This paper introduces and applies iGain4Gains, an Excel-based model, to reveal how changes to water conservation and allocation, and irrigation technology, can produce four nexus gains. These gains are; reduced aggregate water consumption, sustained crop production, lower carbon emissions, and enhanced water availability for nature. We developed the model with limited data and hypothetical future scenarios from the Amman–Zarqa basin in Jordan. Given its significant irrigation and urban water demands and difficult decisions regarding future water allocation and nexus choices, this basin is a highly appropriate case study. The paper’s primary aim is to demonstrate the iGains4Gains nexus model rather than to build an accurate hydrological model of the basin’s water resources. The model addresses two critical questions regarding increased irrigation efficiency. First, can irrigation efficiency and other factors, such as irrigated area, be applied to achieve real water savings while maintaining crop production, ensuring greenhouse gas emission reductions, and ‘freeing’ water for nature? Second, with the insight that water conservation is a distributive/allocative act, we ask who between four paracommoners (the proprietor irrigation system, neighbouring irrigation systems, society, and nature) benefits hydrologically from changes in irrigation efficiency? Recognising nexus gains are not always linear, positive and predictable, the model reveals that achieving all four gains simultaneously is difficult, likely leading to trade-offs such as water consumption rebounds or increased carbon emissions. Demonstrated by its use at a workshop in Jordan in February 2024, iGains4Gains can be used by students, scientists and decision-makers, to explore and understand nexus trade-offs connected to changes in irrigation management. The paper concludes with recommendations for governing water and irrigated agriculture in basins where large volumes of water are withdrawn and depleted by irrigation.

Abstract Water is a valuable resource for rice production, which is an integral component of food security in East Africa (EA). Rice farming is expanding in the region, with up to 90% produced on smallholder farms using traditional flooding and rain-fed methods, vulnerable to climate change and variability. Despite EA's enormous agricultural and crop potential, the region largely depends on rice imports (> 500,000 tons annually) from Asia due to rising gaps between production and consumption. Sustainable water management practices, including alternate wetting and drying (AWD), system of rice intensification (SRI), and drip irrigation are critical for paddy and upland rice production although practiced at micro-research levels with limited adoption of such technologies by smallholder farmers. Herein, we synthesize key information on smallholder irrigation agriculture development and implications for food security in changing climates in the four EA countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia), based on scientific literature and reports. Several studies indicate water scarcity is a major threat to rice production, while poverty and food insecurity are linked to low agricultural productivity. Although rice production has increased since 2000 because of the slight expansion of irrigation, yields are still low due to insufficient irrigation development, climate change, and variability and poor agronomic practices. Nonetheless, climate-smart water management technologies such as AWD, SRI, and drip irrigation are less used by paddy and upland rice smallholder farmers for several reasons including limited awareness, funding, and technical knowledge. Therefore, commitments of government sectors, NGOs, farmer-based organizations, and private sectors with clear policies are needed to enhance technology transfer, action research, farmer training, and innovation development. These actions are vital to promote knowledge generation and the adoption of technologies to improve water management for increased rice yields, livelihoods, and food security in changing climates.

The port is a place for ships as sea transportation to dock. The port, as a place of entry and exit for goods or passengers from various regions, places, and environments, encourages the potential for disease transmission to a new environment. Pathogens present in the environment can directly contact the human body through air, touch, and transmission through food around areas with high mobilization. Therefore, this study aims to look at the results of hygiene observations and laboratory testing related to food, drinking water, and air samples at Galala Port, Ambon City. This study used descriptive research with a cross-sectional research design. From all parameter examination results, several examination results do not meet the standards such as food microbiology examination results (E. coli bacteria > 3.6MPN/gr), sanitation (walls and floors are not watertight), the presence of mosquito larvae (seven Aedes albopictus mosquito larvae), drinking water microbiology (total Coliforms 64 CFU.100 mL-1), and clean water microbiology (E. coli > 250 CFU. 100 mL-1 and total Coliforms 8 CFU.100 mL-1). Therefore, it can be concluded that the inspection of restaurants carried out at Galala port, Ambon City, is not appropriate and does not meet the standards according to the Minister of Health Decree number 942 of 2003.

Climate change presents significant challenges to global food, land, and water systems, with agriculture both contributing to emissions and vulnerable to climate impacts. Integrated farming systems (IFS) and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) provide solutions by enhancing productivity, resilience, and sustainability. IFS optimizes resource use by integrating crops, livestock, aquaculture, and agroforestry, while CSA focuses on practices like precision agriculture, water-efficient techniques, and soil carbon sequestration to adapt to climate change. Organic and natural farming reduce reliance on synthetic inputs, promote soil health, and enhance biodiversity. Transforming agricultural systems requires supportive policies, research, capacity building, and global collaboration. By adopting these approaches, agriculture can adapt to climate change, mitigate its effects, and ensure food security, contributing to global sustainability goals and building a resilient future for food, land, and water systems.

