Photo credit: Calf with trash; Vrindavan, India. Apercoco

Since 1974, World Environment Day has mobilized global efforts to protect our planet, highlighting urgent environmental challenges and driving collective action. On June 5, 2025, the Republic of Korea will host the event, rallying the international community around a critical mission: to #BeatPlasticPollution.

Plastic pollution has become one of the defining environmental crises of our era. Every year, the world generates nearly 400 million tonnes of plastic waste, of which more than 8 million tonnes end up in our oceans, devastating marine life.

While a significant portion is either incinerated or sent to landfills, less than 10% is recycled. More than 8 million tonnes of this waste end up in our oceans, devastating marine life, contaminating food systems, and posing a threat to human health. A transition to a circular bioeconomy is crucial for addressing this escalating global crisis.

Photo credit: Plastic pollutants collected by Blue Guards. Md. Asaduzzaman.

A plastic-free food future through community and policy action

In this critical context, CGIAR and its partners are developing innovative, sustainable approaches that harness biological resources to create eco-friendly alternatives and minimize plastic use.

IFPRI’s research warns that plastic pollution poses a growing threat to food security and public health, advocating for strategies such as banning unnecessary single-use plastics, promoting reusable alternatives, and holding producers accountable through circular economy policies.

One promising example of such an alternative comes from Thailand, where researchers from the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT developed biodegradable films from cassava starch, which fully degrade in soil within 12 weeks—a promising alternative to fossil-based plastics.

Photo credit: Women in Manyatta, Kenya, celebrate high-quality briquettes made from organic material as part of NATURE+ circular bioeconomy activities.

Further demonstrating practical circular solutions, in collaboration with partners such as the BAIF Development Research Foundation, CGIAR has established a Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Hub (CBE-IH) in India.

This hub focuses on transforming biodegradable waste into valuable resources, training over 400 individuals, including youth and women entrepreneurs, and introducing sustainable practices such as biogas units and biochar production to reduce pollution and create new income opportunities.

Beyond technological innovations, behavioral shifts are also crucial. To foster these, CGIAR has trained over 5,000 individuals from South Asia on reuse, repair, and plastic-free livelihoods.

At a household level, a comparison between an €8 organic bar soap and a 40-cent plastic-bottled liquid soap highlighted the challenges of reducing plastic waste and promoting sustainable consumption in an equitable manner.

While individual and community-level initiatives are vital, significant investment from the private sector is also crucial for broader impact. A coalition of 30 global companies has pledged over USD 1 billion through the Alliance to End Plastic Waste to tackle ocean plastic pollution, marking one of the largest private-sector efforts to date.

Photo credit: Rubbish on the beach, JB

Microplastics: An invisible threat to aquatic food safety

Beyond visible pollution, microplastics—tiny particles less than five millimeters in size—have quietly infiltrated aquatic ecosystems and, subsequently, our food system.

Research from CGIAR’s WorldFish and partners found high levels of microplastics in dried fish, a major food source in Bangladesh, raising serious concerns about food safety and potential human health risks. Addressing the issue requires a systemic shift.

In Kenya, CGIAR’s organic waste recycling initiatives transform food byproducts into valuable agricultural inputs like compost to restore nutrients to farms, reduce pollution, and support a more sustainable food future. Nairobi’s young entrepreneurs are similarly turning food waste into sustainable agricultural inputs.

Our collective path forward

To secure our food systems and protect public health, we need coordinated efforts at every level—from supporting local community cleanups and sustainable practices to urging policymakers to adopt robust plastic management frameworks. Only then can we effectively tackle this growing threat.

Join the movement for a cleaner planet! You can support the #BeatPlasticPollution campaign by sharing your story on social media and tagging @CGIAR and @UNEP. Explore the World Environment Day portal for events and advocate for your government to adopt UNEP’s Law & Plastics Toolkit for more robust legislation.

Through a powerful combination of innovative science and strong community collaboration, CGIAR is committed to reducing plastic pollution, regenerating ecosystems, and ensuring a healthier planet for future generations.

Written by Camilla Palermo

Food systems contribute to over one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, making them a major driver of climate change.

Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22nd in over 190 countries, raising awareness about the urgent need to protect our planet from pollution, deforestation, climate change, and the loss of biodiversity. It encourages individuals, communities, and governments to come together and take meaningful action to conserve and safeguard Earth’s natural resources.

Throughout human history, food has served as a powerful catalyst for social connection and cultural exchange — a universal language that brings people together. But while our food systems rely on a healthy planet, many current practices, such as monocropping and intensive chemical farming, are damaging the environment. This, in turn, threatens our ability to sustainably grow food for future generations.

The world’s population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), meeting this demand will require producing 70 per cent more food. But can we feed a growing population in a way that allows everyone to eat well without harming the planet? The answer is yes — there are sustainable ways to produce food that also nurture and protect the Earth.

Regenerative food systems

Regenerative food systems go beyond simply avoiding harm — they aim to actively restore nature and reverse some of the damage done to the planet. Everything is interconnected, from the tiniest soil-enriching microbes to fields, farms, fisheries, and the entire network of people involved in bringing food to our tables. These systems empower farmers to heal the land while continuing to do what they do best: feed people.

