We evaluate the impact of explicitly representing irrigated land and water scarcity in an economy‐wide model with and without a global carbon policy. The analysis develops supply functions of irrigable land from a water resource model for 282 river basins and applies them within a global economy‐wide model. The analysis reveals two key findings. First, explicitly representing irrigated land has a small impact on global food, bioenergy and deforestation outcomes. This is because this modification allows irrigated and rainfed land to expand in different proportions, which counters the effect of rising marginal costs for the expansion of irrigated land. Second, changes in water availability have small impacts on global food prices, bioenergy production, land use change and the overall economy, even with large‐scale (c. 150 exajoules) bioenergy production, due in part to endogenous irrigation and storage responses. However, representing water scarcity and changes in water availability can be important regionally, with relatively arid areas and/or areas with rapidly growing populations fully exhausting our estimated maximum irrigation capacity that allows for improved irrigation efficiency, lining of canals to limit water loss, and expanding storage to fully capture average annual water flows.

In recent years, several global issues related to food waste, increasing CO2 emissions, water pollution, over-fertilization, deforestation, loss of arable land, food security, and energy storage have emerged. Climate change urgently needs to be addressed from an ecological and social perspective. Implementing new indoor urban vertical farming (IUVF) operations is one way to combat the above-mentioned issues as well as foodborne illnesses, scarcity of drinking water, and more crop failure due to infection from plant pathogens and insect pests. A promising production mode is plant factories (PFs), which are indoor plant production systems completely isolated from outside environment. This paper mainly focuses on the comprehensive review of scientific papers in order to analyse the different applications of urban farming (UF) based on three different dimensions: a) the manufacturing techniques and equipment used; b) the energy that these systems require, the distribution of energy, and ways to minimize the energy-related cost; and c) the technological innovations applied in order to optimize the cultivation possibilities of IUVF.

Biomass is a promising resource in Malaysia for energy, fuels, and high value-added products. However, regards to biomass value chains, the numerous restrictions and challenges related to the economic and environmental features must be considered. The major concerns regarding the enlargement of biomass plantation is that it requires large amounts of land and environmental resources such as water and soil that arises the danger of creating severe damages to the ecosystem (e.g. deforestation, water pollution, soil depletion etc.). Regarded concerns can be diminished when all aspects associated with palm biomass conversion and utilization linked with environment, food, energy and water (EFEW) nexus to meet the standard requirement and to consider the potential impact on the nexus as a whole. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the detail interactions between all the components in the nexus once intended to look for the best solution to exploit the great potential of biomass. This paper offers an overview regarding the present potential biomass availability for energy production, technology readiness, feasibility study on the techno-economic analyses of the biomass utilization and the impact of this nexus on value chains. The agro-biomass resources potential and land suitability for different crops has been overviewed using satellite imageries and the outcomes of the nexus interactions should be incorporated in developmental policies on biomass. The paper finally discussed an insight of digitization of the agriculture industry as future strategy to modernize agriculture in Malaysia. Hence, this paper provides holistic overview of biomass competitiveness for sustainable bio-economy in Malaysia.

Ecosystem restoration projects (ERPs) are effective for achieving sustainable development goals. However, a nexus perspective has not yet been effectively used to examine the regimes and interconnections between the sectors of agricultural production, ecosystem restoration, and the livelihoods of farmers, which may have constrained the efficacy of ERPs. In this study, the evolution of these different sectors in ecosystem restoration hotspot cases was investigated using a novel nexus perspective, and their interconnections and implications for ecosystem management were determined. Rapid urbanisation, reclamation, and ERPs have profoundly altered landscape patterns and caused significant ecological changes. Prior to 1999, extensive reclamation proved unsustainable because deforestation activities and cultivation on sloping cropland resulted in severe soil loss and ecosystem deterioration, despite providing significant increases in grain productivity and economic profits. Although revegetation practices after 1999 accelerated vegetation regeneration and enhanced soil retention and carbon sequestration, they also resulted in a decline in grain productivity and economic profits during the initial period of implementing ERPs (1999–2008). However, subsequent policy adjustments and the construction of terraced fields have mitigated cropland loss and maintained the grain supply. The nexus perspective was effective in identifying and coordinating relationships among the sectors, and timely policy interventions have transformed the relationships from trade-offs to synergies and provided win–win outcomes. However, the ongoing urbanisation continues to be a challenge for conserving ecosystems and ensuring food security; therefore, further optimised, and targeted strategies are required to balance contrasting goals and maximise co-benefits according to the environmental and socio-economic conditions.

A. Castro et al., 'Quesungual slash mulch agroforestry systems (QSMAS): improving crop water productivity, food security and resource quality in the sub-humid tropics', Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), 2015