Food Security continues to be elusive in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), several decades after the first World Food Summit in 1974. The causes of food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa include among others; poverty, economic constraints, agricultural and agronomical challenges, rapid population growth, and the effects of adverse climate change. These causes however, are linked to complex interactions, constraints and dependencies amongst the key physical resources in food systems, namely – Water, Land, Energy and Soil Nutrients (WLEN). There is limited insight on the combined impacts of the resource nexus, and how this may constrain the performance of food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. This understanding is essential if the food challenges in the region are to be tackled sustainably.This study provides a detailed analysis of the Uganda’s 2012 WLEN nexus resources vis-à-vis the country’s current and potential food demand using calorific-demand analysis and source-to-service resource transformation modelling. The analysis determines estimates of the current resource stresses within Uganda’s insufficient food system and the interconnected resource implications for the achievement of food security by 2050. The results are visualised using Sankey diagrams. The inferences highlight evident limits across all four resources. Overall, the analysis helps to inform food security policy and the resource context for the present and future management of Uganda’s food system.

A água tem papel vital como elemento mantenedor da vida terrestre; essencial para a sobrevivência humana e essencial na produção de alimentos. O avanço da urbanização tem comprometido o equilíbrio ecológico do ambiente principalmente no despejo de efluentes contaminantes nos corpos d’águas ou nas suas adjacencias. O grande problema está na reutilização dessa água contaminada na produção de alimentos, fato que ocorre na circuvizinhança do perimetro urbano de Cassilandia-MS, abastecido pelo córrego do Cedro, objeto de estudo do presente trabalho, o qual recebe resíduos sanitários de forma direta das residências próximas ou oriundos de uma estação de tratamento de esgoto. Neste contexto este trabalho avaliou a qualidade da água, comparando-a com os parâmetros da legislação vigente. Foi constatada conformidade em relação à legislação vigente  apenas as amostras colhidas próximas à nascente do manancial, enquanto os demais locais do leito apresentaram qualidade  inconforme em pelo menos um parâmetro avaliado.

A água tem papel vital como elemento mantenedor da vida terrestre; essencial para a sobrevivência humana e essencial na produção de alimentos. O avanço da urbanização tem comprometido o equilíbrio ecológico do ambiente principalmente no ...

Despite efforts to achieve food security in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since the 1970s, food insufficiency continues to plague the region. As of 2014 more than a fifth of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population remain food insecure according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). The food security challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa are linked to economic, agro-ecological, technological/agronomic, institutional and related factors. These causes however overlay complex interactions and constraints within the key physical resources of Water Land and Energy (WLE), which are necessary for food production, processing, distribution and consumption. The relationship between the WLE interactions and the performance of SSA’s food systems, and the impacts of interventions at different scales are not yet fully understood, particularly in light of the need to maintain essential ecosystem services.This study employs an integrated multi-scale Food System resource analysis approach to examine Uganda’s WLE resource constraints vis-à-vis 2012 and 2050 agricultural resource demand at national, district and local scales, as a test case for Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis identifies where the competing WLE resource constraints are and the variations from local (sub-county), regional, to national scale so that potential policy interventions can be appropriately targeted. The approach involves a combination of geo-spatial analysis, calorific-demand analysis and Source-to-Service resource transformation modelling. The results are visualised using coupled Sankey diagrams and resource stress maps. The analysis reveals the current competing demands and constraints at different scales, and helps to identify key resource intervention areas to resolve resource stress in Uganda’s food system. The inferences highlight variations in the significance of resource stress at different analytical resolutions and constraints at different locations for the WLE resources. Overall, the analysis helps to inform food security policy and the resource context for the present and future management of Uganda’s food system.

