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1. Incorporating Historical Spring Discharge Protection Into Sustainable Groundwater Management: A Case Study From Pearl Harbor Aquifer, Hawai‘i

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2020.00014  

   Burnett, Kimberly M. (July 2020, Frontiers in water)

   Groundwater management policy around the world increasingly seeks to protect groundwater-dependent ecosystems and associated human uses and values. This includes uses of ecosystems and agricultural systems linked to natural spring discharge. Yet, there are few examples of practical tools to balance human groundwater use with ecological water demand related to spring discharge. Using a simulation optimization framework, we directly incorporate a spring discharge constraint into the analysis of sustainable yield for operationalizing groundwater policy in the state of Hawai‘i. Our application on the island of O‘ahu is a spring discharge-dependent watercress farm with historical, cultural, and ecological significance. This research provides decision-makers in Hawai‘i with information regarding the trade-off between groundwater pumping and spring discharge, which is connected to multiple benefits, including historical and cultural values in line with codified state beneficial use protections. Because this trade-off provides an important step in operationalizing sustainable yield policy in Hawai‘i, we conclude by discussing further conceptual and technical developments necessary to move groundwater policy in Hawai‘i closer to full incorporation of the public trust principles of the state water code. 

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2. The Socio-Cultural Benefits of Urban Agriculture: A Review of the Literature

   https://doi.org/10.3390/land11050622  

   Ilieva, Rositsa T.; Cohen, Nevin; Israel, Maggie; Specht, Kathrin; Fox-Kämper, Runrid; Fargue-Lelièvre, Agnès; Poniży, Lidia; Schoen, Victoria; Caputo, Silvio; Kirby, Caitlin K.; et al (May 2022, Land)

   Despite extensive literature on the socio-cultural services of urban open spaces, the role of food-producing spaces has not received sufficient attention. This hampers advocacy for preserving and growing urban agricultural activities, often dismissed on justifications that their contributions to overall food supply are negligible. To understand how the social benefits of urban agriculture have been measured, we conducted a systematic review of 272 peer-reviewed publications, which drew on insights from urban agriculture sites in 57 different countries. Through content analysis, we investigated socio-cultural benefits in four spheres: engaged and cohesive communities, health and well-being, economic opportunities, and education. The analysis revealed growth in research on the social impacts of gardens and farms, with most studies measuring the effects on community cohesion and engagement, followed by increased availability and consumption of fruits and vegetables associated with reduced food insecurity and better health. Fewer studies assessed the impact of urban farming on educational and economic outcomes. Quantifying the multiple ways in which urban agriculture provides benefits to people will empower planners and the private sector to justify future investments. These findings are also informative for research theorizing cities as socio-ecological systems and broader efforts to measure the benefits of urban agriculture, in its many forms. 

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3. Consequences of climate change on food-energy-water systems in arid regions without agricultural adaptation, analyzed using FEWCalc and DSSAT

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105309  

   Phetheet, Jirapat; Hill, Mary C.; Barron, Robert W.; Rossi, Matthew W.; Amanor-Boadu, Vincent; Wu, Hongyu; Kisekka, Isaya (May 2021, Resources, Conservation and Recycling)

   Effects of a changing climate on agricultural system productivity are poorly understood, and likely to be met with as yet undefined agricultural adaptations by farmers and associated business and governmental entities. The continued vitality of agricultural systems depends on economic conditions that support farmers’ livelihoods. Exploring the long-term effects of adaptations requires modeling agricultural and economic conditions to engage stakeholders upon whom the burden of any adaptation will rest. Here, we use a new freeware model FEWCalc (Food-Energy-Water Calculator) to project farm incomes based on climate, crop selection, irrigation practices, water availability, and economic adaptation of adding renewable energy production. Thus, FEWCalc addresses United Nations Global Sustainability Goals No Hunger and Affordable and Clean Energy. Here, future climate scenario impacts on crop production and farm incomes are simulated when current agricultural practices continue so that no agricultural adaptations are enabled. The model Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) with added arid-region dynamics is used to simulate agricultural dynamics. Demonstrations at a site in the midwest USA with 2008–2017 historical data and two 2018–2098 RCP climate scenarios provide an initial quantification of increased agricultural challenges under climate change, such as reduced crop yields and increased financial losses. Results show how this finding is largely driven by increasing temperatures and changed distribution of precipitation throughout the year. Without effective technological advances and operational and policy changes, the simulations show how rural areas could increasingly depend economically on local renewable energy, while agricultural production from arid regions declines by 50% or more. 

