2021/08/12     Dresden, Germany

From agri-food and forest systems to climate change and biodiversity, researchers at UNU-FLORES engage in a range of research themes to advance the Resource Nexus. In further advancing the nexus mindset, we also consider various analytical perspectives from governance to health.

A truly integrated management of environmental resources calls for a study of not only the individual components of the Resource Nexus but also the interlinkages between them. To get an idea of what our researchers have been busy with, here are our recent publications:

Barriers in Implementation of Wastewater Reuse: Identifying the Way Forward in Closing the Loop
Circular Economy and Sustainability
Jonathan Morris, Isabella Georgiou, Edeltraud Guenther, Serena Caucci

This article systematically reviews previous studies in water management and classifies the barriers towards the uptake of wastewater use in agriculture according to the PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal) framework. Alongside political and legal support, it identified that for an economically and environmentally sustainable scheme for incentivising the deployment of feasible technologies, there is also a need to gain acceptance for wastewater usage in society to enhance the deployment of existing technological solutions.

Greener, Cheaper, or More Sustainable: Reviewing Sustainability Assessments of Maintenance Strategies of Concrete Structures
Sustainable Production and Consumption
Christoph Scope, Maria Vogel, Edeltraud Guenther

Concrete’s weaknesses – namely corrosion damage and material fatigue – combined with ageing infrastructure, poses a challenge to both decision makers and civil engineers to optimise sustainable infrastructure services. This manuscript explores and synthesises the sustainable potential of maintenance and repair methods using concrete and cement-based composite materials, applying a systematic literature review to develop evidence-based management knowledge.

Hydro-Social Dynamics of Miningscapes: Obstacles to Implementing Water Protection Legislation in Mongolia
Journal of Environmental Management
Mirja Schoderer, Daniel Karthe, Ines Dombrowsky, Jampel Dell’Angelo

Waterscapes with mining activities are often sites of water resource degradation and contestation. This paper investigates the case of Mongolia, analysing why the country’s implementation of regulations that purportedly align the interests of different water users has been slow. It draws on an extended elaboration of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to disentangle the web of formal and informal rules, incentive structures, discourses, and other elements that characterise Mongolian miningscapes.

Monitoring Plastics in Rivers and Lakes: Guidelines for the Harmonization of Methodologies
Katrin Wendt-Potthoff, Tamara Avellán, Tim van Emmerik, Meike Hamester, Sabrina Kirschke, Danielle Kitover, Christian Schmidt

Despite its relevance and a growing body of data and knowledge on freshwater plastics, the current understanding of transport processes, loads, and impacts is limited, mainly because data is lacking. Building on the experience gained from marine plastic monitoring, this report provides methodological guidelines to support monitoring and assessment programmes for plastics in freshwater. It contains the most current procedures for monitoring and analysing plastic content in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and water/wastewater treatment plants.

Renewable Energy for Environmental Protection: Life Cycle Inventory of Nigeria’s Palm Oil Production
Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Kelechi E. Anyaoha, Lulu Zhang

To achieve nationally determined contributions to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to advance the green economy, the use of bioenergy needs to be scaled up. This study investigates three types of palm oil processors to support technology advancement and renewable energy transition in the Nigerian oil palm industry, revealing critical hotspots of GHG emissions from different processors.

Simultaneous Inactivation of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia Coli and Enterococci by Peracetic Acid in Urban Wastewater: Exposure-Based Kinetics and Comparison with Chlorine
Water Research
Sanjana Balachandran, Livia V.C. Charamba, Kyriakos Manoli, Popi Karaolia, Serena Caucci, Despo Fatta-Kassinos

The presence of antibiotic resistance in wastewater sparked a great interest in investigating the inactivation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria by disinfecting agents. This article demonstrates that the inactivation of the studied multidrug-resistant bacteria is governed by their exposure to peracetic acid (PAA), i.e., integral of the PAA concentration over time.

Traditional and Adapted Composting Practices Applied in Smallholder Banana-Coffee-Based Farming Systems: Case Studies from Kagera and Morogoro Regions, Tanzania in Organic Waste Composting through Nexus Thinking
Anika Reetsch, Didas Kimaro, Karl-Heinz Feger, Kai Schwärzel

In Tanzania’s banana-coffee-based farming systems, smallholder farmers traditionally add farm waste to crop fields, making soils rich in organic matter (humus) and plant-available nutrients. Since the 1960s, these have decreased and soils have gradually degraded. This chapter discusses two cases in the country, concluding that optimised composting practices enable the replenishment of soil nutrients, increase the capacity of soils to store plant-available nutrients and water, and thus, enhance soil fertility and food production in degraded banana-coffee-based farming systems.

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