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Liao X, Liu A, Chai L. Global food trade alleviates transgressions of planetary boundaries at the national scale. iScience 2023; 26:107794. [PMID: 37720085 PMCID: PMC10504541 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Revised: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Food systems are among the leading causes for transgression of planetary boundaries globally, which define the safe operating space for humanity. We quantify unsustainable environmental impacts of food systems, indicated by the transgression of national-scale planetary boundaries (i.e., the safe operating space for food production in each country), from both production and consumption perspectives of 189 countries/regions around the world. A multi-regional input-output model is used to map the global transfers of the national-scale transgression of planetary boundaries, including freshwater use, land change, and biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus). Our results show that China is a major global unsustainable water and nitrogen exporter and an unstable land and phosphorus importer. This means that water and nitrogen uses in China are used to support food demands in other countries, and food consumption in China requires unsustainable land and phosphorus uses elsewhere. In contrast, the US is a major exporter of unsustainable water, land, and nitrogen uses but only an importer of unsustainable phosphorus for food consumption. Globally, compared to a counterfactual scenario where there is no food trade among any countries, food trade saves massive transgressions of planetary boundaries (270 km3 of water, 18 million tons of nitrogen, 7 million tons of phosphorus, and 5,431 million km2 of land). Alleviation of national-scale planetary boundary transgression has been achieved primarily in the US, China, Saudi Arabia, etc., while aggravation was incurred in Pakistan, Australia, Argentina, and so forth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiawei Liao
- Bay Area International Business School, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai 519087, China
| | - Ao Liu
- College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Li Chai
- College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
- International College Beijing, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
- National Innovation Center for Digital Fishery, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
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Richter S, Muller A, Stolze M, Schneider I, Schader C. Acceptance of meat reduction policies in Switzerland. iScience 2023; 26:106129. [PMID: 36876130 PMCID: PMC9976463 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze the acceptance of different policy measures affecting meat consumption in Switzerland. We conducted qualitative interviews with leading stakeholders and elaborated 37 policy measures for reducing meat consumption. In a standardized survey, we analyzed the acceptance of these measures and important preconditions for their implementation. Measures with potentially the biggest direct leverage, such as a VAT increase on meat products, were highly rejected. We found high levels of acceptance for measures that do not directly affect meat consumption but have the potential for significant changes of meat consumption in the longer run - such as research investment and sustainable diet education. Furthermore, some measures with considerable short-term effects were widely accepted (e.g., stricter animal welfare standards, ban of meat advertisements). These measures could be a promising starting point for policy makers aiming at a transformation of the food system toward lower levels of meat consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Richter
- Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Department of Socioeconomics, Ackerstrasse 113/Postfach 219, CH-5070 Frick, Switzerland
| | - Adrian Muller
- Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Department of Socioeconomics, Ackerstrasse 113/Postfach 219, CH-5070 Frick, Switzerland
- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), Department of Environmental Systems Science, Sonneggstrasse, 338092 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Mathias Stolze
- Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Department of Socioeconomics, Ackerstrasse 113/Postfach 219, CH-5070 Frick, Switzerland
| | - Isabelle Schneider
- Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Department of Socioeconomics, Ackerstrasse 113/Postfach 219, CH-5070 Frick, Switzerland
| | - Christian Schader
- Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Department of Socioeconomics, Ackerstrasse 113/Postfach 219, CH-5070 Frick, Switzerland
- Corresponding author
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Goldstein E, Erinjery JJ, Martin G, Kasturiratne A, Ediriweera DS, Somaweera R, de Silva HJ, Diggle P, Lalloo DG, Murray KA, Iwamura T. Climate change maladaptation for health: Agricultural practice against shifting seasonal rainfall affects snakebite risk for farmers in the tropics. iScience 2023; 26:105946. [PMID: 36818294 PMCID: PMC9932500 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.105946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Snakebite affects more than 1.8 million people annually. Factors explaining snakebite variability include farmers' behaviors, snake ecology and climate. One unstudied issue is how farmers' adaptation to novel climates affect their health. Here we examined potential impacts of adaptation on snakebite using individual-based simulations, focusing on strategies meant to counteract major crop yield decline because of changing rainfall in Sri Lanka. For rubber cropping, adaptation led to a 33% increase in snakebite incidence per farmer work hour because of work during risky months, but a 17% decrease in total annual snakebites because of decreased labor in plantations overall. Rice farming adaptation decreased snakebites by 16%, because of shifting labor towards safer months, whereas tea adaptation led to a general increase. These results indicate that adaptation could have both a positive and negative effect, potentially intensified by ENSO. Our research highlights the need for assessing adaptation strategies for potential health maladaptations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eyal Goldstein
- School of Zoology, Department of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Ecosystem Modeling, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Joseph J. Erinjery
- School of Zoology, Department of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Zoology, Kannur University, Kannur, India
| | - Gerardo Martin
- Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores unidad Mérida, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Yucatán, México
| | - Anuradhani Kasturiratne
- Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
| | | | - Ruchira Somaweera
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