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4. Field‐scale analysis of miscanthus production indicates climate change may increase the opportunity for water quality improvement in a key Iowa watershed

   https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.13078  

   Ferin, Kelsie M.; Balson, Tyler; Audia, Ellen; Ward, Adam S.; Liess, Stefan; Twine, Tracy E.; VanLoocke, Andy (June 2023, GCB Bioenergy)

   Abstract The Raccoon River Basin is the primary source for drinking water in Iowa's largest city and plays a major role in the Mississippi River Basin's high nutrient exports. Future climate change may have major impacts on the biological, physiological, and agronomic processes imposing a threat to ecosystem services. Efforts to reduce nitrogen (N) loads within this basin have included local litigation and the implementation of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, which suggest incorporating bioenergy crops (i.e., miscanthus) within the current corn–soybean landscape to reach a 41% reduction in nitrate loads. This study focuses on simulating N export for historical and future land use scenarios by using an agroecosystem model (Agro‐IBIS) and a hydrology model (THMB) at the 500‐m resolution, similar to the scale of agricultural fields. Model simulations are driven by CMIP5 climate data for historical, mid‐century, and late‐century under the RCP 4.5 and 8.5 warming projections. Using recent crop profit analyses for the state of Iowa, profitability maps were generated and nitrogen leaching thresholds were used to determine where miscanthus should replace corn–soybean area to maximize reductions in N pollution. Our results show that miscanthus inclusion on low profit and high N leaching areas can result in a 4% reduction of N loss under current climate conditions and may reduce N loss by 21%–26% under future climate conditions, implying that water quality has the potential continue to improve under future climate conditions when strategically implemented conservation practices are included in future farm management plans. 

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5. Zooming in on Arctic urban nature: green and blue space in Nadym, Siberia

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac0fa3  

   Fedorov, R; Kuklina, V; Sizov, O; Soromotin, A; Prihodko, N; Pechkin, A; Krasnenko, A; Lobanov, A; Esau, I (July 2021, Environmental Research Letters)

   Abstract Urban landscape combines built-up areas with strongly altered natural (green and blue) and other open spaces. Voluminous literature examines urban socio-environmental interactions in tropical and temperate cities, whereas high-latitude cities are rarely considered. Here, we create a historical perspective on urban green (vegetation) and blue (water) spaces in a sub-Arctic city of Nadym in Russia. Our study explores a novel way to combine quantitative information from satellite imagery and biometric studies with qualitative information from interviews with stakeholders and residents. Such a joint analysis helps to understand dynamics of the urban green and blue space as well as its value for society. Furthermore, we propose objective indicators reflecting societal values of spaces in connection with recreational and ecological services. By contrast to temperate city studies, we found that green space is less used in summer, but still highly valued, deep lakes are used and valued more than warmer shallow lakes, and winter white space do not shrink but enhance the urban public space. Satellite images reveal inevitable loss of green space to urban construction and its remediation by artificial plantings (almost by 30% at present), whereas less valued blue space decreased almost three-fold. Interviews reveal that shallow lakes have reduced recreational values due to ice bottom and algae bloom. High values are attributed to deep artificial lakes, which are more than ten times deeper than natural lakes and do not freeze throughout in winter. Our biometric studies show that trees in urban environment are significantly taller than in the corresponding undisturbed areas. Since majority of the Arctic cities are built using very similar planning ideas and technologies, our findings shall help objective appreciation of green and blue spaces in other settlements. 

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