Agricultural Diffuse Pollution and the EU Water Framework Directive
Progress has been made on improving Europe’s water quality. Nevertheless, there is much scepticism as to whether the goals of the European Water Framework Directive will be realised by 2027…
The wicked problem the Water Framework Directive cannot solve
Nutrients (nitrates, phosphates) from agricultural sources remain a ‘wicked problem’ in realizing the aims of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), partly because the directive has to rely on…
Stakeholder-designed scenarios for global food security assessments
To guide policymaking, decision makers require a good understanding of the long-term drivers of food security and their interactions. Scenario analysis is widely considered as the appropriate tool to…
The global food system is a major energy user and a relevant contributor to climate change. To date, the literature on the energy profile of food systems addresses individual countries and/or food…
Comparing the impact of future cropland expansion on global biodiversity and carbon storage across models and scenarios
Land-use change is a direct driver of biodiversity and carbon storage loss. Projections of future land use often include notable expansion of cropland areas in response to changes in climate and food…
Growers, buyers and suppliers have not been sufficiently successful in reducing the use of chemical plant protection products. Policy is needed, by both the government and the sector, to stop the…
Integrated Solutions for the Water-Energy-Land Nexus: Are Global Models Rising to the Challenge?
Increasing human demands for water, energy, food and materials, are expected to accentuate resource supply challenges over the coming decades. Experience suggests that long-term strategies for a…
Aquaculture production is a large, spatially concentrated source of nutrients in Chinese freshwater and coastal seas
This article presents a spatially explicit inventory of nutrient emissions from aquaculture to waterbodies for 2006 and 2017. Aquaculture production and nutrient excretion are now comparable to that…
Reconciling global sustainability targets and local action for food production and climate change mitigation
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) imply country-led implementation. Yet, their achievement depends on sustainability targets compatible across different sectors and scales. Our study examines…
Implementation of EU water policies benefits from synergies within the nexus between water, energy, land, food and climate
At the European Union level, there is a strong policy coherence between water policies and those on land, agriculture, energy and climate. More advantage could be taken of synergies between these…