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1546. Land degradation widens yield gaps across global croplands —A Nature Food study highlights an often-overlooked threat to food security—
Alongside climate change and biodiversity loss, land degradation is a major challenge shaping the future of global food production. A recent study published in Nature Food shows that greater land degradation is associated with larger crop yield gaps for major crops worldwide, with measurable implications for food security. This article introduces the study’s key findings and underscores the importance of sustainable land management.
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1545. The Future of Sustainable Mangrove Management on the International Day of Mangroves — New Opportunities for International Collaboration Emerging from MMM7 and the JIRCAS Workshop
Every year on July 26, UNESCO observes the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem. The day serves as an opportunity to raise awareness of the value of mangrove ecosystems, which play vital roles in climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, coastal protection, and the sustainable development of local communities. This article highlights discussions from the 7th Mangrove Macrobenthos and Management Conference (MMM7) and a workshop organized by the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), exploring future prospects for international collaboration toward sustainable mangrove management.
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1544. Global Hunger Declines for a Third Consecutive Year, Yet 645 Million People Remain Hungry – SOFI 2026
FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO have released The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2026, reporting that the number of people affected by hunger worldwide declined for the third consecutive year, reaching approximately 645 million people, or 7.8% of the global population, in 2025. Despite this progress, the pace of improvement remains slow, and achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) by 2030 remains a major challenge.
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1543. UNEP Publishes a Practical Framework for Transitioning to a Sustainable Blue Economy
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released “Transitioning to a Sustainable Blue Economy: A Practical Framework,” providing practical guidance for countries seeking to transition toward a sustainable blue economy—one that promotes the sustainable use of marine, coastal, and inland water resources while supporting economic development.
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1542. Climate Change and Urbanization Intensify Flood Risk Along the West African Coast: An Attribution Analysis of the Gulf of Guinea Floods
A World Weather Attribution (WWA) study found that the extreme rainfall and flooding that struck the Gulf of Guinea coast in June 2026 were likely intensified by human-induced climate change, making an event of this magnitude about five times more likely than in the pre-industrial climate. The study also highlights that rapid urbanization, development in floodplains, and above-average sea-level rise along the West African coast have increased flood exposure and vulnerability, raising concerns that even more severe flooding could occur under future warming.
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1541. Global Hunger Reaches 266 Million People: Food Crises Intensify Amid Conflict and Climate Change
The Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC), together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and other partners, has released the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2026, highlighting the continued deterioration of global food security.
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1540. Thailand’s Culture of Eating Flowers
In Thailand, flowers have long been used not only as ornamental plants but also as vegetables and flavoring ingredients. JIRCAS publishes the “Thai Local Vegetable Database”, and this article introduces several plants whose flowers are commonly used in Thai cuisine.
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1539. AI-Driven Weather Forecasting: Greater Accuracy and Emerging Challenges
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are rapidly transforming weather forecasting. In a recent episode of Science Sessions, the podcast of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, and environmental researchers discussed the latest developments in AI-enabled forecasting, from short-term weather prediction to long-term climate projections. By learning complex patterns from vast amounts of observational data, AI is emerging as a powerful complement to traditional physics-based forecasting models. At the same time, researchers emphasize that the performance of AI models remains highly dependent on the quality of observations and historical data used for training.
1538. The Changing Global Population Landscape
July 11 marked World Population Day. As of July 2026, the global population is estimated to have reached approximately 8.3 billion, and the long-term trend of population growth continues. However, a closer look at the data reveals that the world is entering a period of profound demographic transition.
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1538. The Changing Global Population Landscape
July 11 marked World Population Day. As of July 2026, the global population is estimated to have reached approximately 8.3 billion, and the long-term trend of population growth continues. However, a closer look at the data reveals that the world is entering a period of profound demographic transition.
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1537. June 2026 Becomes the Hottest June on Record for Western Europe – Consecutive Heatwaves and Strengthening El Niño Increase Climate Risks
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Europe’s climate monitoring agency, has released its latest assessment of global temperature, oceanic, polar, and hydrological conditions for June 2026. According to the report, June 2026 was the second-warmest June ever recorded globally and the warmest June on record in Western Europe. In addition, sea surface temperatures reached a new June record, highlighting the continued accumulation of heat throughout the Earth's climate system.
