Living with floating vegetation invasions

Invasions of water bodies by floating vegetation, including water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), are a huge global problem for fisheries, hydropower generation, and transportation. We analyzed floating plant coverage on 20 reservoirs across the world’s tropics and subtropics, using > 30 year time-series of LANDSAT remote-sensing imagery. Despite decades of costly weed control, floating invasion severity is increasing. Floating plant coverage correlates with expanding urban land cover in catchments, implicating urban nutrient sources as plausible drivers. Floating vegetation invasions have undeniable societal costs, but also provide benefits. Water hyacinths efficiently absorb nutrients from eutrophic waters, mitigating nutrient pollution problems. When washed up on shores, plants may become compost, increasing soil fertility. The biomass is increasingly used as a renewable biofuel. We propose a more nuanced perspective on these invasions moving away from futile eradication attempts towards an ecosystem management strategy that minimizes negative impacts while integrating potential social and environmental benefits.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01360-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

A Comparison of Three Federal Datasets for Thermoelectric Water Withdrawals in the United States for 2010

Historically, thermoelectric water withdrawal has been estimated by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) water‐use compilations. Recently, the USGS developed models for estimating withdrawal at thermoelectric plants to provide estimates independent from plant operator‐reported withdrawal data. This article compares three federal datasets of thermoelectric withdrawals for the United States in 2010: one based on the USGS water‐use compilation, another based on EIA data, and the third based on USGS model‐estimated data. The withdrawal data varied widely. Many plants had three different withdrawal values, and for approximately 54% of the plants the largest withdrawal value was twice the smallest, or larger. The causes of discrepancies among withdrawal estimates included definitional differences, definitional noise, and various nondefinitional causes. The uncertainty in national totals can be characterized by the range among the three datasets, from 5,640 m³/s (129 billion gallons per day [bgd]) to 6,954 m³/s (158 bgd), or by the aggregate difference between the smallest and largest values at each plant, from 4,014 m³/s (92 bgd) to 8,590 m³/s (196 bgd). When used to assess the accuracy of reported values, the USGS model estimates identify plants that need to be reviewed.     

共生视角下中国区域“水-能源-粮食”复合系统适配性评估

水资源、能源和粮食是人类生存发展的基础资源,三者之间的交互关系被称为“水-能源-粮食”纽带。中国水资源、能源和粮食(耕地)资源时空分布不匹配,影响资源流动效率。随着资源供需矛盾加剧,资源管理方式亟需从“单资源”规划向“多资源”协同转变,因此,开展“水-能源-粮食”复合系统适配性评估对推动多资源协同管理具有重要意义。本文引入共生理论,构建“水-能源-粮食”系统共生架构,提出区域“水-能源-粮食”系统适配概念,将“水-能源-粮食”系统适配性分解为稳定性、协调性和可持续性,基于压力-状态-影响-响应(PSIR)模型构建适配性评估指标体系,对2000—2016年我国区域“水-能源-粮食”系统适配性进行综合评估。研究表明:①可持续性对“水-能源-粮食”复合系统适配性影响最大,协调性是适配性提升的短板,稳定性是适配性的重要基础。②我国“水-能源-粮食”复合系统的整体适配性、协调性、可持续性水平呈上升趋势,增长速度先快后慢,稳定性指数小幅波动,趋于平稳。③我国“水-能源-粮食”复合系统适配性时空分异特征明显,东北、东部地区的适配性水平相对较高,主要呈上升趋势;中部、西部地区的适配性水平相对较低,主要呈下降趋势。根据评估结果,提出以下建议:①加强水资源、能源、农业、土地等多部门协同,增加科技、水利、能源等方面投资力度,协调水-能源、水-粮食和能源-粮食关系,提高水资源、能源和粮食系统之间转化效率。②引导自然资源从富集区域向匮乏区域流动,引导高端产业、先进技术和投资等社会资源从发达地区向自然资源富集区域转移,缓解资源匮乏区供需矛盾,提高资源附加值,促进区域协同发展。     

Turning wastewater into energy: challenges of reconfiguring regional infrastructures in the Berlin–Brandenburg region

Issues of connectivity between different infrastructure sectors have received surprisingly little attention in recent research. Despite huge interest in issues of sectoral integration surrounding the water–energy nexus, researchers have rarely considered what this might mean for the coupling of infrastructure systems for water/wastewater and energy services. Consequently, the implications of greater connectivity for the governance and socio-spatial constitution of infrastructures are largely unexplored. This paper addresses this research gap with a case study of an attempt to use treated wastewater to produce biomass for energy on degraded land in the Berlin–Brandenburg region of Germany. It takes water reuse for energy crop production as an exemplar of work at the water–energy nexus in order to explore the institutional, spatial and physical dimensions involved in connecting two infrastructure systems to this end. It argues that cross-sectoral integration reaches far beyond issues of technological compatibility, revealing often hidden but crucial differences in the institutional and spatial configuration of energy and wastewater systems. The paper draws conclusions on the broader implications of the case for understanding institutional challenges of cross-sectoral connectivity on the one hand and prospects for reconfiguring infrastructural relations between cities and rural areas on the other.     

