The Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEFN) has gained international attention as an approach for managing water more holistically, building on the progress made by the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach. However, modelling the availability of water, energy, and food and their interconnections is complex, with major barriers that include the availability of both data and modelling platforms capable of assessing the interconnected systems of the WEFN. There have been attempts to model resource availability in each sector generally, but few attempts to consider the WEFN in complex transboundary basins, especially considering Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
September 2024
Air quality (AQ) significantly impacts human health, influenced by both natural phenomena and human activities. In 2021, heightened awareness of AQ's health impacts prompted the revision of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, advocating for stricter pollution standards. However, research on AQ has predominantly focused on high-income countries and densely populated cities, neglecting low- and middle-income countries, particularly Pacific Island Countries, Territories, and States (PICTS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis is the first study that investigated the presence, distribution, and composition of microplastics, MPs (1-5 mm) on beaches in the Yasawa Islands, Fiji. A temporal assessment over three years on six beaches was undertaken to investigate different beach traits on MP abundance. Average MP concentration was 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlastic packaged water is the drinking water of choice for urban populations across Africa but its quality remains questionable in most developing countries. Six hundred (600) packages, consisting of sachet and bottled water, were sampled from two high-end companies in Accra (Ghana) and stored through their shelf lives under an average room temperature of 30 °C. The samples were tested for physicochemical quality and the presence of bacteria and phthalate esters at 2 × 3 periods, where n is the sampled batch number.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOcean-based photosynthesis accounts for half of global primary production. Productivity rates, driven by phytoplanktonic responses to nutrient availability, are however highly variable both spatially and temporally throughout the oceans. Intense primary production in the ocean's most productive areas, the Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS), cannot be fully explained by nutrient upwelling alone, with the role of local dust sources and complimentary aeolian nutrient delivery largely overlooked.
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