Commercially processed food, drinking-water sources and effluent waters discharged into bodies of water from wastewater treatment plants are putative but yet poorly delineated sources of human exposure to chemical mutagens and oestrogen-like chemicals globally. To this end, this study was aimed at determining the current situation for a possible comparison between a European country (Finland) and an African country (Nigeria). A total of 116 commercially processed food items and ready-to-eat snacks (three lots each) were obtained from Finland (60) and Nigeria (36) for initial screening, as well as sachet-pure water (16 different brands) from Nigeria, bottled still and mineral waters (10 brands each), tap water (hot and cold collected over a 3-month period) and influent and effluent water samples from both a drinking-water treatment plant (collected over a 3-month period) and a wastewater treatment plant (collected over a 2-year period) in Finland. All samples were collected in their respective countries and extracted by established methods. The mutagenic potential of the food extracts was first determined by the standard plate incorporation assay (Ames test), using two strains of Salmonella enterica sv. Typhimurium (TA 100 and TA 98) in the presence and absence of metabolic activation (S9 mix), and subsequently by a methylcellulose overlay, as well as treat-and-wash assays, while the oestrogenicity of the water and food samples, as well as food packaging materials, was determined by a yeast bioluminescent assay, using two recombinant yeast strains (Saccharomyces cerevisiae BMAEREluc/ERα and S. cerevisiae BMA64/luc). The cytotoxicity of the food extracts was measured by the trypan blue and lactate dehydrogenase tests, using the HepG2 cell line, as well as by the boar sperm motility assay, while possible DNA damage was assessed by the comet assay. The mutagenicity of commercially processed food items in Finland was generally low: 60% or 73% were non-mutagenic in S. Typhimurium strains TA 100 and TA 98, respectively. While the majority of the initially positive samples proved negative in the complementary assays, cold cuts of cold-smoked beef, grilled turkey and smoked chicken (a single batch of each) were also mutagenic in all three assays with the TA 100 strain, with and without metabolic activation, indicating that the mutagenic effect was not secondary to histidine release from the food products. The low mutagenicity outcome of the Finnish food items was further confirmed by independent chemical analyses of similar food products for four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In contrast to the outcome in Finland, the majority of food items from Nigeria (75%) were mutagenic in the Ames test, either in the presence or absence of the S9 mix and in either of the strains. Chin-chin, hamburger, suya and bean cake were mutagenic in all three assays with the Salmonella TA 100 strain, either in the presence or absence of the S9 mix. However, none of the food samples caused DNA damage in the comet assay. They were also not cytotoxic in any of the three assays measuring this aspect. In all, 31% of the sachet-packed water samples in Nigeria were oestrogenic, with concentrations ranging from 0.79 to 44.0 ng/l oestradiol equivalent concentrations (EEQs), while the tap and bottled water samples from Finland showed no signs of oestrogenicity in the in vitro test. Similarly, the oestrogenic activity of the influent samples from the wastewater treatment plant in Helsinki were generally low (from below the limit of detection to 0.7 ng/l EEQ), except in March and August 2011, when relatively high levels (14.0 and 7.8 ng/l EEQ, respectively) were obtained. No oestrogenic activity was recorded in any of the treated effluent samples from the wastewater treatment plant, nor was any in the influent and effluent samples from the drinking-water plant. The outcome of this study implies that Nigerian food items and drinking-water sources are more likely to contain mutagenic and oestrogenic chemicals than their Finnish counterparts, and efforts should be made to reduce the level of human exposure to these chemicals in the diet. | No Finnish translation of my abstract

Climate change may be a factor leading to increased risks of food- and waterborne illnesses from consumption of existing and emerging biological hazards. It is beneficial to develop integrated approaches to evaluate, and provide scientific assessments of, potential climate change adaptation measures to inform risk management related to climate and weather events. To this end, a risk modeling framework was created to facilitate estimations of the impact of weather and climate change on public health risks from biological hazards in food and water and to compare potential adaptation and risk mitigation strategies. The framework integrates knowledge synthesis methods, data storage and maintenance, and stochastic modeling. Risk assessment models were developed for food and water safety case studies for demonstrative purposes. Scenario analyses indicated that implementing intervention measures to adapt to changing climate impacts might mitigate future public health risks from pathogens to varying degrees. The framework brings a generic approach to allow for comparison of relative public health risks and potential adaptation strategies across hazards, exposure pathways, and regions to assist with preventive efforts and decision-making.

The water-energy-food nexus is promoted as a new approach for research and policy-making. But what does the nexus mean in practice and what kinds of benefits does it bring? In this article we share our experiences with using a nexus approach in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake area. We conclude that water, energy and food security are very closely linked, both in the Tonle Sap and in the transboundary Mekong River Basin generally. The current drive for large-scale hydropower threatens water and food security at both local and national scales. Hence, the nexus provides a relevant starting point for promoting sustainable development in the Mekong. We also identify and discuss two parallel dimensions for the nexus, with one focusing on research and analysis and the other on integrated planning and cross-sectoral collaboration. In our study, the nexus approach was particularly useful in facilitating collaboration and stakeholder engagement. This was because the nexus approach clearly defines the main themes included in the process, and at the same time widens the discussion from mere water resource management into the broader aspects of water, energy and food security.

A dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction procedure for lead(II) as its 5-(4-dimethylaminobenzylidene) rhodanine complex has been established prior to its microsampling flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination. The influences of various analytical parameters including pH, solvent type and volume, dispersive solvent type and volume, 5-(4-dimethylaminobenzylidene) rhodanine amount, salt effect, and centrifugation time and speed were investigated. The effects of certain alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metal ions on the quantitative extraction of lead(II) were also studied. Quantitative recoveries were obtained at pH 6. The enrichment factor was calculated as 125. The detection limit for lead is 1.1 μg/L. The accuracy of the method was tested with the additions recovery test and analysis of the standard reference materials (SPS-WW2 waste water, NIST SRM 1515 apple leaves, and TMDA-51.3 fortified water). Applications of the present procedure were tested by analyzing water and food samples.

The water-energy-food nexus is promoted as a new approach for research and policy-making. But what does the nexus mean in practice and what kinds of benefits does it bring? In this article we share our experiences with using a nexus approach in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake area. We conclude that water, energy and food security are very closely linked, both in the Tonle Sap and in the transboundary Mekong River Basin generally. The current drive for large-scale hydropower threatens water and food security at both local and national scales. Hence, the nexus provides a relevant starting point for promoting sustainable development in the Mekong. We also identify and discuss two parallel dimensions for the nexus, with one focusing on research and analysis and the other on integrated planning and cross-sectoral collaboration. In our study, the nexus approach was particularly useful in facilitating collaboration and stakeholder engagement. This was because the nexus approach clearly defines the main themes included in the process, and at the same time widens the discussion from mere water resource management into the broader aspects of water, energy and food security.