Publications
149 results found
Brouwer F, Caucci S, Karthe D, et al., 2024, Advancing the resource nexus concept for research and practice, Sustainability Nexus Forum
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The nexus concept has considerably matured during the past decade. Numerous literature reviews have significantly contributed to taking stock of the advancements in knowledge and tool development to improve science-policy support on highly connected and interdependent resources. However, literature reviews often focus on specific sector-based nexus concepts (such as water-energy-food nexus) and analyses (such as environmental assessment, technical tools, or the management and policy dimension). Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the actual nexus and the resources it builds upon still needs to be improved. This paper aims to test the validity of the nexus construct for research and practice. Based on a systematic review of reviews, including 62 nexus-related review papers and subsequent consultation of some sixty nexus experts, we suggest a robust but flexible approach to advancing the Resource Nexus for research and practice. In doing so, the knowledge provided by nexus research may provide more substantial support to decision-makers when designing and implementing policies for the sustainable management of environmental resources.</jats:p>
Aminzadeh M, Friedrich N, Narayanaswamy S, et al., 2024, Evaporation Loss From Small Agricultural Reservoirs in a Warming Climate: An Overlooked Component of Water Accounting, Earth's Future, Vol: 12
Small agricultural reservoirs support water demands during dry spells. However, evaporative losses that are often overlooked in water accounting and management diminish the storage efficiency of these popular but un-inventoried resources. We developed a predictive framework to identify the spatio-temporal extent of small reservoirs (900–100,000 m2) and quantify their evaporative losses using a physically-based model. Focusing on water-stressed regions of Europe (Italy, Spain, and Portugal), our results indicate that the total number and cumulative area of small reservoirs in drier areas of Europe almost doubled in two decades from about 6,200 reservoirs with the cumulative area of 46 km2 in 2,000 to 11,800 reservoirs with the cumulative area of 93.5 km2 in 2020. We observed climate-driven trends in the expansion of agricultural reservoirs and their evaporative losses which exceeded 72 million cubic meters during warm months (April to September) accounting for 38% of their total storage capacity.
Chamanara S, Ghaffarizadeh SA, Madani K, 2023, The Environmental Footprint of Bitcoin Mining Across the Globe: Call for Urgent Action, Earth's Future, Vol: 11
Based on a multi-attribute assessment of the environmental impacts and challenges associated with global Bitcoin (BTC) mining activities around the globe, we call for urgent action by the scientific, policy, and advocacy communities. The worldwide BTC mining network consumed 173.42 TWh of electricity during the 2020–2021 period, bigger than the electricity consumption of most nations. The mining process emitted over 85.89 Mt of CO2eq in the same timeframe, equivalent to the emission caused by burning 84 billion pounds of coal or running 190 natural gas-fired power plants. The environmental footprint of BTC mining is not limited to greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020–2021, the global water footprint of BTC mining was about 1.65 km3, more than the domestic water use of 300 million people in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. The land footprint of the global BTC mining network during this period was more than 1,870 square kilometers, 1.4 times the area of Los Angeles. These striking numbers highlight the heavy reliance of the BTC network on fossil fuels and natural resource-intensive energy sources, resulting in major but unmonitored and unregulated environmental footprints. To mitigate the environmental costs of BTC mining, immediate policy interventions, technological advancements, and scientific research are crucial. Proposed measures include enhanced transparency, economic and regulatory tools, developing energy-efficient alternative coins, and the adoption of greener blockchain validation protocols.
Hjorth P, Madani K, 2023, Adaptive Water Management: On the Need for Using the Post-WWII Science in Water Governance, WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT, Vol: 37, Pages: 2247-2270, ISSN: 0920-4741
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 5
Madani K, Farhidi F, Gholizadeh S, 2022, Bargaining Power in Cooperative Resource Allocations Games, ALGORITHMS, Vol: 15
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 1
Farhidi F, Madani K, Crichton R, 2022, How the US Economy and Environment can Both Benefit From Composting Management, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INSIGHTS, Vol: 16, ISSN: 1178-6302
Farhidi F, Madani K, Crichton R, 2022, Have Extreme Events Awakened Us?, SUSTAINABILITY, Vol: 14
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 5
