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Home Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Climate Change in Cities Chapter Water-Energy-Food Nexus Under Climate Change: Analyzing Different Regional Socio-ecological Contexts in Brazil Lincoln M. Alves, Jean P. H. B. Ometto, Gustavo F. B. Arcoverde, Evandro A. Branco & Peter Toledo Chapter First Online: 16 November 2022 244 Accesses Part of the Sustainable Development Goals Series book series (SDGS) Abstract Climate change, which has been associated with emerging and even elevated risks on the safety and well-being of societies, has already proved to be a significant challenge in todays world. Furthermore, a new set of IPCC climate projections reveals that rainfall and high-temperature extremes are expected to exceed the extreme conditions already experienced in Brazil. Such conditions are expressed by several events such as the drought and water crisis in the southeastern region in 20142015; drought in the northeast region during 20102016; and droughts in Amazonia in 2005, 2010, and 2016 and floods in 2009. These extreme events place several challenges on health, infrastructure, agriculture, biodiversity, and water resources, and therefore with significant environmental and socioeconomic implications. A major focus of this chapter is to provide elements to better inform users from government, organizations, professionals, and individuals on how climate change is likely to impact the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in Brazil. For that purpose, two case studies will be discussed: (i) why a nexus approach to resource management is important for Cerrado and Caatinga biome, Brazils largest available stock of land for agricultural expansion and renewable energy production (NEXUS Project), and (ii) we analyzed the Paraíba do Sul river basin, which encloses one of the most developed and industrialized regions in Brazil. The first case refers to the development of analyses on the transformation for sustainability in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes, considering the construction, isbn: 9783031054, Pages: 59-75

Climate change, which has been associated with emerging and even elevated risks on the safety and well-being of societies, has already proved to be a signicant challenge in todays world. Furthermore, a new set of IPCC climate projections reveals that rainfall and hightemperature extremes are expected to exceed the extreme conditions already experienced in Brazil. Such conditions are expressed by several events such as the drought and water crisis in the southeastern region in 20142015; drought in the northeast region during 2010 2016; and droughts in Amazonia in 2005, 2010, and 2016 and oods in 2009. These extreme events place several challenges on health, infrastructure, agriculture, biodiversity, and water resources, and therefore with signicant environmental and socioeconomic implications. A major focus of this chapter is to provide elements to better inform users from government, organizations, professionals, and individuals on how climate change is likely to impact the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in Brazil. For that purpose, two case studies will be discussed: (i) why a nexus approach to resource management is important for Cerrado and Caatinga biome, Brazils largest available stock of land for agricultural expansion and renewable energy production (NEXUS Project), and (ii) we analyzed the Paraíba do Sul river basin, which encloses one of the most developed and industrialized regions in Brazil. The rst case refers to the development of analyses on the transformation for sustainability in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes, considering the construction of scenarios and indicators, built through a participatory approach. The identication and construction of indicators were carried out in a collaborative way with experts using the 2030 Agenda target framework., isbn: 9783031054, Volume: 1, Pages: 1-341

Climate change, which has been associated with emerging and even elevated risks on the safety and well-being of societies, has already proved to be a significant challenge in todays world. Furthermore, a new set of IPCC climate projections reveals that rainfall and high-temperature extremes are expected to exceed the extreme conditions already experienced in Brazil. Such conditions are expressed by several events such as the drought and water crisis in the southeastern region in 20142015; drought in the northeast region during 20102016; and droughts in Amazonia in 2005, 2010, and 2016 and floods in 2009. These extreme events place several challenges on health, infrastructure, agriculture, biodiversity, and water resources, and therefore with significant environmental and socioeconomic implications. A major focus of this chapter is to provide elements to better inform users from government, organizations, professionals, and individuals on how climate change is likely to impact the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in Brazil. For that purpose, two case studies will be discussed: (i) why a nexus approach to resource management is important for Cerrado and Caatinga biome, Brazils largest available stock of land for agricultural expansion and renewable energy production (NEXUS Project), and (ii) we analyzed the Paraíba do Sul river basin, which encloses one of the most developed and industrialized regions in Brazil. The first case refers to the development of analyses on the transformation for sustainability in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes, considering the construction of scenarios and indicators, built through a participatory approach. The identification and construction of indicators were carried out in a collaborative way with experts using the 2030 Agenda target framework., Pages: 59-75

