempura oil and soy sauce are 95% imports.
What is food self-sufficiency rate?
More than half of the foods are imports from overseas.
Food self-sufficiency rate refers to the rate of domestic food supply over national food consumption. Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate for FY2006 was 39% on a calorie basis. More than half of the Japan’s food supply is dependent on imported. This has been greatly influenced by lifestyle changes such as dietary change from “rice/fish based” to “western style food”.
Japan’s low food self-sufficiency ratio
Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate of 39 % is particularly low among the world. Japan’s self-sufficiency rate for grain is 125th among the 175 countries in the world. On the other hand, other major developed countries have kept high food self-sufficiency rates. Australia has the highest ratio of about 237%, and Canada has the second highest ratio of 145%, then the United States comes in the 3rd place with the food self-sufficiency ratio of 128%. Even Germany, known as the industrialized country, has kept the food self-sufficiency ratio of 84%.
How does food self-sufficiency ratio relate to global warming?
CO2 are emitted during food transportation
Food is imported from overseas using big tanker and aircraft. In order to operate those transportation vessels, energy such as petroleum oil is used, emitting large amount of CO
2 at the same time. Therefore, importing large quantities of food would become a major cause for global warming. The amount of CO
2 emission would increase corresponding to the distance and the weight of food being transported.
Stop global warming by increasing the food self-sufficiency rate!
The best way to cut the amount of CO
2 emitted during food transportation is to increase the national food self-sufficiency rate. If we switch the imported foods to domestically-produced foods, we can reduce the amount of CO
2 emission to the level only necessary for domestic transportation. Also, by consuming the locally-produced food, the distance for food transportation would decrease, reducing the amount of CO
2 emitted.
Hokkaido’s food self-sufficient ratio is 195% !!
Hokkaido is Japan’s important food-supply base
The new “Law on Food, Agriculture, and Rural Areas” was enacted in March 2005, aiming to increase the nation’s calorie-based self-sufficiency rate to 45% within the next ten years. Hokkaido has then become the center of attention. It has vast agricultural land equivalent to nearly one fourth of the national total. Hokkaido also marks the food self-sufficiency rate of 195%, the highest rate in Japan. It plays important role as the largest food-supply base in Japan.
Save the Earth with the network of “local production and consumption”
Let us share and enjoy Hokkaido’s locally produced food with people in Hokkaido. The local production and consumption are not only good for health, but are also effective in increasing food self-sufficiency rate, and in preventing global warming. Recently, there are increasing number of supermarkets and food stores that indicate the place of production for vegetables and meat. In addition, some restaurants are positively trying to use ingredients made in Hokkaido. When selecting food, let’s try to choose the ones locally produced in Hokkaido.