Noori R, Maghrebi M, Mirchi A, et al., 2021, Anthropogenic depletion of Iran's aquifers, PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Vol: 118, ISSN: 0027-8424
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 65
Chamanara S, Ghaffarizadeh SA, Madani K, 2021, The Environmental Costs of Mining Bitcoin
Chamanara S, Ghaffarizadeh SA, Madani K, 2021, The Environmental Costs of Mining Bitcoin
Chamanara S, Ghaffarizadeh SA, Madani K, 2021, The Environmental Costs of Mining Bitcoin
Chamanara S, Ghaffarizadeh SA, Madani K, 2021, The Environmental Costs of Mining Bitcoin
Vahedifard F, Madani K, AghaKouchak A, et al., 2021, Are we ready for more dam removals in the United States?, Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability, Vol: 1
- Cite
- Citations: 9
AghaKouchak A, Mirchi A, Madani K, et al., 2021, Anthropogenic Drought: Definition, Challenges, and Opportunities, REVIEWS OF GEOPHYSICS, Vol: 59, ISSN: 8755-1209
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 83
Chamanara S, Ghaffarizadeh SA, Madani K, 2021, The Environmental Costs of Mining Bitcoin
Madani K, 2021, Have International Sanctions Impacted Iran’s Environment?, World, Vol: 2, Pages: 231-252
<jats:p>Economic sanctions have been actively used against Iran in the last four decades. In response to sanctions, Iran has adopted a range of survivalist policies with notable environmental implications. This study provides the first extensive overview of the unintended environmental impacts of international economic sanctions on Iran. It is argued that while sanctions are certainly not the root cause of Iran’s major environmental problems, they have had an undeniable impact on Iran’s environment by: (1) restricting its access to technology, service, and know-how; (2) blocking international environmental aid; and (3) increasing the natural resource-intensity of its economy. Sanctions have effectively limited Iran’s economic growth and its ability to decouple its economy from natural resources, thereby growing the role of natural resources in Iran’s political economy. Overall, sanctions have made economic production much costlier to its environment, which is not currently considered a priority in the policy agenda of the Iranian leaders who manage the country in survival mode while aggressively pursuing their ideology. The study calls for increased attention to the overlooked environmental impacts of sanctions on Iran with major health, justice, and human rights implications that could be transgenerational and transboundary.</jats:p>
Obringer R, Rachunok B, Maia-Silva D, et al., 2021, The overlooked environmental footprint of increasing Internet use, RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING, Vol: 167, ISSN: 0921-3449
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 52
Madani K, 2021, Hardin versus Ostrom: Can Development Affect the Propensity to Cooperate over Environmental Common?, SOCIAL RESEARCH, Vol: 88, Pages: 99-114, ISSN: 0037-783X
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 3
Naderi MM, Mirchi A, Bavani ARM, et al., 2021, System dynamics simulation of regional water supply and demand using a food-energy-water nexus approach: Application to Qazvin Plain, Iran, JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Vol: 280, ISSN: 0301-4797
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 51
Modabberi A, Noori R, Madani K, et al., 2020, Caspian Sea is eutrophying: the alarming message of satellite data, ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS, Vol: 15, ISSN: 1748-9326
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 27
Madani K, 2020, How International Economic Sanctions Harm the Environment, EARTHS FUTURE, Vol: 8
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 16
Tabari H, Madani K, Willems P, 2020, The contribution of anthropogenic influence to more anomalous extreme precipitation in Europe, Environmental Research Letters, Vol: 15, Pages: 1-15, ISSN: 1748-9326
Anthropogenic influences can modulate the low‐frequency variability of extreme precipitation and increase the likelihood of flooding events. It is not, however, clear how much and in what manner the low-frequency variability has changed in recent decades as global warming has intensified. Here, we investigate the contribution of anthropogenic influences to the time evolution of extreme precipitation anomalies in different seasons using Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) and CMIP5 model simulations and observations over Europe. Our results show a latitudinal dependence of changes in extreme precipitation anomalies for all seasons due to anthropogenic impacts. While the contribution of anthropogenic influences to extreme precipitation anomalies at low latitudes (<50°) is less than 8% in all seasons, it goes up to 26% and 41% at mid (50°–60°) and high (>60°) latitudes. Without the offsetting effect of anthropogenic aerosols, anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases alone should have produced larger anomalies than observed. For all seasons, the more extreme the precipitation, the larger the anthropogenic influences.
