It is a reality now that climate is changing and measures are to be taken to do something about its impact on agriculture. Policy makers and Scientists at the international and national level have been suggesting certain measures to be followed to adapt to the climate change, which has to be taken up seriously. Good farming practices need to be promoted that are compatible with changing climatic conditions. Water management and water storage practices is also an important aspect to be considered as it forms an essential part of the agriculture sector.

International agri-food trade has expanded rapidly during the past decades and changed considerably in structure with important implications, especially for developing economies. One of the main environmental concerns regarding international trade is the exploitation and redistribution of water resources. In this paper, we use the virtual water approach for analyzing the relationship between global agri-food trade, its structure and virtual water flows in the period of 1986–2011. Specifically, for five regions and the world, we calculate growth rates of interregional trade values and virtual water volumes, the contribution of different product groups to trade and the economic water efficiency of imports and exports. Our findings show that, over time, trade values have generally increased more rapidly than virtual water volumes. In Africa and Southern America, virtual water outflows have roughly quadrupled since 1986. In all regions, staples and industrial products account for the largest share in virtual water trade. The recent shift towards high-value exports is beneficial for low-income countries from a regional economic water efficiency perspective due to high trade values and low associated virtual water volumes. Economic water efficiency of trade has increased in all regions since 2000 and the return to virtual water outflows is especially high in Europe.

En este estudio se ha planteado la necesidad de evaluar el funcionamiento de proceso biológico utilizando tecnología MBR con el objeto de establecer las condiciones operacionales que permiten obtener un proceso de filtración en las diferentes circunstancias que puedan presentarse. | This study has raised the need to evaluate the performance of the biological process in order to establish operational conditions to obtain filtration process in different circumstances that may arise.

La actividad del agua (aw) se puede definir como la relación entre el agua libre presente en el alimento respecto al agua total que podría contener a una misma temperatura. Es un parámetro estrechamente ligado a la humedad lo que permite determinar su capacidad de conservación, de propagación microbiana, etc. Coeficiente conocido también como agua libre, no ligada y aprovechable por los microorganismos, estado en el cual se encuentran libres las moléculas de agua en los alimentos, tal como la requieren los microorganismos para su mejor multiplicación, y por consiguiente la presencia de sustancias como azúcar, pectinas, gelatina y ciertas sales, retienen el agua y bajan de ésta manera la actividad acuosa del alimento. Un pequeño descenso en la actividad acuosa es a menudo suficiente para evitar la alteración del alimento, siempre que esta reducción vaya acompañada por otros factores microbianos. Sin embargo, la baja actividad del agua, también reduce la tasa de mortalidad de los microorganismos durante el tratamiento térmico. La importancia del papel del agua contenida en los alimentos, ha suscitado mucho interés en el fenómeno de adsorción de agua en éstos. La isoterma de adsorción de humedad permite conocer el contenido de humedad de equilibrio de un alimento que se halla expuesto a un ambiente de humedad relativa y temperatura conocidas. Visto de otra manera, la isoterma indica el valor de la actividad acuosa o humedad relativa de, un alimento que contiene una determinada cantidad de agua, y es mantenido a temperatura constante. Si, en el segundo caso, el alimento es sometido a un ambiente de la misma temperatura pero de menor humedad relativa, el alimento perderá humedad hasta llegar al punto indicado por la isoterma, correspondiente a la, nueva humedad relativa, y viceversa. | Trabajo académico

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are not commonly monitored in the environment, but they can enter the environment from a variety of sources. The most worrying consequence of their wide use and environmental diffusion is the increase in the possible exposure pathways for humans. Moreover, knowledge of their behavior in the environment, toxicity, and biological effects is limited or not available for most CECs. The aim of this work is to edit the state of the art on few selected CECs having the potential to enter the soil and aquatic systems and cause adverse effects in humans, wildlife, and the environment: bisphenol A (BPA), nonylphenol (NP), benzophenones (BPs), and benzotriazole (BT). Some reviews are already available on BPA and NP, reporting about their behavior in surface water and sediments, but scarce and scattered information is available about their presence in soil and groundwater. Only a few studies are available about BPs and BT in the environment, in particular in soil and groundwater. This work summarizes the information available in the literature about the incidence and behavior of these compounds in the different environmental matrices and food. In particular, the review focuses on the physical-chemical properties, the environmental fate, the major degradation byproducts, and the environmental evidence of the selected CECs.

