A major new report published today warns that nature loss is not just an environmental issue, it is already disrupting our food system, threatening catastrophic impacts on our economy and society. The report has been produced by the UK’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and Anglia Ruskin University.

A new study, conducted by researchers from the Netherlands and Germany, estimates that urban agriculture in European cities could produce up to 20 million tons of vegetables annually, representing roughly one-third of the region’s current vegetable production.

Snow cover in the mountains of Greece – an important water source for communities, agriculture and natural ecosystems during the dry summer months – has more than halved over the past four decades, a study has found.

A year-long environmental DNA study of New York City’s East River involving single liter water samples revealed an unexpectedly detailed snapshot of life in and around the city, from weekly and seasonal shifts in fish species and abundance to urban wildlife activity and even New Yorkers’ diets.

The findings suggest that urban waterways anywhere could become continuous biosensors, tracking biodiversity, habitat restoration outcomes, and human impacts in real time.  

English farmers shrank their environmental footprint between 2010 and 2021, with decreases in several key areas, including greenhouse gas emissions, fertilizer overuse and cattle populations, reports a new study by Yusheng Zhang and Adrian Collins of Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom, published April 29, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One.

In sub-Saharan Africa, many people are undernourished or malnourished. A new study by the Universities of Bonn and Ghana shows how rising incomes and urbanization are influencing dietary patterns of local populations. According to this, the wealthier segments in African countries are increasingly eating like people in Western industrialized countries. Although this improves their supply of important nutrients, it also has a greater negative impact on the environment. The study also looks at how this environmental damage can be minimized. It has been published in the journal ‘Sustainable Production and Consumption.’ 

Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) are beneficial microorganisms that colonize plant root zones. They promote plant growth and enhance resistance to abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity by producing hormones, solubilizing nutrients, and other mechanisms.

Plant immune inducers are crucial tools for the green management of crop diseases. As an environmentally friendly biological inducer, oligochitosan (COS) can activate plant defense mechanisms to resist pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses.