Search Results (208)

Background: Adolescents in low- and middle-income countries face a disproportionate burden of dietary inadequacy, yet evidence on the determinants of overall diet quality remains scarce. This study assessed the prevalence of macro- and micronutrient inadequate intake and identified factors associated with dietary adequacy among adolescents in rural Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adolescents using multistage cluster sampling. Dietary intake was assessed through a single 24-hour dietary recall; nutrient adequacy was determined using age-and sex-specific Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) standards, including Estimated Average Requirements (EARs), Adequate Intakes (AIs), Estimated Energy Requirements (EERs), and Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (AMDRs), as appropriate. Overall dietary adequacy was quantified using the Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR), calculated as the unweighted mean of nutrient adequacy ratios for fourteen nutrients, including protein, fiber, calcium, iron, zinc, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamins A, B6, C, D, E, and folate, scaled from 0 to 100. Multivariable linear regression incorporating survey weights and clustering was used to identify independent predictors of MAR using STATA. Results: A total of 1132 adolescents were included. Most of the energy was derived from carbohydrates, and a high proportion of adolescents had energy intakes below age- and sex-specific Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) values, while very high levels of inadequacies were observed for protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin A. The mean MAR score was 54.04 ± 16.51, indicating overall poor dietary adequacy. In multivariable analysis, male sex (β = 3.26; 95% CI: 1.76, 4.75), belonging to the richest wealth quintile (β = 5.81; 95% CI: 1.76, 9.86), always eating between meals (β = 6.70; 95% CI: 3.93, 9.47), and use of bar soap for handwashing (β = 4.97; 95% CI: 2.00, 7.94) were significantly associated with higher dietary adequacy. Adolescents who were underweight (β = −2.40; 95% CI: −4.81, −0.11) and those with moderate physical activity levels (β = −3.96; 95% CI: −7.62, −0.29) had significantly lower dietary adequacy scores. Conclusions: Dietary inadequacy among rural adolescents in Pakistan was highly prevalent and was associated with socioeconomic, behavioral, and nutritional factors. These findings highlight the need for interventions that address food insecurity, promote equitable food distribution, and strengthen nutrition education to support adolescent health and nutrition. However, these findings should be interpreted in light of the cross-sectional design and the use of a single 24-hour dietary recall, which may not reflect habitual dietary intake. Full article

This article develops a systems-thinking framework to analyze and govern interconnections among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contemporary policy challenges, including food insecurity, climate change, water and energy security, inequality, urbanization, and conflict, are treated as complex systems characterized by feedback loops, delays, cross-sector dependencies, and unintended consequences. Drawing on a structured literature review, qualitative case analysis, and framework synthesis, the article translates core systems concepts into an operational workflow for coherent policy decision-making. The framework combines causal-loop analysis, leverage-point identification, cross-sector coordination, adaptive monitoring, and iterative learning. Two illustrative policy arenas, Zero Hunger and Climate Action, demonstrate how a systems lens can reveal reinforcing and balancing feedback loops, clarify synergies and trade-offs among SDGs, and support more coherent interventions. The article contributes to systems research by connecting conceptual tools from systems thinking with practical governance mechanisms for SDG implementation. It also identifies institutional, methodological, political economy, and financing barriers that limit adoption and proposes strategies for embedding systems analysis into policy design, budgeting, evaluation, and adaptive governance. Full article

Renewable energy technologies are increasingly recognized as essential solutions for mitigating energy insecurity and supporting sustainable development. Among solar thermal systems, parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) have attracted significant attention for medium-temperature heat generation due to their high optical concentration ratio and thermal conversion efficiency. However, the deployment of small-scale PTC systems in rural and resource-constrained regions remains limited due to high manufacturing costs, inadequate local designs, and insufficient experimental data on performance under African climatic conditions. This study presents the novel design, fabrication, and experimental evaluation of a low-cost small-scale PTC prototype specifically developed for the climatic conditions of Alice, South Africa. Unlike conventional systems primarily optimized for large-scale industrial applications, the proposed prototype integrates locally adaptable design parameters, including a 90° rim angle and a compact aperture width of 1.072 m, to enhance thermal performance while reducing fabrication complexity and material costs. The thermal performance of the system was experimentally evaluated using a CR1000 data acquisition system to continuously monitor solar irradiance, inlet and outlet fluid temperatures, ambient temperature, and wind conditions under real outdoor operating environments. The prototype achieved a peak thermal efficiency of 35% under a maximum global horizontal irradiance (GHI) of 470 W/m², demonstrating the technical feasibility of decentralized solar thermal energy systems for small-scale applications. The study further provides a detailed assessment of the influence of meteorological parameters on collector performance, revealing that solar irradiance is the dominant factor governing thermal output. In contrast, wind-induced convective heat losses substantially reduce system efficiency. The novelty of this work lies in the experimental validation of a cost-effective PTC design under South African climatic conditions, along with the identification of practical performance-enhancement strategies, including selective absorber coatings and improved thermal insulation, for small-scale solar thermal applications. Full article

Sustainable agri-food value chains depend on the capacity of smallholders to participate in markets in stable, remunerative and upgrade-oriented ways, yet in conflict-affected and politically constrained settings this capacity is weakened by mobility restrictions, insecure logistics, payment disruption, volatile inputs, thin market information and uncertain enforcement. This study aims to explain how such constraints reshape smallholder market integration and under what conditions governance and institutional arrangements stabilize, rather than reproduce, market exclusion. An integrative review was conducted following established methodological guidance. A structured search of Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar, extended by citation tracing, returned 821 records; after de-duplication and two-stage screening against explicit eligibility criteria, 44 studies were retained, of which 35 empirical studies form the evidence corpus. Each study was coded with a five-field extraction matrix across seven diagnostic dimensions—inputs and supplies, production capacity and technology, end-markets and trade, value-chain governance, sustainable production and energy use, value-chain finance, and the business and socio-political environment—and appraised for methodological quality with the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, so that heterogeneous designs were weighted rather than treated as equivalent. The synthesis shows that the most binding constraints are transactional and institutional rather than purely technical, and that governance operates as a conditional bridge: cooperatives, contracting, trader coordination, market-support institutions and public enabling arrangements lower transaction costs and stabilize exchange only where transparency, credible enforcement, fair risk-sharing and protection against opportunism are present; where these are absent, the same arrangements shift risk onto farmers. The review derives a measurement-focused, equity-sensitive research agenda for resilient and sustainable value-chain integration under constraints. Full article

In an era of accelerating geopolitical realignments and intensifying climate volatility, the interconnected domains of land, food, and climate have emerged as critical axes of global inequality, demanding renewed attention within sustainability education. This study addresses the central problem that existing geography, environmental, and sustainability curricula rarely engage with the geopolitical forces shaping Water, Energy, Land and Food (WELF), thereby obscuring progress toward achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 15 (Life on Land). Situated within the Water, Energy, Land, and Food (WELF) nexus. Employing a Systematic Literature Review methodology, guided by PRISMA protocols and grounded in Political Ecology Theory, findings reveal that agricultural protectionism and land-grabbing dynamics originating from the Global North exacerbate climate-induced food insecurity and land dispossession in the Global South. Critically, the synthesis demonstrates that these dimensions of climate–food geopolitics remain inadequately addressed in existing curricula, leaving learners ill-equipped to critically analyze the structural forces underlying land-based vulnerabilities. The study recommends embedding land–food–climate geopolitics into sustainability curricula through decolonial, systems-thinking pedagogies; integrating scenario-based simulations of land-centric climate negotiations; and developing transdisciplinary modules that combine geospatial land-use analysis, political economy of agrifood systems, and indigenous land knowledge. Full article

Fuel poverty is shaped by interacting social, environmental and housing conditions, yet these links remain underexplored at city scale. The analysis is framed as an ecological, cross-sectional assessment of spatial associations rather than as a causal proof of a closed feedback mechanism. This study examines the relationship between fuel poverty, deprivation, particulate air pollution and housing typology across 54 wards in Liverpool, UK. Ward-level fuel poverty and Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) data were integrated with 2023–2024 annual mean particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀) from 58 low-cost air-quality sensors and classified housing types. Regression models were used to compare individual, additive and interaction effects. Fuel poverty ranged from 12.4% to 25.29%, while PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ frequently exceeded World Health Organization guideline values. IMD was the strongest individual predictor of fuel poverty (R² = 0.281, $p<0.001$). The preferred additive model including IMD, PM_2.5, PM₁₀ and housing type explained 43.5% of the variance, with Victorian Terraces emerging as a significant risk factor. Although interaction models suggested pollution-deprivation coupling, model selection and uncertainty diagnostics favoured the simpler additive specification. The findings support targeted retrofit, fuel-poverty and emissions-control policies in deprived urban neighbourhoods where inefficient housing and environmental stressors compound energy insecurity and where local action can contribute to more equitable urban sustainability. Full article