Strategies for reducing food waste and developing sustainable diets require information about the impacts of consumption behavior and waste generation on climatic, water, and land resources. We quantified the carbon, water, and ecological footprints of 17,110 family members of Chinese households, covering 1935 types of foods, by combining survey data with available life-cycle assessment data sets. We also summarized the patterns of both food consumption and waste generation and analyzed the factors influencing the observed trends. The average person wasted (consumed) 16 (415) kg of food at home annually, equivalent to 40 (1080) kg CO2e, 18 (673) m3, and 173 (4956) gm2 for the carbon, water and ecological footprints, respectively. The generation of food waste was highly correlated with consumption for various food groups. For example, vegetables, rice, and wheat were consumed the most and accounted for the most waste. In addition to the three plant-derived food groups, pork and aquatic products also contributed greatly to embedded footprints. The data obtained in this study could be used for assessing national food security or the carrying capacity of resources.

To determine microbial populations and their viability, methods assessing colonies formed and turbidity are generally used. However, these methods require a long incubation time. Thus, a rapid colorimetric microbial viability assay based on the reduction of the tetrazolium salt WST-8 via 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone as an electron mediator was developed. The applicability of the assay for susceptibility testing of various bacteria to antibiotics, screening of antimicrobial substances, determination of water-soluble vitamins, and differentiation of Gram-positive and -negative bacteria was investigated. Good agreement was observed between results with the WST-8 colorimetric method and those obtained using conventional methods. The present assay method was superior to the conventional methods with respect to the overall rapidity, accuracy and convenience.

South Asia's water crisis is a worldwide concern. The region's population is soon expected to reach two billion; the greater Ganges Basin alone is home to 700 million people, many of whom are among the poorest in the world. Managing water resources in this region to alleviate poverty has historically been an intractable problem, and solutions will require a multidisciplinary approach. This publication documents the proceedings of the South Asia Regional Fulbright Alumni Workshop on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus convened in Kathmandu from 10â€"12 February 2015. The workshop aimed to foster an interdisciplinary and transboundary discussion of the interrelationships among water, energy, and food (WEF). The workshop assembled 60 South Asian alumni of the Fulbright, Humphrey, and International Visitors Leadership programmes, along with 40 regional and international experts, to promote a shared understanding of water, energy, and food issues in the region. Experts in water resources, as well as those specializing in food and energy security, brought to the workshop many years of experience in their own fields and countries. Participants and speakers included government officials, academics, researchers from think tanks, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and activists. The goal of the three-day workshop was to promote a shared understanding of the complex interrelationships among water, energy, and food issues in South Asia and beyond.

A burgeoning population, pressing development needs and increasing household consumption are rapidly accelerating water use in direct and indirect ways. Increasingly, regions around the world face growing pressure on sustainable use of their water resources especially in arid and semi-arid regions, such as Northern China. The aim of this research is to obtain an overview of the cumulative water requirement for direct (domestic) water use and indirect water use for the basic food consumption of the households in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), in order to reduce the pressure on grassland of Western China by encouraging sustainable water consumption. For indirect water use, we use VWC (virtual water content) analysis theory to analyze the total consumption package of 15 basic food types that were identified and quantified based on the household survey in 2011. In this survey, domestic water consumption data and food consumption data were collected from 209 representative households with spatial variation across three sub-regions (including meadow steppe in Hulun Buir, typical steppe in Xilin Gol, and semi-desert steppe in Ordos) and temporal variation from 1995 to 2010. The results show that the total amounts of food consumption per capita in three sub-regions all show an increasing trend, especially in Hulun Buir and Ordos. Compared to the direct water consumption, the indirect water consumption behind food production made up a major portion of total water consumption, which is affected (1) geographic locations (grassland types); (2) economic development levels and (3) grassland use policy measures. From 1995 to 2010, indirect water consumption displays a decreasing trend in Xilin Gol and Ordos due to the decrease of meat consumption and increase of fruit and vegetable consumption. When considering the amount of land per household, the grassland in Ordos still faces the great threat of high water consumption pressure. Such water consumption may affect water conservation services and productivity of grassland. Therefore, changing diet behavior and reducing the population can be considered options for sustainable use of water.