PR | IFPRI4; CRP2 | EPTD; PIM | CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Renewable energy technologies can address trade-offs between water, energy and food, bringing substantial benefits in all three key sectors. This report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) looks at how adopting renewables can ease trade-offs by providing less resource-intensive energy services compared to conventional energy technologies. An energy system with substantial shares of renewable energy would be less water-intensive than one dependent on fossil fuels. Renewable energy technologies can boost water security by improving accessibility, affordability and safety. Integrating renewable energy in the agrifood supply chain helps to rein in cost volatility, bolster energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to long-term food sustainability. Modern bioenergy – sustainably and efficiently managed – could play an important role in these ongoing transformations.

This report explores the exposure and vulnerability of Korea and the Southern African region to climate-driven impacts in the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus. It presents the building of ecological networks as a mean to address climate change - induced alterations of ecosystems and the consequences for humans and nature. Reducing the asymmetry between price and value of water resources is identified as an essential aspect to enable sound resource management use decisions. The report highlights the need for comprehensive tools which assist decision makers in dealing with the complexity of WEF nexus interrelations and facilitate sustainable resource management.

The emerging foodborne and waterborne pathogen, Arcobacter, has been linked to various gastrointestinal diseases. Currently, 19 species are established or proposed; consequently, there has been an increase in the number of publications regarding Arcobacter since it was first introduced in 1991. To better understand the potential public health risks posed by Arcobacter, this review summarizes the current knowledge concerning the global distribution and the prevalence of Arcobacter in food and water. Arcobacter spp. were identified in food animals, food‐processing environments and a variety of foods, including vegetables, poultry, beef, dairy products, seafood, pork, lamb and rabbit. A wide range of waterbodies has been reported to be contaminated with Arcobacter spp., such as wastewater, seawater, lake and river water, drinking water, groundwater and recreational water. In addition, Arcobacter has also been isolated from pets, domestic birds, wildlife, zoo and farm animals. It is expected that advancements in molecular techniques will facilitate better detection worldwide and aid in understanding the pathogenicity of Arcobacter. However, more extensive and rigorous surveillance systems are needed to better understand the occurrence of Arcobacter in food and water in various regions of the world, as well as uncover other potential public health risks, that is antibiotic resistance and disinfection efficiency, to reduce the possibility of foodborne and waterborne infections.

Human appropriation of land and evapotranspiration for crop-livestock and dams to sustain people in cities are major drivers affecting the provision of global ecosystem services as climate, water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus regulations. Human carbon emissions from fossil burning and land use worsen both the depletion of planetary services and global warming. The recognition that problems arise essentially from fossil-driven land use enlighten realistic solutions. In particular, finite fossil resources must be redirected to forge new renewable-based economies. The objective of this article is to show that healthy feedback loops of renewable markets are economically viable and a sine qua non condition for improving the resilience of natural and anthropic ecosystems to cope with forthcoming challenges of climate change. Urban and rural areas of a Brazilian municipality, São Gabriel do Oeste, are used as an illustrative case study to reducing carbon and water footprints through fossil resources reallocation to technological and social innovations in distributed renewable energy (biogas-to-power), storm water recovery, wastewater treatment (biodigester), waste recover and recycling (organic fertilizers and soil conditioners), and recovery of basic ecosystem services.

El uso de los Sistemas de gestión de la Calidad en Inocuidad Alimentaria han producido en estos últimos años un aumento de la necesidad de asegurar la calidad higiénica del agua para consumo humano y/o uso en la industria productora de alimentos. El interés del público consumidor y las exigencias reglamentarias de los distintos organismos oficiales de fiscalización nacionales e internacionales nos ha llevado a incrementar la implementación de rutinas analíticas que satisfagan las necesidades del consumidor y la industria. En este sentido el servicio cumplió con los exámenes analíticos físico-químicos y bacteriológicos de muestras de aguas subterráneas y tratadas provenientes de requerimientode consumidores domiciliarios, organismos oficiales e industrias elaboradoras de alimentos. La metodología analítica utilizada y los parámetros de aptitud exigibles son los establecidos en el Código Alimentario Argentino (Ley 18.284). Esto involucra la siembra de las muestras recibidas en medios de cultivos convencionales, enriquecidos, selectivos y diferenciales; para poder emitir juicio de valor sobre el recuento total de bacterias y de microorganismos indicadores de la calidad higiénica del agua.Los resultados obtenidos se expresan en protocolos que sirven como insumo que permiten a los consumidores y a la industria desarrollar estrategias para asegurar la calidad sanitaria del agua. En el año 2015, se procesaron un total de 86 muestras de agua, 16de ellas fueronexaminadas mediante análisis físico-químico, el resto se procesaron microbiológicamente. Asimismo,reforzando las actividades de investigación programadas y su articulación con la extensión, se incorporó,en colaboración a un proyecto de trabajo, conjuntamente con el área de Física y Química de la Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias en donde se está analizandola calidad de agua para uso agropecuario en los departamentos de Bella Vista y Saladas, de la provincia de Corrientes, siendo 36 muestras analizadas hasta el momento. El equipo docente trabaja en la formación de recursos humanos,capacitando profesionales, alumnos adscriptos y becarios de prestación efectiva de servicios.

