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From Agricultural Pollution to Ecosystem Restoration: Pathways Toward Sustainability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Pollution Prevention, Mitigation and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 February 2027 | Viewed by 130

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Democritus Univeristy of Thrace, Komotini, Greece
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; water monitoring; constructed wetlands; environmental analysis; water quality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Anthropogenic activities, particularly agricultural activities such as intensive farming practices; excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides and veterinary pharmaceuticals; improper management of livestock waste and waste from agro-industries; and land-use changes, exert significant pressures on natural ecosystems and result in environmental pollution. Consequently, soils, sediments, surface water, groundwater systems, and even coastal water are increasingly affected by nutrient enrichment, heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and emerging contaminants, leading to ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, deterioration of water quality, and increased risks to human health.This Special Issue focuses therefore on the assessment of ecosystem pollution driven by anthropogenic activities, as well as on remediation, restoration, and sustainable environmental management strategies.

The scope includes ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic, emphasizing pollutant sources, fates, and transport pathways; possibilities for bioavailability, bioaccumulation, and biomagnification; and interactions between soil, sediment, and water. By adopting an integrated ecosystem-based approach, this Special Issue aims to improve understanding of cumulative and long-term impacts of agricultural pressures on ecosystem functioning and resilience.

The overarching goal of this Special Issue is to provide a multidisciplinary platform that advances scientific knowledge while supporting practical solutions for sustainability. Particularly encouraged are contributions that address the monitoring and modeling of (agricultural) pollution, the evaluation of innovative remediation techniques (such as bioremediation, phytoremediation, and nature-based solutions), and the implementation of sustainable agricultural and land management practices. This Special Issue also focuses on the development of sustainability indicators, decision-support tools, and assessment frameworks that facilitate evidence-based management and policy-making.

In relation to the existing literature, this Special Issue seeks to complement and extend current research by bridging fundamental environmental science with applied sustainability approaches. By integrating scientific, technological, and socio-economic perspectives, this Special Issue will support the design of effective mitigation and restoration strategies and contribute to the transition toward resilient agroecosystems and sustainable development at local, regional, and global scales.

Dr. Vassiliki Papaevangelou
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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

  • agricultural pollution
  • soil contamination
  • water quality
  • sediments
  • agroecosystems
  • remediation
  • bioremediation
  • phytoremediation
  • nature-based solutions
  • sustainability assessment
  • environmental management
  • sustainable agriculture

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 2648 KB  
Article
Research on Farmland Drainage Pollutant Reduction Techniques in Hetao Irrigation District Under Ecological Drainage Ditch Conditions
by Shichao Chen, Qianzhen Niu, Fuqiang Guo, Yizhen Huo, Libin Zeng and Zhen Hu
Sustainability 2026, 18(10), 5053; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18105053 - 18 May 2026
Abstract
To alleviate the eutrophication in the Wuliangsuhai watershed and evaluate the pollutant reduction performance of ecological drainage ditches in the Hetao Irrigation District, a controlled field simulation experiment was conducted using synthetic agricultural return-flow water formulated from long-term monitoring data. Three leguminous plant [...] Read more.
To alleviate the eutrophication in the Wuliangsuhai watershed and evaluate the pollutant reduction performance of ecological drainage ditches in the Hetao Irrigation District, a controlled field simulation experiment was conducted using synthetic agricultural return-flow water formulated from long-term monitoring data. Three leguminous plant treatments, two microbial substrate treatments, and one control were established to compare the migration and transformation of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in overlying water, sediment, and plants under different hydraulic retention time intervals (0–6 h, 6–12 h, and 12–18 h). The results showed that plant treatments generally improved conventional water quality indicators, with increased pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) and decreased electrical conductivity, salinity, and total dissolved solids, whereas microbial substrate treatments tended to reduce DO. Pollutant reduction performance differed among treatments. Medicago sativa showed the strongest TN removal from overlying water, Microbial biological rope exhibited the best TP removal from overlying water, and Melilotus suaveolens performed best in COD reduction. Among all plant treatments, Astragalus laxmannii exhibited the most stable overall performance and a relatively strong integrated capacity for nitrogen and phosphorus retention. Most TN and TP reduction in overlying water and sediment occurred during the initial hydraulic retention time interval of 0–6 h, whereas TN plant uptake became more evident during 12–18 h. These findings suggest that ecological drainage ditches vegetated with locally adapted leguminous species have potential to mitigate agricultural non-point source pollution in arid irrigation districts. In particular, Astragalus laxmannii appears to be a promising candidate for ecological ditch design in the Hetao Irrigation District. However, this study was conducted under controlled synthetic return-flow conditions rather than with actual field drainage water, and no tracer-based hydrodynamic verification was performed; therefore, the reported hydraulic retention time effects and treatment efficiencies should be interpreted cautiously. Further field-scale validations under real drainage, seasonal variation, and long-term operation conditions are still needed. Full article
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