In recent years, water, energy, food, and their nexus have become an increasingly significant and active area of research in economic and management science, especially in terms of safety, a research area where several important problems are emerging [...]

Resumen Objetivo: Proporcionar un marco conceptual de la esquematización del nexo agua-alimentos-comercio internacional utilizando el modelo actancial, basado en el análisis cualitativo de las relaciones que se presentan entre sus participantes con un enfoque integrador. Diseño metodológico: Se explica bajo la lógica del modelo actancial centrado en la descripción y clasificación de personajes, o bien, llamados actantes. El análisis se basó en la revisión de artículos que exponen el contexto y debate de los elementos del modelo actancial, que permitieran identificar las principales características que explican al actante y sus interrelaciones a través de la esquematización en el nexo de estudio. Resultados: Permiten comprender de manera esquemática y cualitativa las relaciones que subyacen entre los elementos que componen el nexo agua-alimentoscomercio internacional con una visión novedosa, argumentando el rol que desempeñan cada uno de los componentes de los actantes y los ejes del nexo. Esto es relevante debido a que la comercialización de agua virtual, puede conducir a serios problemas de dependencia hidro-alimentaria, por lo que se necesita de la formulación de políticas públicas estratégicas y efectivas en el corto y largo plazo. Limitaciones de la investigación: Se sugiere complementar esta investigación con un análisis cuantitativo bajo una perspectiva de la complejidad de redes que pueda valorar los efectos de estas interrelaciones desde una postura teórica y práctica e incorporar otros agentes que determinan la política hídrica y comercial de manera estratégica hacia una menor dependencia hidroalimentaria. Hallazgos: Estas interrelaciones son diversas e intensivas, destacando la importancia y compresión del nexo a escala global y nacional.

The growing importance to finding workable solutions to the problem of unsustainable and inefficient resource use cannot be overstated.  In the world facing one of its critical sustainability periods, efficient resource utilization to ensure sustainable development is a problem policymakers should grapple with at a loc, regional and local levels. Because of this, the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) nexus has seen a growing number of proponents and supporters worldwide.  This thesis examines the WEFE nexus and its relevance for sustainable resource management, focusing on South Africa’s Inkomati-Usuthu Water Management Area (IUWMA).  WEFE nexus criticizes existing sector-based approaches for their limited recognition of cross-sectoral linkages.  This thesis presents a systematic review of the WEFE nexus in the IUWMA, identifying policy gaps and making recommendations to enhance integrated resource and environmental management based on the WEFE nexus approach.  The findings highlight various factors affecting energy generation, agriculture, water quality and quantity, and ecosystem-related factors within the IUWMA.  The thesis also provides an overview of critical policies related to the WEFE nexus in the IUWMA, demonstrating coherence (or lack thereof) and environmental considerations, and international cooperation.  The implementation of the WEFE nexus policy faces opportunities in collaboration but challenges such as institutional barriers, knowledge gaps, and limited political will.  The IUWMA also presents a complicated case owing to its transboundary nature, to which special attention must be paid when considering WEFE nexus approaches.  The discussion emphasizes the need for a holistic WEFE nexus approach to avoid inefficiencies and conflicts and calls for strong governance structures and equitable resource allocation.  Implementing the WEFE nexus approach can foster collaboration, sustainable resource management, land resilience to climate change impacts with political support, regional cooperation, and stakeholder engagement.

Safe water and food are essential for good human health. The contamination of water with infected fecal bacteria is common in areas with poor standards of hygiene and sanitation. This study investigated total coliform bacteria, fecal coliform bacteria, and E.coli in drinking water and food stalls using water from a rural community, where the rural living conditions increase the risk of water-related diseases. In total, 40 samples of bottled drinking water, 50 water samples from vending machines, 30 samples of household drinking water, 30 food samples were collected from household food, and 60 food samples were collected from food stalls, and coliform bacteria contamination was determined using the most probable number (MPN) technique. The results revealed that all the water and food samples contained coliform bacteria contamination, while all the water samples and 50% of the food samples contained fecal coliform bacteria. The numbers of household food samples contaminated with coliform bacteria and E.coli were 29 (97%) and 12 (40%), respectively. Entrepreneurs should be regularly maintaining clean drinking water vending machines. The government sector should be urgently solving the problem of drinking water standards to ensure suitable consumer safety.

The water–energy–food (WEF) and land nexus is a basic element of prosperity. However, the elements of WEF are not equally distributed, and the dynamics of trading drives the distribution of goods. Money controls the trading, but money is just a convention and not a stable measure. Therefore, we have used the data of gross domestic product (GDP) and the price of electricity of each country in order to convert money to stable energy units. To evaluate the role of money in the WEF nexus, we also convert all the elements of the nexus, in energy units. In addition, we observe that land is the base of WEF and is positively correlated with all of its elements. However, we find that even the richest countries are facing critical deficits in WEF. Adding the money (GDP in energy units) to the WEF nexus, the balance becomes positive and we conclude that trading is necessary for both survival and prosperity. This may be obvious, but at present, global geopolitical conflicts which use economic sanctions as a tool transform the global balance of the WEF nexus, putting the global prosperity in jeopardy.

In recent years, the presence of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) has been assessed in several environmental matrices, including the marine environment and agricultural soil, suggesting those pollutants are likely to enter the food web. However, there is still a severe lack of information about the occurrence of plastic particles in our food, partially due to the multidimensionality of the data necessary to fully describe MP contamination and the consequent difficulty in validating analytical methods. In this review, consisting of two parts, preliminary results about the presence of MPs in food, water, and beverages are summarized (Part I) and several approaches for the characterization of micro- and nano-sized plastic particles are reported and discussed (Part II). The information gathered in this manuscript highlights the need for a more comprehensive knowledge of MP/NP occurrence along the food chain in order to assess the food safety risk related to those contaminants and implement strategies for their monitoring in products intended for human consumption. Therefore, an outlook of the field towards a coherent, consistent, and policy-relevant data collection and standardization is included in this review.

Published

This study evaluates the existing situation of the water energy and food resource interaction using an indicator-based approach and optimizes the resource use in the Karnafuli River Basin. A water allocation model based on an optimization tool, LINDO 6.1, with an objective function to maximize the economic return, is developed to allocate water to different water use sectors (domestic, agriculture, energy, industry, and environment) in the basin. It is observed that 14.58 m3 of water is required to generate 1 kWh of energy in Kaptai hydropower plant, while 4500 m3 of water is consumed to produce 1 ton of crops in the basin. Due to improper management, around 12,500 ha of land under the Karnafuli Irrigation Project remains un-irrigated, which can be cultivated with high-yield Boro crop. Results show that by prioritizing the agriculture sector, a maximum economic return of US$ 30.3 million can be obtained; however, with this only 55% of the satisfaction level is achieved for the environment sector. Systematic and integrated management of the resources is required in Karnafuli Basin for socioeconomic and sustainable development.