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In light of the environmental challenges currently facing humanity, the issue of the environmental sustainability of crop production is becoming increasingly pressing. This is due to the fact that global population growth and the related demand for food are placing significant pressure on the environment. Wheat is a strategic crop globally due to its extensive cultivation area, high production and consumption levels, and vital nutritional properties. It is cultivated across diverse climatic conditions and within various agricultural production systems. It is of the utmost importance to pursue sustainable wheat production on a global scale, given the necessity to protect the environment and climate. The application of life cycle assessment (LCA) enables the identification of potential avenues for enhancing wheat production processes, thereby reducing the negative environmental impacts associated with these processes. This paper presents a synthesis of the existing literature on the environmental LCA of wheat grain production. It compares the impacts of different production systems, highlights critical stages in wheat cultivation, and provides recommendations for sustainable practices and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Polish law, no mechanisms exist to maximize the application and protection of blue and green infrastructure (BGI) in urban areas. A comprehensive legal framework does not entirely govern urban BGI facilities. Urban planning lacks an appropriate indicator, first and foremost. This study aimed to analyze the Polish legal criteria for the viability of designing and implementing BGI facilities. The authors also researched ways to aid legislators in growing and maintaining BGI in urban areas. In Poznań, a case study was carried out on applying the greenery planning and design law. Local spatial development plans (MPZP) are now the only legal tools in Poland that allow for the protection and establishment of BGI. According to data from Statistics Poland for 2021, the proportion of the country's total area covered by existing local plans (based on current law) is around 20.51%. When the MPZP does not cover a portion of a municipality, administrative decisions are made by issuing development conditions (WZ) for the plot. WZ may become a tool for environmental damage under investment pressure. Ideas put forward by the authors are: (1) creating urban nature reserves (as one method of land use); (2) evaluating BGI as an integral part of eco-physiographic studies and spatial planning; and (3) creating a new urban indicator with more complex parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment and mapping of riverine flood hazards and risks is recognized by many countries as an important tool for characterizing floods and developing flood management plans. Often, however, these management plans give attention primarily to open-water floods, with ice-jam floods being mostly an afterthought once these plans have been drafted. In some Nordic regions, ice-jam floods can be more severe than open-water floods, with floodwater levels of ice-jam floods often exceeding levels of open-water floods for the same return periods. Hence, it is imperative that flooding due to river ice processes be considered in flood management plans. This also pertains to European member states who are required to submit renewed flood management plans every six years to the European governance authorities. On 19 and 20 October 2022, a workshop entitled "Assessing and mitigating ice-jam flood hazard and risk" was hosted in Poznań, Poland to explore the necessity of incorporating ice-jam flood hazard and risk assessments in the European Union's Flood Directive. The presentations given at the workshop provided a good overview of flood risk assessments in Europe and how they may change due to the climate in the future. Perspectives from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Poland were presented. Mitigation measures, particularly the artificial breakage of river ice covers and ice-jam flood forecasting, were shared. Advances in ice processes were also presented at the workshop, including state-of-the-art developments in tracking ice-floe velocities using particle tracking velocimetry, characterizing hanging dam ice, designing new ice-control structures, detecting, and monitoring river ice covers using composite imagery from both radar and optical satellite sensors, and calculating ice-jam flood hazards using a stochastic modelling approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake: The spelling of the Joanna O'Keeffe' name was incorrect. The correct spelling is Joanna O'Keeffe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]