The Thailand National Science and Technology Fair 2024 (NST), the largest science and technology fair in Thailand, opened on August 16th (running until August 25th), attracting approximately 200,000 Thai students.

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the average monthly temperature in July 2024 was 16.91°C, 0.04°C below the highest recorded in July 2023, making it the second-hottest temperature on record, terminating the 13th consecutive months of breaking record temperature. In turn, as July 22, 2024 was reported to be the hottest day in history, with extreme heat events were reported across the world.

Earth Overshoot Day in 2024 was set for August 1, as humanity is estimated to consume 1.7 Earths worth of resources. Japan alone  is consuming resources equivalent to 6.6 times its own capacity to meet its residents’ demand for nature. A paper published in the journal Nature Communications emphasized the urgent need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to maintain the stability of the Earth system.

In recent years, technological innovation in the agrifood sector has been progressing rapidly. The United Nations Development Programme report has identified a wide range of innovations and methods that can contribute to improving the efficiency and productivity of conventional agriculture as 'novel agrifood technologies'.

It seems that the frequency and intensity of heat waves have been increasing recently not only in Japan, but around the world as well. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has compiled a summary of the definition, impacts, and impact mechanism of heat waves on its website.

On July 24, the 2024 edition of "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World Report: SOFI" was released by United Nations agencies (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO), highlighting that in 2023, one in 11 people in the world and one in five in Africa were estimated to have faced hunger. 

Today, conflicts in multiple parts of the world are leading to hunger and severe food crises. On July 17, the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) said 282 million people in 59 countries are facing severe food crises and called for urgent policy intervention to address life-threatening issues.

To prepare for a future of uncertainty and rapid change, we must address strategically and institutionally with an outlook and perspective on the risks facing the world in the future. UNEP has published ‘Navigating New Horizons: A global foresight report on planetary health and human wellbeing’.

The second issue of the Green Asia Report Series, " Accelerating intermittent irrigation for low-carbon and resilient rice production systems in Asia: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities," has been published. This series aims to introduce scalable technologies that can be shared in the Asia-Monsoon region and contribute to the transformation of food systems in the region, by serving as a reference for various stakeholders, including government officials, researchers, extension officers, producers, and the private sector. The second issue introduces intermittent irrigation technology, which is expected to have effects such as water saving, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction, and yield stabilization in rice cultivation.