The activities related to the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) Latin America Regional Centre started in the early 2000s, in association with the international actions within the nitrogen (N) field. The office in Latin America was proposed in the context of broad global and local environmental changes and the agricultural need for nutrient addition, looking into processes that would horizontally permeate between these two important elements for human survival and for the Earths system. However, the lack of information on the nitrogen cycle in Latin America is a serious impediment to evaluate properly how human activity is altering nitrogen pools and turnover at regional and global scales. Empirical measurements of N deposition and other N cycle processes are extremely scarce in Latin America, and data feeding to global and regional circulation models lack spatial distribution information in this region., Pages: 499-514

Environmental sanitation is one of the main causing factors of water use conflicts at the Rio Grande Basin, Brazil. The precariousness of sanitation conditions in the area degrades water resources and affects the health and quality of life of the local population, as well as regional economic development. In this context, this study aims to assess the environmental sanitation sustainability condition in two Rio Grande Basin (BHRG) water management units. An evaluation index system grouped into three subsystems (economic, social and environmental) was applied to this end, carried out for the years of 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014. The indicator and subsystem weights were based on the Entropy Information concept. The empirical results of this study indicated unacceptable environmental sanitation sustainability conditions for both assessed water management units. This study, thus, demonstrates the impacts of economic development and environmental quality on the human subsystem. In addition, it provides theoretical implications and practical approaches for assessing sanitation conditions under the sustainable development scenario, and may assist in planning actions and decision-making processes to meet the goals of Objective for Sustainable Development 6 stipulated for 2030 by the United Nations., Pages: 273-289

Environmental sanitation is one of the main causing factors of water use conflicts at the Rio Grande Basin, Brazil. The precariousness of sanitation conditions in the area degrades water resources and affects the health and quality of life of the local population, as well as regional economic development. In this context, this study aims to assess the environmental sanitation sustainability condition in two Rio Grande Basin (BHRG) water management units. An evaluation index system grouped into three subsystems (economic, social and environmental) was applied to this end, carried out for the years of 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014. The indicator and subsystem weights were based on the Entropy Information concept. The empirical results of this study indicated unacceptable environmental sanitation sustainability conditions for both assessed water management units. This study, thus, demonstrates the impacts of economic development and environmental quality on the human subsystem. In addition, it provides theoretical implications and practical approaches for assessing sanitation conditions under the sustainable development scenario, and may assist in planning actions and decision-making processes to meet the goals of Objective for Sustainable Development 6 stipulated for 2030 by the United Nations., Pages: 273-289

Tropical forests play a critical role in the global carbon budget, and the Amazon region in South America has particular importance since it represents half the worlds rainforest area and is home to one-third of Earths species. In the recent past, parts of Brazilian Amazon faced high rates of deforestation, and this process has led to changes in the environment and society. Since the 1960s, strategies for the occupation of Brazilian Amazon have promoted land use and land cover change that led to deforesting of about 18 % of the original vegetation cover. The main drivers of changes in land use and land cover in the past 50 years have been infrastructure development, financial incentives to land occupation, agriculture and pasture. Deforestation has affected biodiversity, soil structure, hydrological regime and local climate, and, through a positive feedback, it is likely to be affecting regional climate beyond the Amazon basin. We provide an overview of the extent and dynamics of land use and land use change in Brazilian Amazon forest from 1960 to 2013 and discuss the environmental and social aspects related to the deforestation process., Pages: 369-383

This chapter reports the findings of a Working Group on how atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition affects both terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity. Regional and global scale impacts on biodiversity are addressed, together with potential indicators. Key conclusions are that: the rates of loss in biodiversity are greatest at the lowest and initial stages of N deposition increase; changes in species compositions are related to the relative amounts of N, carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) in the plant soil system; enhanced N inputs have implications for C cycling; N deposition is known to be having adverse effects on European and North American vegetation composition; very little is known about tropical ecosystem responses, while tropical ecosystems are major biodiversity hotspots and are increasingly recipients of very high N deposition rates; N deposition alters forest fungi and mycorrhyzal relations with plants; the rapid response of forest fungi and arthropods makes them good indicators of change; predictive tools (models) that address ecosystem scale processes are necessary to address complex drivers and responses, including the integration of N deposition, climate change and land use effects; criteria can be identified for projecting sensitivity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to N deposition. Future research and policy-relevant recommendations are identified.