| | | | - Peter Diggle
- CHICAS, Lancaster University Medical School, Lancaster, UK
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - David G. Lalloo
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Kris A. Murray
- Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health, MRC Unit the Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Fajara, The Gambia
| | - Takuya Iwamura
- School of Zoology, Department of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department F.-A. Forel for Aquatic and Environmental Science, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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Wu H, MacDonald GK, Galloway JN, Geng Y, Liu X, Zhang L, Jiang S. A new dietary guideline balancing sustainability and nutrition for China's rural and urban residents. iScience 2022; 25:105048. [PMID: 36185362 PMCID: PMC9519510 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Revised: 07/31/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Diets have important but often complex implications for both environmental quality and nutrition. We establish a production-oriented life cycle model to quantify and compare the farm-to-gate environmental impacts and food nutritional qualities underlying rural and urban diets in China from 1980 to 2019, a period of rapid urbanization and socioeconomic changes. The environmental impacts of rural diets were generally higher than those of urban diets, but this gap reduced after 2000. Environmental and nutritional values varied considerably across the 31 Chinese provinces due to their different food intakes and dietary structures. Dietary changes coinciding with urbanization increased greenhouse gas emissions, eutrophication potential, and nutritional quality, but decreased energy consumption and acidification potential. Based on our results, we propose a new dietary guideline to mitigate environmental impacts and improve nutritional quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huijun Wu
- School of Earth and Environment, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan 232001, China
| | | | - James N. Galloway
- Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
| | - Yong Geng
- School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
- China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
- School of Economics and Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
| | - Xin Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P.R. China
| | - Ling Zhang
- College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
| | - Songyan Jiang
- School of Management Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
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Feng S, Zhai Y, Wei W, Tan Y, Geng Y, Nie W. Sustainable social development promotes COVID-19 pandemic control. iScience 2022; 25:104592. [PMID: 35720195 PMCID: PMC9188261 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The rapid spread of COVID-19 had a negative impact on public health and economic recovery worldwide. There is a large and growing literature on pandemic prevention and control. However, these existing studies seldom focus on the role of sustainable social development in this process. By setting specifications of fixed-effect models based on the score data of sustainable development goals (SDG) and infection case data from 257 Chinese cities, we evaluate the positive effect of sustainable social development on pandemic control. Our results show that sustainable social development leads to a remarkable improvement in pandemic prevention and control, especially for SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDG5 (Gender Equality). Significant positive effects of sustainable social development still exist in the post-pandemic era. This study highlights the importance of promoting social SDGs by linking them with pandemic prevention and control and suggests region-specific policies based on the heterogeneous analysis results. This study highlights the importance of social SDGs by linking them to pandemic control Social SDGs improve pandemic prevention and control in two pandemic development stages Cities with better education/gender equality performed better in pandemic control The impact of social SDGs on pandemic control is heterogeneous in different regions
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Affiliation(s)
- Shilan Feng
- School of Marxism, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Yingjia Zhai
- Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Wendong Wei
- School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.,SJTU-UNIDO Joint Institute of Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.,China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200040, China
| | - Ya Tan
- School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China
| | - Yong Geng
- School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.,SJTU-UNIDO Joint Institute of Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.,China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200040, China
| | - Weiye Nie
- School of Marxism, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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Abstract
A huge amount of agricultural wastes and waste activated-sludge are being generated every year around the world. Anaerobic co-digestion (AcD) has been considered as an alternative for the utilization of organic matters from such organic wastes by producing bioenergy and biochemicals to realize a circular bioeconomy. Despite recent advancement in AcD processes, the effect of feedstock compositions and operating conditions on the biomethane production processe has not been critically explored. In this paper, we have reviewed the effects of feedstock (organic wastes) characteristics, including particle size, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and pretreatment options, on the performance of an anaerobic digestion process. In addition, we provided an overview of the effect of key control parameters, including retention time, temperature, pH of digestate, volatile fatty acids content, total solids content, and organic loading rate. Lastly, based on the findings from the literature, we have presented several perspectives and prospects on priority research to promote AcD to a steppingstone for a circular bioeconomy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shu-Yuan Pan
- Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (ROC)
| | - Cheng-Yen Tsai
- Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (ROC)
| | - Chen-Wuing Liu
- Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (ROC)
| | - Sheng-Wei Wang
- Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Tamkang University, New Taipei City 25137, Taiwan (ROC)
| | - Hyunook Kim
- Department of Environmental Engineering, The University of Seoul, 163, Seoulsiripdae‑ro, Dongdaemun‑gu, Seoul 02504, South Korea
| | - Chihhao Fan
- Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (ROC)
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