Since its introduction to Burkina Faso, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) has become a promising crop for diversifying cereal-based diets in a context marked by food insecurity, childhood malnutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies. This study compared five quinoa varieties (Titicaca, Psankalla, Puno, Negra Colana, and Salcedo Inia) cultivated in Burkina Faso, with emphasis on their relevance to human nutrition. Therefore, physicochemical parameters, proximate composition, amino acid profiles, and mineral composition were determined. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed among varieties for most parameters. Salcedo Inia exhibited the highest energy value (372.56 kcal/100 g), while Titicaca exhibited the greatest protein content (17.89 g/100 g) and lipid content (5.82 g/100 g). Psankalla and Puno presented favorable essential amino acid profiles, including lysine, supporting their potential use in cereal-based complementary foods. Negra Colana exhibited the highest crude fiber content (9.66 g/100 g) and the highest concentrations of several minerals, including iron, calcium, magnesium, and zinc, suggesting potential relevance for dietary strategies to improve micronutrient intake. The swelling behavior of selected quinoa varieties also suggests their suitability for soft, rehydrated formulations suitable for vulnerable populations. In general, Burkina Faso-cultivated quinoa varieties demonstrated promising nutritional attributes that could support dietary diversification, improve protein quality, and increase mineral intake. To our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically compare the nutritional profiles of five quinoa varieties cultivated under Sahelian agroecological conditions. Beyond its relevance for Burkina Faso, this study provides novel evidence on the expression of genotype-dependent nutritional traits in quinoa outside traditional production regions, supporting climate-resilient crop diversification and the development of quinoa-based complementary foods for vulnerable populations in food-insecure settings. Full article

Background/Objectives: Excess weight and dyslipidemia are health conditions growing worldwide in children, including indigenous populations. The concern is their related comorbidities, which could appear at an early age. Given limited information on Seri children, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of excess weight and dyslipidemia, and to identify factors associated with BMI-for-age Z-score and dyslipidemia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among Seri children aged 3–11 years. For prevalence analysis, the BMI-for-age Z-score was calculated as an indicator of excess weight. Dyslipidemia was assessed only in school-age children. Information was collected on potential associated variables, including maternal nutritional status, children’s sleep behaviors, physical activity, diet, and cardiovascular health, as well as household characteristics such as the modernity index and food insecurity. Results: A total of 154 Seri children were evaluated. Among preschoolers, 18.8% were classified at risk of overweight. In school-age children, the combined prevalence of overweight and obesity was 32.8%. Maternal BMI and weight, the modernity index, and being a boy were positively associated with the BMI-for-age Z-score, whereas having food insecurity, cardiovascular health score, and sleep time were negatively associated. Dyslipidemia prevalence was 46.1% among school-age Seri children. Having dyslipidemia was positively associated with maternal BMI, percentage of energy intake from ultra-processed products, paternal occupation as a merchant, and child age, and negatively associated with the number of remunerative maternal economic activities. Conclusions: These findings provide evidence on the prevalence of excess weight and dyslipidemia and their associated factors among Seri children and may inform future research and health strategies in Seri and other vulnerable populations. Full article

