The United Nations has adopted 17 sustainable development goals for 2030 with environmental sustainability being one of the main pillars. A key point to address this pillar is the proper management of waste generation. Within the broad spectrum of waste types, food loss and waste is produced worldwide in large quantities. In this framework, the development of composite indexes is recommended to measure the level of compliance of any context with Sustainable Development Goals. This work presents a novel composite index for food loss and waste generation and management systems, the so-called sustainable development goals-food (SDG-Food) index, aiming to determine the level of compliance of any concrete national, regional, or local context regarding five different sustainable development goals with a water-climate-food nexus thinking. The pilot case study of Spain is presented by analyzing the environmental performance between 2015 and 2040 in a context of (i) compliance and (ii) non-compliance with the Paris Agreement targets. Additionally, four different diets are assessed. Results suggested a numerical index score of 13.79, highlighting the categories of eggs, cereals, meat, and vegetables, and the stages of agricultural production and consumption, as the furthers ones for compliance with the five SDG assessed. Moreover, the scenario of compliance with the Paris agreement targets presented better values for all stages, and a vegan diet was highlighted as the one with the best index score. | This research was funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness, grant number CERES-PROCON Project CTM2016-76176-C2-1-R (AEI/FEDER, UE) and KAIROS-BIOCIR Project PID2019-104925RB (AEO/FEDER, UE).

A city is the place where food, energy, and water consumption happen. This consumption leads to challenges and has a strong impact on natural sources. Although researchers broadly agree on the importance of incorporating the concept of the food, energy, and water nexus into policy strategies and decision-making, the assessment system for how governance methods can improve the provision of these three essential services is relatively blank. To clarify the policy mechanisms and heterogeneity of sustainability issues related to the food, energy and water nexus at the city level, this study develops an indicator system to guide the implementations and optimize urban sustainability. A qualitative approach is employed to form the priority strategies in in four selected cities: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Taipei, and Tainan. The results show that renewable energy plays an essential role in the food-energy-water nexus. In addition, we also observed that future work should focus on technological innovation. These observations imply that the unique combination of influence factors in food-energy-water sustainability offers a comprehensive outlook of the broad and complex challenges that a city faces due to resource limitations, which can help inform future governance practices. Finally, some policy recommendations are made for highlighting and the activities needed to work. The results of the present evaluation could be used as a tool to strengthen food-energy-water management in the future. They can guide managers to develop possible solutions that ensure resources are applied successfully according to the visions of multiple perspectives and help the relevant ministries to improve future consultation plans.

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Aquaculture is a technology used for the production of animal protein but produces a great amount of waste that decreases productivity and adversely affects the environment. Sedimentation and filtration have been used for the treatment of the suspended fraction of these wastes although dissolved substances like nutrients can be an asset. Therefore, the management of aquaculture waste remains a challenge. Aquaponics is a technology that can eliminate dissolved N and P from aquaculture systems as they serve as nutrients for plants, which are absorbed through the roots and are incorporated into their tissues. Several reports and studies exist on the benefits of aquaponic systems for the combined production of plants and aquatic organisms and its advantages in terms of economics and environmental protection. The great majority of the studies use the wastewater from the aquatic production tanks as a source of nutrients for plants production. However, domestic or municipal wastewater is a resource that has been used extensively in other production systems such as conventional agriculture and aquaculture, yet its potential as a source of water for aquaponics has not been established. The current analysis hypothesizes that reclaimed water can be used for aquaponics. Despite the extensive use of reclaimed water in agriculture and aquaculture and the low risk to human health when properly managed, there are no academic studies that have tackled this issue. In order to overcome the generalized mistrust of the public in consuming crops irrigated with reclaimed water or fish growing in reclaimed water, it is recommended that only ornamental fish and plants would be cultivated by this method. There is an urgent need for studies to verify the safety and advantages of such cultivation technique. Finally, it is necessary to establish guidelines for the responsible use of reclaimed water in aquaponics.

This paper analyzes virtual water trade flows through food products between India and its trading partners. It relies on the gravity model of trade and estimates a panel data fixed effect regression to identify drivers of virtual water trade. Our results show that India was the net exporter of virtual water in food products during 1990–2013; however later it turned out to be its net importer. Further our analysis shows distance between trading partners as the primary driver of virtual water trade. India prefers trading with its neighbours to reduce transportation costs. The availability of arable land and water used in crop production are limiting factors for production of food crops and thus act as essential factors in deciding the virtual water trade flows. These findings indicate that resource endowment factors influence bilateral virtual water trade flows.

The need to assess major infrastructure performance under a changing climate is widely recognized yet rarely practiced, particularly in rapidly growing African economies. Here, we consider high-stakes investments across the water, energy, and food sectors for two major river basins in a climate transition zone in Africa. We integrate detailed interpretation of observed and modeled climate-system behavior with hydrological modeling and decision-relevant performance metrics. For the Rufiji River in Tanzania, projected risks for the mid-21ˢᵗ century are similar to those of the present day, but for the Lake Malawi-Shire River, future risk exceeds that experienced during the 20ᵗʰ century. In both basins a repeat of an early-20ᵗʰ century multi-year drought would challenge the viability of proposed infrastructure. A long view, which emphasizes past and future changes in variability, set within a broader context of climate-information interpretation and decision making, is crucial for screening the risk to infrastructure.

This work presents a proposal for the recovery of water through the treatment of food industry wastewater using membrane processes. Three wastewater streams from the different manufacturing steps were identified as possible sources of water recovery: (1) wastewater from the washing of ionic exchange resins and (2) wastewater from the concentration stage of animal proteins (type 1 and 2). The wastewater streams were treated as effluent mixtures; each one with different level of pollution. The principal characteristics of the effluent mixtures were identified as high conductivity and the presence of organic matter. Under these conditions, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis were carried out for the treatment of wastewater. The ultrafiltration process was tested at an industrial-level plant and the reverse osmosis process was applied at a pilot-plant level. The results showed the feasibility of the proposed treatment for water recovery. The data demonstrates an efficiency greater than 95% in all the quality parameters and therefore, a high quality in the recovered water was obtained by membrane processes. According to the chemical composition of wastewater, the reversible fouling was linked to salts and protein retention, promoting the formation of a cake layer as reversible resistance; whereas, irreversible fouling was minimum during wastewater treatment.