Understanding barriers to decision making in the UK energy-food-water nexus: The added value of interdisciplinary approaches

The nexus represents a multi-dimensional means of scientific enquiry which seeks to describe the complex and non-linear interactions between water, energy, food, with the climate, and further understand wider implications for society. These resources are fundamental for human life but are negatively affected by shocks such as climate change and characterize some of the main challenges for global sustainable development. Given the multidimensional and complex nature of the nexus, a transdisciplinary approach to knowledge development through co-production is needed to timely and effectively inform the decision making processes to build societal resilience to these shocks going beyond the sectorality of current research practice. The paper presents findings from five themed workshops (shocks and hazards, infrastructure, local economy, governance and governments, finance and insurance) with 80 stakeholders from academia, government and industry in the UK to explore the impact of climate and weather shocks across the energy-food-water nexus and barriers to related responses. The research identified key stakeholders’ concerns, opportunities and barriers to better inform decision making centred on four themes: communication and collaboration, decision making processes, social and cultural dimensions, and the nature of responses to nexus shocks. We discuss implications of these barriers and how addressing these can better facilitate constructive dialogue and more efficient decision-making in response to nexus shocks.     

The water footprint of hydroelectricity: a methodological comparison from a case study in New Zealand

Hydroelectricity has been rated to have a large water footprint (WF) on global average. We assessed the WF of hydroelectricity by three different methods using New Zealand as a case study. The first (WF-1) and second (WF-2) methods only consider the consumptive water use of the hydroelectricity generation system, while our third method (WF-3) accounts for the net water balance. Irrespective of the method, the WF of New Zealand’s hydroelectricity was found much smaller than the commonly cited international value of 22 m³ GJ⁻¹. Depending on the method, the national WF ranged from 1.55 m³ GJ⁻¹ (WF-3) to 6.05 m³ GJ⁻¹ (WF-1). The WF- 3 considers the net water balance including rainfall, which is the key driver for replenishing water resources. It provides meaningful information that helps our understanding of the differences of the WF in locations, which are diverse in terms of water resource availability. We highlight the effects of local climatic differences and the structural specifics of a hydroelectricity scheme on the WF. The large variation in the WF of hydropower across New Zealand illustrates the inappropriateness of using global average values. Local values, calculated using our hydrologically rational method, must be used.     

长三角城市群水—能源—粮食系统压力的演变特征及其影响机制

城镇化的推进加剧资源消耗,水—能源—粮食（Water-Energy-Food）作为核心资源,是保障区域可持续发展的关键。以长三角城市群为例,构建WEF系统压力指数,揭示1990—2018年间长三角城市群WEF系统压力的演变特征,探讨城镇化推进对WEF系统压力的影响机制。结果显示：2010年后,随着长三角一体化进程加快,WEF系统压力明显加大,其中粮食压力猛增、水资源压力稳定、能源压力有所下降,但能源供应仍存缺口。各省市WEF系统压力及其变化特征与资源禀赋、经济发展和城镇化进程相关。城市空间扩展、人口集中、经济发展和居民消费显著影响长三角城市群WEF系统压力。因此,WEF系统管理应立足不同要素演变特征,同时加强不同部门及区域的协同管理,共同促进长三角城市群的可持续发展。     

Myanmar under reform: Emerging pressures on water,energy and food security

Myanmar's water‐related sectors are subject to intensive changes, as the country's abundant land and water resources provide substantial scope for development. Recent steps towards economic reform in Myanmar have led to a surge of foreign investment directed towards intensified natural resource extraction. Both the agricultural and the energy sector are increasingly affected by foreign investments that will impact the status of water, energy and food security in the country. With these on‐going developments, Myanmar's future is largely dependent on how its natural resources are managed and how the benefits from the resource extraction are shared. With various institutional changes and new actors welcomed to the sectors, existing livelihoods and ecosystems dependent on the land and water resources are to face increasing competition for the shared resources, while lacking secured access to them. There are increasing concerns that this sectoral development is occurring at the expense of environmental and social sustainability. As one way to tackle these challenges, the water‐energy‐food nexus approach could help in finding synergies and co‐benefits across sectors by addressing the imbalances along the nexus and externalities derived from the on‐going intensification.     

碳中和的缘起、实现路径与关键科学问题：气候变化与可持续城市化

碳中和是我国应对气候变化的新目标,提出以来引起国内外广泛关注。碳中和目标实现是一个复杂系统科学问题,涉及大气圈、岩石圈、水圈、生物圈、人类圈等多圈层耦合过程与作用机制,需要跨学科交叉、综合与协同研究。简要梳理碳中和提出的气候变化和温控目标缘起,归纳碳中和实现的碳源、碳汇的多元路径,强调从碳源的需求侧推动可持续城市化对于碳中和目标实现的重要作用,并且可能是成本低、潜力大、更直接有效的方案途径。提出适应与减缓气候变化下碳中和与可持续城市化研究领域8个方面的科学问题：气候变化—碳中和—可持续城市化关联关系、中国及各地区碳中和实现的路线图与时间表、城市区域尺度碳排放的精准核算、绿色生活方式与低碳社会、绿色生产方式与低碳经济、能源结构优化、风险与不确定性和碳中和长效机制的治理创新等,以及该领域当前研究面临的机遇和挑战。     

区域水-能源-粮食绿色效率、地区差异及影响因素

基于绿色发展理念建立多维角度投入-产出指标体系,构建Meta-SSBM和Meta-Malmquist-Luenberger模型,测度2004～2018年中国30个省(区)水-能源-粮食绿色静态和动态效率,并运用泰尔指数分解东部、中部和西部绿色发展水平的时空分异特征.结果表明:(1)由于技术差距无效率而导致的在共同前沿和...