Assessing performance of crop producers from Water-Energy-Food-Environment Nexus perspective: A composite indicator approach.

Among all the economic sectors, agricultural production is characterised by intensive natural resource use and a noticeable environmental footprint. The assessment of farm performance has been receiving special attention given the increasing scarcity of natural resources and growing environmental concerns. The nexus approach is particularly useful for such types of analysis since it reflects the complex interconnections among the sectors of water, energy, food and environment (WEFE). One way to explicitly place agricultural production within the WEFE Nexus is to develop a composite indicator at the level of decision-maker - farm - that will reflect the interlinkages between agricultural production and the Nexus pillars of water, energy and environment. Our study aims to operationalise the WEFE Nexus in the agricultural sector and contributes to the existing literature in two main directions: we propose a methodology to calculate the farm-level WEFE Nexus composite indicator using endogenous weights for aggregation, and our composite indicator incorporates the environment component reflecting how the environment and agricultural production interact. Furthermore, we developed an interactive web application that calculates the WEFE Nexus composite indicator values based on uploaded farm-level data (available at: https://sigmanexus.shinyapps.io/sigmanexus/). Our analysis of olive producers in Crete reveals moderate performance from a WEFE Nexus perspective. The average WEFE Nexus composite indicator value stands at 0.74, ranging between 0 and 1. Farmers who produce olives in an environmentally friendly manner and those who are concerned with the negative consequences of climate change tend to perform better from the WEFE Nexus perspective. Thus, the adoption of sustainable intensification activities and climate-smart practices, such as fertigation and pressure-compensated drippers, is recommended to enhance further the olive producers' performance. Monitoring the subsequent changes in farm performance can be achieved through the utilization of the developed methodological approach and the web tool launched as part of this study.

A review on risk assessment in managed aquifer recharge.

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) refers to a suite of methods that is increasingly being applied worldwide for sustainable groundwater management to tackle drinking or irrigation water shortage or to restore and maintain groundwater ecosystems. The potential for MAR is far from being exhausted, not only due to geological and hydrogeological conditions or technical and economic feasibility but also due to its lack of acceptance by the public and policymakers. One approach to enable the safe and accepted use of MAR could be to provide comprehensive risk management, including the identification, analysis, and evaluation of potential risks related to MAR. This article reviews current MAR risk assessment methodologies and guidelines and summarizes possible hazards and related processes. It may help planners and operators select the appropriate MAR risk assessment approaches and support the risk identification process. In addition to risk assessment (and subsequent risk treatment) related to the MAR implementation phase, this review also addresses risk assessment for MAR operation. We also highlight the limitations and lessons learned from the application and development of risk assessment methodologies. Moreover, developments are recommended in the area of MAR-related risk assessment methodologies and regulation. Depending on data availability, collected methodologies may be applicable for MAR sites worldwide. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1513-1529. © 2022 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).