Water-food-energy-health: the importance of environmental sustainability in the circular economy
2023
Goran Sabol | Sanja Kalambura | Darko Kiš
Water, food, and energy are considered necessary segments to achieve the sustainable development goals. Urbanization, population growth, international trade, economic development and climate change will significantly increase the need for these three segments, which is why it is necessary to focus on equal access to water, food and energy, while adhering to the principles of the circular economy. Water is used along the entire agri-food chain, while the generated energy is needed for the production, transport and distribution of food, as well as for the extraction, pumping, lifting, collection, transport, and treatment of water. Urbanization, industrial development, and the general population of citizens also require gradually more water, as well as land for food production and expansion, which entails the need for more and more energy resources. This results in environmental degradation and impairment of environmental sustainability, which leads to the scarcity of resources and impairment of the health of living organisms. Given the importance of the topic related to the knowledge of biowaste and its management, a survey was conducted to gain insight into whether the general population of citizens is aware that by throwing food, other resources represented in the "water-energy" chain also get wasted, which leads to the disturbance of ecological stability. As expected, the results showed that our society needs further education to be able to manage waste in a sustainable way.
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