Achieving Water-Energy-Food Nexus Sustainability: a Science and Data Need or a Need for Integrated Public Policy?

The effects of climate change on our lives and economies have become unavoidably apparent.

This book contains collections of selected articles presented at the SDEWES2021 conference and subsequently published in a special issue of Sustainability. The book provides state-of-the-art research, overviewing practices in sustainable development, energy, water and environment systems, as well as their uses and applications. Focus is given to waste management; higher biomass production; biorefineries; bio-digital interface and microbial fuel cells; energy and cost reduction in the building sector; and the economic impact of sustainability.

Sustainability is far from a new concept. Indigenous peoples have practiced elements of sustainable living for generations by being in tune with the natural environment and its limits, cycles, and changes. This understanding is usually referred to as traditional ecological knowledge, or the deep knowledge and beliefs about relationships between people, plants, animals, natural phenomena, landscapes, and timing of events in a specific ecosystem.

The Mississippi River Delta (MRD) coastal region contributes an estimated $45 billion in revenue annually to the state of Louisiana and has a natural capital asset value estimated between $330 billion and $1.3 trillion. Draining approximately 3.2 km2 of land, the Mississippi is the largest river in North American with the U.S. largest riverine transport hubs between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and has built the world’s 3rd largest river delta.