The research on optimizing agricultural water and land resources is significant for improving resource utilization efficiency, ensuring food security, protecting the ecological environment, and promoting sustainable economic development. However, few studies have been conducted on the spatially optimized allocation of water and land resources based on the multidimensional coupling of water quantity, water quality, efficiency, carbon, ecology, and food. Therefore, this study establishes the Coupling Optimization Model of Water Resources and Landscape Structure (COM-WL). The objective is to optimize resource allocation within the irrigation area by comprehensively considering multiple factors. The COM-WL model integrates our improved genetic algorithm, PAEA-NSGAⅢ, with the landscape allocation model, GridLOpt. PAEA-NSGAⅢ builds upon the traditional NSGA-III algorithm, incorporating a progressive fitness adjustment strategy along with an elite preservation strategy. These enhancements enable the algorithm to explore the solution space more efficiently when addressing complex multi-objective problems to validate the effectiveness and practicality of the COM-WL model, we selected the Daan Irrigation District as the study area. Twenty-four scenarios, spanning four hydrological years, were designed for analysis. Each scenario focuses on six optimization objectives: increasing carbon sequestration, improving irrigation efficiency, enhancing ecological benefits, ensuring food production, reducing groundwater extraction, and controlling pollutant emissions. The GridLOpt model enables grid-based layout and spatial allocation of landscape structure in optimized scenarios, improving ecological connectivity and controlling the costs associated with landscape changes. The optimization results indicate that the irrigated area of rice increased by 0.04–6.08 %, while the irrigated area for corn decreased by 6.20–0.02 %, with the overall irrigated area remaining relatively stable. Additionally, emissions of agricultural pollutants decreased by 1.95 %, reaching 4.52 %. Meanwhile, carbon sequestration increased by 0.01 %, reaching 0.59 %. The efficiency of crop water resource utilization improved by 2.05 %, reaching 4.08 %. Ecological connectivity rose by 11.6 %, reaching 20.3 %. Furthermore, land-use conversion costs ranged from 58.82 million to 207.97 million yuan, consistent with the expected landscape structure. The model established in this study provides an approach to the multidimensional optimization of the coupling between water and land resources.

【Objective】Food production is the primary consumer of water resources in many countries. At the catchment and basin scale, understanding the spatiotemporal variation of food production and the underlying determinants is crucial for improving water resource use efficiency and promoting sustainable development. We propose a new method in this paper to analyze this issue.【Method】Our study focuses on the Yangtze River Basin. The water used for food production and its spatiotemporal variation from 2000 to 2020 in the basin were calculated based on crop water demand. Path analysis was used to elucidate the underlying determinants affecting the blue and green water footprint per unit area.【Result】① The annual average grain water footprint in the basin from 2000 to 2020 was 205.25×109 m3, with the green water footprint accounting for 66%. ② Due to differences in cultivation scales, the upper, middle, and lower reaches contributed 36.5%, 46.8%, and 16.7%, respectively, to the total grain water footprint of the basin. Additionally, the grain water footprints in the middle and lower reaches have increasingly relied on green water. ③ Meteorological factors positively influenced the density of the green water footprint and negatively affected the density of the blue water footprint. Social development and economic factors significantly impacted the density of the blue water footprint. 【Conclusion】 The middle reaches of the Yangtze River Basin, where irrigation demand for grain crop production is high, are likely to face growing pressure due to land and water resource shortages. This challenge is particularly acute in Henan, Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces, where investments in agricultural infrastructure, such as irrigation systems and advanced water management technologies, are essential. In Gansu, Qinghai, and Henan provinces, where water scarcity and pollution persist, adopting technologies such as soil mulching, rainwater harvesting and water storage can enhance green water utilization and alleviate regional water resource pressures.

As global climate change continues to pose significant challenges, it is increasingly essential to explore sustainable agricultural development strategies. This study aims to develop a multi-objective collaborative optimization model, using the Fen River Irrigation District as a case study. It examines strategies based on the water-energy-food-carbon nexus and seeks to maximize bioenergy production. The research methodology integrates multi-objective optimization theory with the ideal point method to obtain optimization solutions. This approach ensures the maximization of bioenergy output while minimizing carbon emissions and economic costs. The findings reveal that optimized bioenergy production in the study area can reach 1.17 × 1012 J, with contributions of 29.50 % from agriculture and 70.50 % from animal husbandry. Notably, animal husbandry emerges as the primary source of bioenergy production, generating 8.27 × 1011 J, predominantly from pigs, followed by sheep and cattle. The total optimized agricultural cultivation area is determined to be 6.76 × 104 ha, with corn taking the largest share at 73.86 % of the total cultivated area, which improves the economic benefits of agriculture while increasing the production of bioenergy. Fruits and vegetables account for 8.69 %, wheat for 3.45 %, and legumes for 13.99 %. In terms of the economic and environmental implications of bioenergy production, agriculture contributes more significantly to the agricultural economy compared to animal husbandry. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are the major contributor to overall carbon emissions, followed by methane (CH4). The optimized allocation of water resources results in a more reasonable ratio between surface water and groundwater supply, with 0.41 × 108 m3 coming from groundwater and 1.93 × 108 m3 from surface water, effectively alleviating the problem of regional water resources tension and guaranteeing the long-term stability of agricultural production. The optimization model focuses on generating solutions that conserve resources and reduce costs while simultaneously protecting the environment. This ultimately provides decision-makers with improved alternatives for managing agricultural resources.

