Exorcising Malthusian ghosts: Vaccinating the Nexus to advance integrated water, energy and food resource resilience

Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus interactions vary from seemingly negative and intractable wicked problems to opportunities for enhanced sustainability. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of understanding on WEF resource interactions and to provide a roadmap to enhance integrated resource management. A qualitative perspective based on expert insight and experience was supported by a more quantitative systematic analysis of the literature to define Nexus interactions, describe the nature of different challenges, and explore the factors that influence them. We found that Nexus challenges, and associated interactions (e.g. trade-offs and synergies), vary with complexity and spatial and temporal scale, and biases in research and culture act as barriers to progress. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to develop technical solutions employed through the use of orchestrated shocks (e.g. historic analogues, predictive modelling, experimentation, and scenario planning) to “Vaccinate the Nexus” and improve system resilience. To achieve this, multidisciplinary capability should be developed to solve interdisciplinary challenges, while protecting specialism. It is recognised that through embracing complexity and “Nexus (or Systems) Thinking”, future integration of resource management may be facilitated through holistic education, informed by interdisciplinary research, and ingrained in cross-sector policy and governance

Footprint of deepwater horizon blowout impact to deep-water coral communities

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout occurred, releasing more oil than any accidental spill in history. Oil release continued for 87 d and much of the oil and gas remained in, or returned to, the deep sea. A coral community significantly impacted by the spill was discovered in late 2010 at 1,370 m depth. Here we describe the discovery of five previously unknown coral communities near the Macondo wellhead and show that at least two additional coral communities were impacted by the spill. Although the oil-containing flocullent material that was present on corals when the first impacted community was discovered was largely gone, a characteristic patchy covering of hydrozoans on dead portions of the skeleton allowed recognition of impacted colonies at the more recently discovered sites. One of these communities was 6 km south of the Macondowellhead and over 90% of the corals present showed the characteristic signs of recent impact. The other community, 22 km southeast of the wellhead between 1,850 and 1,950 m depth, was more lightly impacted. However, the discovery of this site considerably extends the distance from Macondo and depth range of significant impact to benthic macrofaunal communities. We also show that most known deep-water coral communities in the Gulf of Mexico do not appear to have been acutely impacted by the spill, although two of the newly discovered communities near thewellhead apparently not impacted by the spill have been impacted by deep-sea fishing operations

Scaling the nexus: towards integrated frameworks for analysing water, energy and food

The emergence of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus concept following the 2011 Bonn Nexus Conference has resulted in a change to the way we perceive our natural resources. Global pressures such as climate change, and population growth have highlighted the fragility of our WEF systems, necessitating integrated solutions across multiple scales and levels. Whilst a number of frameworks and analytical tools have been developed since 2011, a comprehensive WEF nexus tool remains elusive, hindered in part by our limited data and understanding of the interdependencies and connections across the WEF systems. To achieve this, the community of academics, practitioners and policy-makers invested in WEF nexus research are addressing several critical areas that currently remain as barriers. Firstly, the plurality of scales (e.g., spatial, temporal, institutional, jurisdictional) necessitates a more comprehensive effort to assess interdependencies between water, energy and food, from household to institutional and national levels. Secondly, and closely related to scale, a lack of available data often hinders our ability to quantify physical stocks and flows of resources. In this paper, we elucidate many of the challenges that have arisen across nexus research, including the impact of multiple scales in operation across the nexus, and concomitantly, what impact these scales have on data accessibility. We review some of the critical frameworks and tools that are applied by nexus researchers and discuss some of the steps required to develop from nexus thinking to an operationalizable concept, with a consistent focus on scale and data availability

Scaling the nexus: Towards integrated frameworks for analyzing water, energy and food

The emergence of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has resulted in changes to the way we perceive our natural resources. Stressors such as climate change and population growth have highlighted the fragility of our WEF systems, necessitating integrated solutions across multiple scales. Whilst a number of frameworks and analytical tools have been developed since 2011, a comprehensive WEF nexus tool remains elusive, hindered in part by our limited data and understanding of the interdependencies and connections across the WEF systems. To achieve this, the community of academics, practitioners and policy-makers invested in WEF nexus research are addressing several critical areas that currently remain as barriers. Firstly, the plurality of scales (e.g., spatial, temporal, institutional, jurisdictional) necessitates a more comprehensive effort to assess interdependencies between water, energy and food, from household to institutional and national levels. Secondly, and closely related to scale, a lack of available data often hinders our ability to quantify physical stocks and flows of resources. Overcoming these barriers necessitates engaging multiple stakeholders, and using experiences and local insights to better understand nexus dynamics in particular locations or scenarios, and we exemplify this with the inclusion of a UK-based case-study on exploring the nexus in a particular geographical area. We elucidate many challenges that have arisen across nexus research, including the impact of multiple scales in operation, and concomitantly, what impact these scales have on data accessibility. We assess some of the critical frameworks and tools that are applied by nexus researchers and articulate some of the steps required to develop from nexus thinking to an operationalizable concept, with a consistent focus on scale and data availability

