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Sustainable Development and Climate, Energy, and Food Security Nexus
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Sustainable Development and Climate, Energy, and Food Security Nexus

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 798

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tetsuji Tanaka

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economics, Meiji Gakuin University, 1-2-37 Shirokanedai, Minato 108-8636, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: global food security; food-energy relationship; climate change; computable general equilibrium models

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to open up submissions to this Special Issue of Sustainability, titled "Sustainable Development and Climate, Energy, and Food Security Nexus". This Special Issue focuses on the critical interconnections between climate change, energy systems, and food security, offering a comprehensive exploration of how these elements interact within the context of sustainable development.

Focus, Scope, and Purpose:

This Special Issue aims to foster a deeper understanding of how global and regional climate dynamics, energy transitions, and food systems intersect. The focus is on exploring sustainable development strategies that can address these challenges, identifying solutions that enhance resilience, ensure food security, and support sustainable energy use.

We welcome contributions that address the following:

  • The role of climate policies in transforming energy and food systems.
  • Innovations in sustainable energy production and their implications for food security.
  • The economic, social, and environmental impacts of food and energy insecurities, and how these are exacerbated by climate change.
  • Multiscale governance approaches and policies to enhance resilience in the food and energy sectors.

The scope of this Special Issue is broad and incorporates interdisciplinary perspectives including, but not limited to, economics, environmental science, energy policy, agriculture, and global development. We encourage studies that utilize novel theoretical frameworks and quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as well as case studies conducted across diverse geographic regions.

This Issue’s Relationship to the Existing Literature:

While the existing literature has examined the climate–energy–food nexus, this Special Issue seeks to advance the discussion by emphasizing actionable insights and their relevance for policy. It will supplement the growing body of research by offering empirical case studies and theoretical advancements that provide a more integrated perspective. This Issue will help bridge gaps between research on sustainable energy, climate change mitigation, and food system resilience, addressing urgent questions related to the global sustainable development goals (SDGs).

I welcome original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and conceptual frameworks that contribute to this pressing field of study.

I look forward to your contributions.

Dr. Tetsuji Tanaka
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • climate change
  • energy transitions
  • food security
  • sustainable development
  • resilience
  • nexus thinking
  • policy innovation
  • SDGs

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 1022 KiB  
Article
Impact of Biochar Interlayer on Surface Soil Salt Content, Salt Migration, and Photosynthetic Activity and Yield of Sunflowers: Laboratory and Field Studies
by Muhammad Irfan, Gamal El Afandi, Amira Moustafa, Salem Ibrahim and Santosh Sapkota
Sustainability 2025, 17(12), 5642; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17125642 - 19 Jun 2025
Viewed by 393
Abstract
Soil salinization presents a significant challenge, driven by factors such as inadequate drainage, shallow aquifers, and high evaporation rates, threatening global food security. The sunflower emerges as a key cash crop in such areas, providing the opportunity to convert its straw into biochar, [...] Read more.
Soil salinization presents a significant challenge, driven by factors such as inadequate drainage, shallow aquifers, and high evaporation rates, threatening global food security. The sunflower emerges as a key cash crop in such areas, providing the opportunity to convert its straw into biochar, which offers additional agronomic and environmental benefits. This study investigates the effectiveness of biochar interlayers in enhancing salt leaching and suppressing upward salt migration through integrated laboratory and field experiments. The effectiveness of varying biochar interlayer application rates was assessed in promoting salt leaching, decreasing soil electrical conductivity (EC), and enhancing crop performance in saline soils through a systematic approach that combines laboratory and field experiments. The biochar treatments included a control (CK) and different applications of 20 (BL20), 40 (BL40), 60 (BL60), and 80 (BL80) tons of biochar per hectare, all applied below a depth of 20 cm, with each treatment replicated three times. The laboratory and field experimental setups maintained consistency in terms of biochar treatments and interlayer placement methodology. During the laboratory column experiments, the soil columns were treated with deionized water, and their leachates were analyzed for EC and major ionic components. The results showed that columns with biochar interlayers exhibited significantly higher efflux rates compared to those of the control and notably accelerated the time required for the effluent EC to decrease to 2 dS m−1. The CK required 43 days for full discharge and 38 days for EC stabilization below 2 dS m−1. In contrast, biochar treatments notably reduced these times, with BL80 achieving discharge in just 7 days and EC stabilization in 10 days. Elution events occurred 20–36 days earlier in the biochar-treated columns, confirming biochar’s effectiveness in enhancing leaching efficiency in saline soils. The field experiment results supported the laboratory findings, indicating that increased biochar application rates significantly reduced soil EC and ion concentrations at depths of 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm, lowering the EC from 7.12 to 2.25 dS m−1 and from 6.30 to 2.41 dS m−1 in their respective layers. The application of biochar interlayers resulted in significant reductions in Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, SO42−, and HCO3− concentrations across both soil layers. In the 0–20 cm layer, Na+ decreased from 3.44 to 2.75 mg·g−1, K+ from 0.24 to 0.11 mg·g−1, Ca2+ from 0.35 to 0.20 mg·g−1, Mg2+ from 0.31 to 0.24 mg·g−1, Cl− from 1.22 to 0.88 mg·g−1, SO42− from 1.91 to 1.30 mg·g−1 and HCO3− from 0.39 to 0.18 mg·g−1, respectively. Similarly, in the 20–40 cm layer, Na+ declined from 3.62 to 3.05 mg·g−1, K+ from 0.28 to 0.12 mg·g−1, Ca2+ from 0.39 to 0.26 mg·g−1, Mg2+ from 0.36 to 0.27 mg·g−1, Cl− from 1.18 to 0.80 mg·g−1, SO42− from 1.95 to 1.33 mg·g−1 and HCO3− from 0.42 to 0.21 mg·g−1 under increasing biochar rates. Moreover, the use of biochar interlayers significantly improved the physiological traits of sunflowers, including their photosynthesis rates, stomatal conductance, and transpiration efficiency, thereby boosting biomass and achene yield. These results highlight the potential of biochar interlayers as a sustainable strategy for soil desalination, water conservation, and enhanced crop productivity. This approach is especially promising for managing salt-affected soils in regions like California, where soil salinization represents a considerable threat to agricultural sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development and Climate, Energy, and Food Security Nexus)
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