International audience | Regional and national food policies must seek to attain equilibrium among social, economic, political, agricultural, and environmental factors. As a developmental objective, food self-sufficiency (FSS) responds to a region's need for increased autonomy and control over its own food supply. In this systematic review, we employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol to assess the state of the art, then, we explored 109 final selected studies, focusing on the main interactions associated to achieving FSS goals. We found that FSS objectives can be realised through context-dependent interactions with 47 identified factors. The main limitations associated with attaining FSS goals emerge from the confluence of trade-offs with water and agricultural land. The positive interplay between FSS and agricultural management highlights the synergies that result from adopting advanced sustainable technologies and practices and optimizing resource-use efficiency, which holds promise for achieving FSS goals. We identified a shortage of studies focusing on food consumption, distribution, and access related factors, despite their relevance in promoting FSS and food security. We identified four primary developmental strategies rooted in local agricultural management practices, each aimed at addressing the achievement of FSS goals while mitigating associated trade-offs: cropland expansion/cropland-water resource management, yield gap closure, cropping systems diversification/integrated crop management, and urban agriculture. In conclusion, identifying factors that limit or strengthen FSS can help to facilitate the transition away from siloed government strategies to arbitrate between different holistic development strategies according to local contexts.

As global climate change continues to pose significant challenges, it is increasingly essential to explore sustainable agricultural development strategies. This study aims to develop a multi-objective collaborative optimization model, using the Fen River Irrigation District as a case study. It examines strategies based on the water-energy-food-carbon nexus and seeks to maximize bioenergy production. The research methodology integrates multi-objective optimization theory with the ideal point method to obtain optimization solutions. This approach ensures the maximization of bioenergy output while minimizing carbon emissions and economic costs. The findings reveal that optimized bioenergy production in the study area can reach 1.17 × 1012 J, with contributions of 29.50 % from agriculture and 70.50 % from animal husbandry. Notably, animal husbandry emerges as the primary source of bioenergy production, generating 8.27 × 1011 J, predominantly from pigs, followed by sheep and cattle. The total optimized agricultural cultivation area is determined to be 6.76 × 104 ha, with corn taking the largest share at 73.86 % of the total cultivated area, which improves the economic benefits of agriculture while increasing the production of bioenergy. Fruits and vegetables account for 8.69 %, wheat for 3.45 %, and legumes for 13.99 %. In terms of the economic and environmental implications of bioenergy production, agriculture contributes more significantly to the agricultural economy compared to animal husbandry. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are the major contributor to overall carbon emissions, followed by methane (CH4). The optimized allocation of water resources results in a more reasonable ratio between surface water and groundwater supply, with 0.41 × 108 m3 coming from groundwater and 1.93 × 108 m3 from surface water, effectively alleviating the problem of regional water resources tension and guaranteeing the long-term stability of agricultural production. The optimization model focuses on generating solutions that conserve resources and reduce costs while simultaneously protecting the environment. This ultimately provides decision-makers with improved alternatives for managing agricultural resources.

Agricultural water accounts for 63 % of the total water usage, and water is essential for food production. The supply and use of agricultural water for food production corresponds to “water for food (W-F)” nexus, and irrigation facilities such as reservoirs, pumping stations and groundwater wells are utilized to supply agricultural water, directly related to the electricity use. Electricity usage causes indirect carbon emissions; thus, to reduce carbon emissions in agriculture, it is necessary to quantitatively assess the direct and indirect carbon reduction effect. This study aimed to evaluate the electricity use and carbon emissions for agricultural water supply, focusing on the W-F nexus system for food production in water-energy-food nexus. Furthermore, the direct and indirect carbon emissions of paddy water management as a measure of reducing carbon emissions were comprehensively evaluated. The total electricity use for agricultural water supply by all sectors showed an increasing trend with large increase in electricity use for pumping stations and gradual increase in the proportion for upland irrigation. The total indirect carbon emissions were founded to gradually increases, with the proportion of carbon emissions from rice cultivation from 3.3 % to 7.1 %. When applying paddy water management, the total carbon reduction effect was estimated to be 24.76 % and 61.27 % for midseason drainage and shallow flooding. This study quantified water-energy-carbon linkage for food production system with the perspective of W-F nexus. Additionally, as the proportion of electricity use expected to increase, this study suggested that energy efficiency of agricultural water supply become more important issues.