This weekend, June 29, is International Tropical Day. Thailand, which is a tropical region, is very rich in tropical fruits that are cheap and delicious. Today’s blog features Thai mangoes among such tropical fruits.

On June 7, the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2024 was released, reporting that global fisheries and aquaculture production broke records and that aquaculture surpassed capture fisheries in aquatic animal production for the first time.

On June 17, prominent scientists announced in the journal Nature that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be extended to 2050 and proposed a roadmap for their implementation.

On June 11, the Global Carbon Project released the global nitrous oxide (N₂O) balance, pointing to a 40% increase in anthropogenic emissions as the main cause of the increase in nitrous oxide emissions over the past 40 years. Emissions from agriculture were the largest source of emissions.

June 17 is World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. It was proposed 30 years ago on June 17, 1994, following the adoption of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

The Indicators of Global Climate Change (IGCC) initiative publishes updated and revised indicators of global climate in line with the IPCC's methodology. According to the estimated indicators, anthropogenic warming is progressing at an unprecedented rate since observations began, while the rate of increase in carbon dioxide emissions over the past decade has slowed compared to the 2000s, suggesting that the slowdown can be inherited through social choice.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its global food price trends on June 7. The average value in May 2024 was 120.4 points, a slight increase of 1.1 points (0.9%) from April, reflecting a slight increase in grain and dairy prices slightly outpacing the decline in sugar and cooking oil prices. Despite the third consecutive month of price increases, it was still 3.4% lower than the previous year and 24.8% lower than the historic high of 160.2 points in March 2022.

World Food Safety Day on June 7 is designed to raise awareness of food safety among all people and encourage them to take action to prevent foodborne illnesses. JIRCAS has been developing technical solutions that lead to the improvement of food safety for traditional foods from Southeast Asia by making full use of scientific knowledge.

The theme of World Environment Day 2024 is "Our land. Our future.”  While we may not be able to turn back time, we must work to restore ecosystems around the world by nurturing forests, restoring water sources, and restoring lost soils to achieve the SDGs.