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. Addressing diffuse agricultural sources of pollution remains a persistent problem....
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 neighboring policies to reduce the pressure of nutrients. This article concludes that...
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 assess ‘wicked problems’, such as ensuring global food security, that are...
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 demand, although there are large uncertainties in results between models and...
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 routine use of plant protection products and to promote alternatives.
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 of livestock production in China. Nutrient release from fish cultures is an...
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 how the GHG emission intensity of agriculture (EIA) should evolve globally,...
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 policies in implementation on national, regional and local levels. Coherence...
There is great technical potential for the agricultural sector to contribute to the improvement of water, land and landscape management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and an efficient use of energy and resources, but putting this into practice is proving rather...
The world is not on track to achieve internationally agreed environmental targets, such as those outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. To get back on track, transformative changes are required that go beyond what can be achieved by...