Socio-spatial inequality remains a defining feature of climate vulnerability in South Africa, where historically formed patterns of segregation continue to shape uneven access to infrastructure, services, and environmental resources. This study presents a narrative review of how historical spatial planning has structured persistent disparities in exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity across urban and rural landscapes. Evidence from the literature demonstrates that apartheid-era spatial planning established durable inequalities in water and sanitation provision, green infrastructure distribution, and proximity to environmental hazards, which continue to influence contemporary climate risk profiles. These inequalities are further reinforced through socio-economic stratification, particularly in the context of energy transitions, where access to private renewable energy systems is concentrated among wealthier households, while poorer communities remain dependent on unstable public electricity infrastructure. The review also incorporates land and soil systems as critical but often minimized dimensions of vulnerability, showing how soil degradation and unequal access to productive land contribute to livelihood insecurity and reinforce rural and peri-urban marginalization. In addition, emerging responses such as just transition frameworks, grassroots environmental justice movements, and energy democracy initiatives are examined with regard to the structural constraints that limit their effectiveness in addressing entrenched inequalities. Overall, the analysis highlights that climate vulnerability in South Africa is deeply embedded in historical and ongoing socio-spatial and socio-economic inequalities that continue to shape differentiated environmental outcomes. Full article

As global trends continue to embrace environmentally friendly, plant-based diets, food systems that are nutrient-dense, climate-resilient, and economically viable in addressing protein–energy malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and food insecurity have increased. Although cereal–legume combinations are widely recognised to be highly nutritious, most studies have focused primarily on enhancing compositional efficiency and have overlooked their interactions with the food matrix and the processing-mediated transformations they undergo. This review combines recent findings examining cereal–legume food matrices as functional systems, with particular emphasis on nutritional complementarity, bioactive interactions, processing-induced modifications, and sensory acceptability. Studies indicate that cereals and legumes provide complementary amino acid profiles, dietary fibre, essential micronutrients, and phytochemicals within these composite matrices that influence digestibility, bioavailability, antioxidant activity, and glycaemic response. Processing methods, including fermentation, germination, roasting, and extrusion, modulate these interactions by releasing bound phenolics, reducing antinutritional factors, and altering starch–protein–phenolic complexes, thereby affecting health functionality and sensory quality. However, inadequately optimised processing can affect nutrient retention and consumer acceptability. Overall, this review emphasises the relevance of integrating food matrix science and processing optimisation for the production of functional, acceptable, and sustainable cereal–legume foods that promote product innovation, public health improvement, and the utilisation of underutilised crops for sustainable food systems. Full article

Smart meters increasingly operate as grid-edge sensing and communication nodes, extending their role beyond conventional digital billing by generating records for local energy trading. In such settings, smart meter-derived records may support coordination, participant interaction, validation, billing, and settlement across different trading architectures. Once these records leave the metering edge, their security and privacy risks depend on how they are routed, reused, protected, and interpreted across centralized, transactive, and peer-to-peer trading workflows. In this review, we examine smart meter-based energy trading through a record-centric and framework-oriented lens. We first clarify the role of smart meters and smart meter-derived records, then compare three representative trading frameworks in terms of data-path structure, coordination pattern, trust organization, and validation or settlement positioning. Building on the comparison, we identify three lifecycle-based layers of issues: record integrity and temporal consistency, insecure transmission and interface access security, and confidentiality and privacy exposure. We also review existing mitigation mechanisms and remaining limitations for each issue layer. We conclude that future work should prioritize lifecycle-wide record governance, temporal continuity, privacy–accountability co-design, and deployable protection across hybrid trading environments. Full article

Energy poverty poses a critical threat to global sustainable development by undermining household well-being and deepening social inequality. This study draws on data from 17,778 households across six waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2012 to 2022 to examine the dynamics, determinants, and predictive patterns of household energy poverty in China. Our study also enhances and optimises the four-quadrant classification framework within the Low-Income, High-Cost (LIHC) framework, which jointly evaluates income and energy expenditure using dynamic thresholds. This approach enables us to identify not only households experiencing energy poverty but also those facing heightened vulnerability. In the sample, 7.96% were classified as energy-poor, 29.10% as at risk of energy poverty, 24.14% as at risk of income poverty, and 38.81% as not at risk, indicating that the number of households facing hidden risks far exceeds that of households identified as poor using traditional binary diagnostic methods. Next, we implement a Bayesian-optimised Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model to improve predictive accuracy. Thus, the trained model achieved a prediction accuracy of 78%. We employ Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis to interpret the relative importance and interaction of explanatory variables. Our findings reveal three key patterns. First, households at risk of energy insecurity substantially outnumber those already in energy poverty, indicating a large latent vulnerable population that conventional measures often overlook. Second, housing conditions and energy expenditures remain the dominant structural drivers of energy poverty; however, financial pressures related to healthcare, education, and other non-energy expenditures increasingly intensify vulnerability. Third, Bayesian optimisation significantly enhances the model’s capacity to capture nonlinear relationships and complex household heterogeneity. By integrating dynamic measurement with interpretable machine learning, this study advances methodological approaches to energy poverty assessment and provides robust empirical evidence for early-warning systems, differentiated governance strategies, and targeted policy design in the context of China’s energy transition. Full article