What does this look like in practice? On land, it includes techniques such as planting cover crops between harvests or growing crops without tilling the soil. These methods help rebuild complex soil biology, prevent erosion, improve nutrient cycling, enhance water retention, and boost microbial activity, all of which contribute to healthier, more resilient, and more productive soil.

Healthy soil is the foundation of nutritious food and a thriving environment. Around 95 per cent of our food is grown in soil, making farmers and fertile land essential to global food security. Soils provide plants with vital nutrients of the 18 essential elements required for plant growth while three come from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

Soil fertility refers to the soil’s ability to supply these essential nutrients and maintain the right chemical, physical, and biological conditions for healthy plant and microbial life. However, over the past 70 years, the levels of vitamins and nutrients in our food have significantly declined — a direct consequence of soil degradation and nutrient loss. Poor soil fertility leads to reduced crop yields and, in severe cases, crop failure.

15 May | Mid-year update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects Report

A sudden escalation of trade tensions has sent shockwaves through the global economy, dampening growth prospects while fueling uncertainty and inducing financial market volatility. Trade-dependent economies face the greatest risks, as rising tariffs and evolving trade policies threaten to disrupt global supply chains, increase production costs, and delay critical investment decisions. Tariff-driven price pressures are adding to inflation risks, complicating monetary policymaking. At the same time, trade barriers and heightened uncertainty are aggravating debt challenges by cutting export revenues, reducing foreign currency inflows, and tightening liquidity. Many developing countries, already constrained by limited fiscal space, may struggle to respond effectively, jeopardizing progress in sustainable development.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2025 updates UN DESA’s economic forecasts from January 2025 and highlights the urgent need for stronger international cooperation to ease trade tensions and promote a stable, inclusive global economy. The report will be launched on Thursday 15 May at 12:30pm ET. Further details of the live press briefing will be available on webtv.un.org

22 May – International Day for Biological Diversity

This year’s International Day for Biological Diversity will spotlight how biodiversity underpins sustainable development and human well-being. With over one million species at risk of extinction, the day reminds us that protecting ecosystems is not optional — it’s essential. In 2025, the theme “Be Part of the Plan” calls on governments, businesses, civil society and individuals to take urgent action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It aligns with SDG 15’s mission to restore ecosystems and build resilient communities by protecting the diversity of life on Earth.

On Earth Day, April 22, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations launched a significant new initiative, Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Nature Restoration (AIM4NatuRe), with £7 million (approximately USD 9.38 million) in support from the United Kingdom. This initiative aims to strengthen how countries around the world monitor and report on their ecosystem restoration efforts.

Building on the success of FAO’s AIM4Forests programme, AIM4NatuRe will leverage advanced technology and data solutions to support restoration work across forests, wetlands, grasslands, marine ecosystems, and degraded agricultural lands.

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu highlighted that the project is designed to turn restoration pledges into real, lasting impact. With access to expert support and modern monitoring tools, participating countries will be better prepared to contribute to Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for the restoration of at least 30 percent of degraded ecosystems by 2030.

UK Minister for Climate Kerry McCarthy emphasized the initiative’s potential to both protect nature and empower communities, while also creating a unified global dataset to ensure progress is transparent and accountable.

The initiative responds to a pressing challenge: many countries lack the technical capacity to track and report ecosystem restoration effectively. A recent survey by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) found that 80 percent of countries struggle to collect the necessary data.

AIM4NatuRe will tackle this issue by offering standardized reporting systems, training, and technical solutions such as the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring (FERM), helping nations streamline data collection and analysis.

With nearly one billion hectares of land already pledged for restoration globally, AIM4NatuRe could play a key role in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation, while also supporting food security and livelihoods.

Significantly, AIM4NatuRe will also support Indigenous Peoples in monitoring restoration in a way that respects and centers the balance of ecosystems. Pilot projects are set to begin in Brazil and Peru in collaboration with FAO’s Indigenous Peoples Unit to support traditional knowledge and biocentric restoration practices.

Additionally, FAO introduced a new publication to support countries in consistently reporting and monitoring freshwater restoration under Target 2. As AIM4NatuRe scales up, it will continue to emphasize data interoperability and learning accessibility, building on the success of FAO’s online forest monitoring curriculum, which has already engaged over 15,000 learners worldwide.

April 16 (UPI) — Prime Video has released a trailer for Common Ground, a documentary about regenerative agriculture that will premiere April 22 on Earth Day.

The trailer features appearances from celebrities including Rosario Dawson, Laura Dern, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson, Jason Momoa, Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed.

Common Ground explores how a conversion to regenerative agriculture could revitalize the soil and save farmers millions of dollars.

The film is directed by Josh and Rebecca Tickell, who previously helmed the documentary Kiss the Ground.

common Ground originally premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023.

“There’s a way to save our precious soils,” Dern says in the trailer. “It’s called regeneration.”

Common Ground streams April 22 on Prime Video.