Assessing the living and dead proportions of cold-water coral colonies: implications for deep-water Marine Protected Area monitoring in a changing ocean

Coral growth patterns result from an interplay of coral biology and environmental conditions. In this study colony size and proportion of live and dead skeletons in the cold-water coral (CWC) Lophelia pertusa (Linnaeus, 1758) were measured using video footage from Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) transects conducted at the inshore Mingulay Reef Complex (MRC) and at the offshore PISCES site (Rockall Bank) in the NE Atlantic. The main goal of this paper was to explore the development of a simple method to quantify coral growth and its potential application as an assessment tool of the health of these remote habitats. Eighteen colonies were selected and whole colony and dead/living layer size were measured. Live to dead layer ratios for each colony were then determined and analysed. The age of each colony was estimated using previously published data. Our paper shows that: (1) two distinct morphotypes can be described: at the MRC, colonies displayed a ‘cauliflower-shaped’ morphotype whereas at the PISCES site, colonies presented a more flattened ‘bush-shaped’ morphotype; (2) living layer size was positively correlated with whole colony size; (3) live to dead layer ratio was negatively correlated to whole colony size; (4) live to dead layer ratio never exceeded 0.27. These results suggest that as a colony develops and its growth rate slows down, the proportion of living polyps in the colony decreases. Furthermore, at least 73% of L. pertusa colonies are composed of exposed dead coral skeleton, vulnerable to ocean acidification and the associated shallowing of the aragonite saturation horizon, with significant implications for future deep-sea reef framework integrity. The clear visual contrast between white/pale living and grey/dark dead portions of the colonies also gives a new way by which they can be visually monitored over time. The increased use of marine autonomous survey vehicles offers an important new platform from which such a surveying technique could be applied to monitor deep-water marine protected areas in the futureVersión del edito

Seeing COVID-19 through an urban lens

COVID-19 has changed the face of cities and recast urban life globally. In turn, cities have become the major theatres of the crisis for a once-in-a-century test to global resilience. Global health governance has thus far struggled to face up to the urban character of the pandemic. The UN Secretary General recently called for a better appreciation of how COVID-19 is unfolding in “an urban world” if we are to rebuild more sustainably. We argue it is imperative do so by attending to urban inequalities that underpin the crisis, and by understanding the fundamental inclusive development opportunity at play here if we allow urban expertise, and cities, closer to the heart of the global response. Under the presumptive ‘new normal’ of COVID-19, multiple intersecting policy agendas have come to the fore not just in the shape of health concerns but also with regards to environmental sustainability and ‘green’ economic recovery. Much of this has had to do with recasting the ways we live in cities. The UN has already stressed that approximately 95% of COVID-19 cases have taken place in urban settlements, with over 1,500 cities affected worldwide. Many have made the case that post-pandemic planning discussion must transcend dualistic framings pitting ‘health’ versus ‘environmental’ concerns, whilst not giving in to simplistic economic growth approaches. By far and large that implies radical changes to our cities and urban livelihoods. Yet these are rarely at the centre of the multilateral debate. We urgently need to attend to the urban socio-economic crisis underpinning COVID-19 that unfolds amidst the most vulnerable in cities both at the inter- and intra-urban scale

Heterogeneity of clonogenic cells in acute myeloblastic leukemia.

The expression of differentiation-associated surface antigens by the clonogenic leukemic cells from 20 patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) was studied with a panel of seven cytotoxic monoclonal antibodies (anti-Ia, -MY9, -PM-81, -AML-2-23, -Mol, -Mo2, and -MY3). The surface antigen phenotypes of the clonogenic cells were compared with the phenotypes of the whole leukemic cell population, and with the phenotypes of normal hematopoietic progenitor cells. In each case the clonogenic leukemic cells were found within a distinct subpopulation that was less "differentiated" than the total cell population. Clonogenic leukemic cells from different patients could be divided into three phenotype groups. In the first group (7 of 20 cases), the clonogenic cells expressed surface antigens characteristic of the normal multipotent colony-forming cell (Ia, MY9). These cases tended to have "undifferentiated" (FAB M1) morphology, and the total cell population generally lacked expression of "late" monocyte antigens such as MY3 and Mo2. A second group (seven cases) of clonogenic cells expressed surface antigens characteristic of an "early" (day 14) colony-forming unit granulocyte-monocyte (CFU-GM), and a third group (six cases) was characteristic of a "late" (day 7) CFU-GM. The cases in these latter two groups tended to have myelomonocytic (FAB M4) morphology and to express monocyte surface antigens. These results suggest that the clonogenic cells are a distinct subpopulation in all cases of AML, and may be derived from normal hematopoietic progenitor cells at multiple points in the differentiation pathway. The results further support the possibility that selected monoclonal antibodies have the potential to purge leukemic clonogenic cells from bone marrow in some AML patients without eliminating critical normal progenitor cells