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1536. Smart Systems Breeding: A New Approach for Climate-Resilient Agriculture
Plant breeding has played a vital role in improving agricultural productivity by developing high-yielding crop varieties. However, most modern breeding programs have been optimized for large-scale sole cropping systems, creating a gap between current breeding targets and the needs of sustainable, climate-resilient agriculture. In a recent Nature Food commentary, the authors propose a new framework called Smart Systems Breeding, designed to address this challenge. Rather than treating environmental variability as statistical noise to be averaged out, the framework views it as valuable information that can be used to develop and deploy crop varieties tailored to specific regions and growing conditions.
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1535. The Future of Food Shaped by AI: Next-Generation Food Innovation Envisioned
The foods we consume every day are developed through a process that relies far more on experience and trial-and-error than many people realize. Creating new food products involves numerous stages—from ingredient selection and formulation design to fermentation, manufacturing, and sensory evaluation—each requiring significant experimentation, time, and resources. At the same time, global food systems are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss, highlighting the urgent need for more sustainable approaches to food production. A recent review article published in Nature Food explores how artificial intelligence (AI) could serve as a powerful catalyst for transforming food development from an experience-driven practice into a predictive, design-oriented science.
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1534. Strengthening El Niño and Rising Risks of Extreme Weather Worldwide
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that El Niño conditions are developing in the tropical Pacific and that there is a high likelihood of a strong El Niño event emerging during the latter half of 2026. As a result, the risks of extreme weather events—including unusually high temperatures, droughts, and heavy rainfall—are expected to increase across many regions of the world. The WMO is urging governments to strengthen disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures through the use of seasonal forecasts and early warning systems.
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1533. Global Food Price Trends – June 2026
The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 130.3 points in June 2026, down 0.3 percent month-on-month. Higher vegetable oil and meat prices were more than offset by declines in sugar, cereals and dairy prices. Compared with historical levels, the index was 1.7 percent above its value a year earlier, but still 18.7 percent below the all-time high recorded in March 2022.
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1532. World Rural Development Day (6 July): The Power of Rural Communities in Building a Sustainable Future
In September 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 6 July as World Rural Development Day. The observance is intended to reinforce international efforts to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development in rural areas, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commitment to “leave no one behind.”
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1531. Cassava Breeding and Flowering Induction
Cassava, the raw material for tapioca, is not cultivated from seeds, but rather by planting a portion of the stem in the soil. Because it does not require seeds, many currently cultivated cassava varieties do not flower, which poses a challenge in breeding. This time, we visited the Rayong Field Crop Research Center to observe efforts to address this challenge.
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1530. “Hydrologic Whiplash”: Accelerating Swings Between Wet and Dry Under Climate Change
With the progression of climate change, extreme events in which droughts and floods rapidly alternate over short periods are increasingly being reported worldwide. These abrupt swings between dry and wet conditions are referred to as hydrologic whiplash and are gaining attention as a framework that integrates water-related hazards that have traditionally been analyzed separately. A perspective article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) introduces this concept and discusses its recent trends.
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1529. Year-Round Marine Heatwaves as an Emerging Risk: Impacts on Marine Ecosystems at ~1.5°C Warming
In recent years, anomalously high ocean temperatures—commonly referred to as marine heatwaves—have shown clear trends of expanding spatial extent, increasing intensity, and longer duration. These changes are already having significant impacts on marine ecosystems and the societies that depend on them. A recent study published in One Earth examines the record-breaking warm period from 2023 to 2024 and demonstrates that these impacts are occurring throughout the year rather than being confined to specific seasons.
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1528．Earth System Tipping Points: A New Warning on the Risks of Irreversible Change
The Earth’s climate and ecosystems may not only evolve through gradual change, but can also undergo rapid and potentially irreversible transformations once critical thresholds are crossed. These thresholds, known as Earth system tipping points, have become an important concept for understanding climate risks. The United Nations Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board (UNSG Scientific Advisory Board) has issued a brief on this topic, emphasizing the need to strengthen climate mitigation efforts, enhance adaptation and resilience under conditions of uncertainty, and reinforce science-based decision-making.