African universities face persistent energy insecurity that disrupts teaching, research, and campus operations. While renewable energy adoption is growing, hydrogen-based hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) remain underexplored, and standard evaluation tools are lacking. This paper presents a replicable techno-economic framework for integrating renewable-hydrogen systems into university microgrids using Hybrid Optimization Model for Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) simulation. The framework evaluates reliability, environmental impact, economic feasibility, and scalability under real campus conditions. A case study of the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) Engineering Building compares three scenarios: grid-plus-diesel backup, (photovoltaic) PV–battery–hydrogen hybrid with grid support, and PV–battery–hydrogen hybrid with diesel backup. Results indicate that the PV–battery–hydrogen configuration with grid support achieved 98% reliability, a 74% reduction in Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, and an Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of $0.124/kWh, outperforming the current grid–diesel setup. These findings confirm the framework’s effectiveness as a benchmarking tool and its potential to guide African universities toward resilient, low-carbon energy systems aligned with national transition goals. Full article

Biogas production through anaerobic digestion is increasingly recognised as a strategic renewable energy pathway capable of addressing South Africa’s energy insecurity, organic waste management challenges, and climate mitigation goals. However, the water-intensive nature of anaerobic digestion raises critical sustainability concerns in water-scarce regions. This systematic review critically examines the water footprint of biogas-based bioenergy systems, with a specific focus on South Africa’s water-stressed context, to understand how water availability, feedstock selection, digester configuration, and governance frameworks influence system viability and scalability. This study adopts a systematic literature review (SLR) approach guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology; peer-reviewed literature published between 2010 and 2025 was retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science and synthesised through descriptive analysis and qualitative meta-synthesis. The review integrates blue, green, and greywater footprint concepts to assess water use across diverse biogas pathways, including livestock manure, agricultural residues, food waste, wastewater sludge, and aquatic biomass. Findings indicate that wet digestion systems, dominant in South Africa, are highly sensitive to freshwater availability, particularly where slurry dilution relies on blue water. In contrast, wastewater-integrated, semi-wet, and co-digestion systems substantially reduce freshwater demand while enhancing methane yields and process stability. The reuse of greywater, industrial effluents, and digestate emerges as a key strategy for lowering water footprints and strengthening circular water–energy linkages. Despite strong technical potential, the adoption of water-efficient anaerobic digestion systems remains constrained by fragmented governance, infrastructure deficits, and limited empirical data on dry and low-water digestion technologies. The review concludes that embedding water footprint considerations into bioenergy planning, policy, and system design is essential for the sustainable expansion of biogas in South Africa. Integrated water–energy–waste governance, coupled with targeted technological innovation, is critical to ensuring that biogas development enhances both energy security and water sustainability in water-scarce regions. Full article

Food insecurity persists in Ecuador, and organizations like the Quito Food Bank (BAQ) are key to mitigating it. This study evaluatesBAQ’s management from a sustainability perspective, analyzing its social, economic, and environmental impacts in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A mixed, exploratory, and descriptive case study approach was employed. Data collection included direct observation, a review of internal records, and semi-structured surveys administered to 240 volunteers. The environmental impact was quantified using a “gate-to-gate” Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with OpenLCA software and the ReCiPe 2016 methodology, while The social and economic analysis was conducted in R, using non-parametric statistical tests. The LCA identified storage as the main critical environmental, responsible for over 80% of the impacts due to high-energy consumption for refrigeration. Socially and economically, the BAQ’s food basket provides significant savings for beneficiary households, allowing them to redirect resources to other essential needs. However, this assistance is only partial and does not generate full economic security. The study highlights the duality of the BAQ’s operations: while food redistribution generates social and environmental benefits by reducing waste, it has its own environmental footprint due to the use of energy resources. A more holistic perspective is therefore proposed to ensure these interventions are truly sustainable in the long term. Full article