Feeding over 9 billion people by the second half of this century will require a major paradigm shift in agricultural systems. Agriculture uses approximately 40 % of the terrestrial surface, is the major user of fresh water resources and contributes 17%of greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, agriculture will be detrimentally affected by climate change in many climatic regions. Impacts of agriculture on ecosystem services include land clearing, loss of forest cover and biodiversity, significant soil degradation and water quality decline. Agricultural production will have to increase, even if we can reduce the rate of increase in demand for food. Given the current pressures on natural resources, this will have to be achieved by some form of agricultural intensification that causes less environmental impact. Therefore, it is not just intensification of agriculture, but ‘sustainable intensification’ that must be at the forefront of the paradigmshift. There is also a need to assess the situation holistically, taking into account population growth and resource intensive consumption patterns, improved systems of governance, changing diets and reducing waste. We review how and where natural resources are being placed under increasing pressure and examine the Becological footprint^ of agriculture. Suggested solutions include the application of existing scientific knowledge, implementation of emerging principles for sustainable land and water management and reclamation of salinized land. Encouragement of community action and private sector supply chain and production codes, backed up by improved national and regional governance and regulation also need to be encouraged if we are to see agricultural production become truly sustainable.

In this study, 13 types of organic materials were oxidized using H₂O₂in a continuous flow reactor under the condition of supercritical water. The effect of the operational parameters on the conversion of total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) was investigated, and the resulting quality of treated water was analyzed. It was found that these materials were easily oxidized with a TOC conversion achieving 99 % at temperature of 460 °C and TN conversion reaching 94 % at temperature of 500 °C. Rice decomposition was rapid, with TOC and TN decomposition rates of 99 % obtained within residence of 100 s at temperature of 460 °C. At temperature of 460 °C, pressure of 24 MPa, residence time of 100 s, and excess oxygen of 100 %, the quality of treated water attained levels commensurate with China’s Standards for Drinking Water Quality. Reaction rate equation parameters were obtained by fitting the experimental data to the differential equation obtained using the Runge–Kutta algorithm. The decrease of the TOC in water samples exhibited reaction orders of 0.95 for the TOC concentration and 0.628 for the oxygen concentration. The activation energy was 83.018 kJ/mol.

Fluoroquinolones are a valuable synthetic antibacterial class widely used in the treatment of infectious diseases both in humans and animals. Until recently, it has been thought that bacterial resistance to fluoroquinolones develops very slowly. Nowadays, there are multiple studies that reveal the alarming occurrence of bacterial resistance and there is a high risk of becoming therapeutically useless. The emergence of this phenomenon comes from injudicious usage in therapy, the presence of residues and their metabolites in food of animal origin and also in sewage, compost and domestic waste, which end up in soil and water sources. In the present paper, we reviewed important issues regarding fluoroquinolones impact on the environment in connection with the development of bacterial resistance: (1) the presence of fluoroquinolones as pollutants in soil, surface waters, and food. Fluoroquinolones are persistent with high specificity to interact with soil compared to other antibiotics. Pollution of water sources raises concerns regarding the effects of small concentrations (ng L⁻¹) on human health and also of the environment. The non-therapeutic use in animal farms conducts to food pollution; the cultivated plants could concentrate the fluoroquinolones (over 100 μg L⁻¹); (2) the increase of bacterial resistance to fluoroquinolones occurring with specific mutations in the target enzymes as well by the plasmid-mediated resistance and active efflux of the cell; (3) international regulations of the fluoroquinolone residues in food that are far to encompass all compounds; (4) fluoroquinolones residues analysis with standardized methods should provide limits of detection lower than maximum residue limit values; and (5) trends and perspectives: (a) a wider process of harmonization of regulations; (b) the fluoroquinolones restriction, necessary for low levels of bacterial resistance; (c) the soil and waste water purification methods; (d) the practice of soil planting scheme as an alternative; and (e) an environmental label in order to facilitate the selection of drugs.