Maghrebi M, Noori R, Bhattarai R, et al., 2020, Iran's Agriculture in the Anthropocene, EARTHS FUTURE, Vol: 8
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 66
Vahedifard F, Madani K, AghaKouchak A, et al., 2020, Preparing for proactive dam removal decisions, SCIENCE, Vol: 369, Pages: 150-150, ISSN: 0036-8075
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 5
Madani K, Shafiee-Jood M, 2020, Socio-Hydrology: A New Understanding to Unite or a New Science to Divide?, WATER, Vol: 12
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 33
Brelsford C, Dumas M, Schlager E, et al., 2020, Developing a sustainability science approach for water systems, Ecology and Society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability, Vol: 25, Pages: 1-6, ISSN: 1195-5449
We convened a workshop to enable scientists who study water systems from both social science and physical science perspectives to develop a shared language. This shared language is necessary to bridge a divide between these disciplines’ different conceptual frameworks. As a result of this workshop, we argue that we should view socio-hydrological systems as structurally co-constituted of social, engineered, and natural elements and study the “characteristic management challenges” that emerge from this structure and reoccur across time, space, and socioeconomic contexts. This approach is in contrast to theories that view these systems as separately conceptualized natural and social domains connected by bi-directional feedbacks, as is prevalent in much of the water systems research arising from the physical sciences. A focus on emergent characteristic management challenges encourages us to go beyond searching for evidence of feedbacks and instead ask questions such as: What types of innovations have successfully been used to address these challenges? What structural components of the system affect its resilience to hydrological events and through what mechanisms? Are there differences between successful and unsuccessful strategies to solve one of the characteristic management challenges? If so, how are these differences affected by institutional structure and ecological and economic contexts? To answer these questions, social processes must now take center stage in the study and practice of water management. We also argue that water systems are an important class of coupled systems with relevance for sustainability science because they are particularly amenable to the kinds of systematic comparisons that allow knowledge to accumulate. Indeed, the characteristic management challenges we identify are few in number and recur over most of human history and in most geographical locations. This recurrence should allow us to accumulate knowledge to answer th
Mahlooji M, Gaudard L, Ristic B, et al., 2020, The importance of considering resource availability restrictions in energy planning: What is the footprint of electricity generation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)?, SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, Vol: 717, ISSN: 0048-9697
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 16
Davtalab R, Mirchi A, Harris RJ, et al., 2020, Sea level rise effect on groundwater rise and stormwater retention pond reliability, Water, Vol: 12, Pages: 1-18, ISSN: 2073-4441
The coastal areas of Florida, United States, are exposed to increasing risk of flooding due to sea level rise as well as severe hurricanes. Florida regulations suggest constructing stormwater retention ponds as an option to retain excess runoff generated by the increased impervious area and to protect the environment by reducing pollutants from new developments. Groundwater level rise can significantly lower the soil storage capacity and infiltration at retention ponds, in turn, reducing the pond’s capacity to capture consecutive storms due to longer pond volume recovery time. Partial groundwater inundation can affect retention ponds’ ability to decrease peak flow rates and keep the post-development outflow lower than or equal to pre-development conditions. In this paper, the reliability and performance of a retention pond near Tampa Bay, Florida, was evaluated under sea level rise conditions. An integrated surface water and groundwater model was developed, and the groundwater table was projected for future conditions as a function of sea level rise. The results showed that sea level rise could increase the seasonal high water elevation of the retention pond up to 40 cm by mid-21st century. This increase lowered the reliability of the retention pond by about 45%. The pond failed to recover the designed treatment volume within required 72 h because of the high groundwater table, increasing the risk of pollutant discharge. Furthermore, the peak flow and volume of runoff significantly increased under sea level rise and associated groundwater table rise conditions. The study results suggest that it is imperative to consider future sea level rise conditions in stormwater design in low-lying coastal areas of Florida and around the world to prevent poor pond performance and increased risk of flooding in the future.
Mahlooji M, Gumilar FG, Madani K, 2020, Dealing with trade-offs in sustainable energy planning: Insight for indonesia, Food-Energy-Water Nexus Resilience and Sustainable Development: Decision-Making Methods, Planning, and Trade-Off Analysis, Pages: 243-266, ISBN: 9783030400514
To satisfy the energy demand and secure energy independence, Indonesia plans to maintain a large share from its carbon-intensive coal-fired power plants and natural gas, while incorporating some renewable energies in its future emery supply mix. While the promoted targets might be cost-effective, the potential impacts of future energy developments on other sectors such as environment and agriculture (food) must not be overlooked to avoid unintended consequences. This chapter computes the desirability of energy generation alternatives for Indonesia using a stochastic multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) framework. The applied evaluation model considers the trade-offs among independently managed yet inter-linked energy systems and other interacting systems, namely, water, land, climate, and economy. The aggregate desirability of energy alternatives is determined for Indonesia as a whole and individually for its seven main islands. The study indicates nuclear and geothermal to be among the desirable technologies for Indonesia, assuming that they are feasible and can be developed and operated without causing major security risks. Although biomass and hydropower are renewable, they are among the least desirable technologies for Indonesia, given their secondary impacts on other resources. The analysis results portray the need for Indonesia to make fundamental changes in its future energy mix to avoid eventual collapse of its valuable natural system.
Kahunzire A, Mahlooji M, Madani K, 2020, Beyond carbon emissions: A system of systems approach to sustainable energy development in East Africa, Food-Energy-Water Nexus Resilience and Sustainable Development: Decision-Making Methods, Planning, and Trade-Off Analysis, Pages: 323-349, ISBN: 9783030400514
East Africa is embarking on an ambitious journey to improve access to energy and support its rapid economic and population growth. Hydropower dominates the region’s electricity sector and the current plans continue to favor this technology for future development. This chapter analyzes the desirability of energy alternatives across East Africa using a System of Systems approach that assesses the performance of technologies across four vital systems namely economy, climate, land, and water. The Relative Aggregate Footprint (RAF) of different energy options in East Africa is measured with respect to the resource availability conditions of the countries in the region. The study results show geothermal and solar to be among the most desirable energy technologies for East Africa, while biomass and oil are the least desirable alternatives. Hydropower is outperformed by fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Its desirability ranges from average to highly undesirable once its impacts on other resources beyond carbon emissions are considered. Comparison of the desirability of alternatives against the planned investments of the region shows serious disparities. This calls for fundamental changes in the development policies in the energy sector of the region if a more sustainable electricity mix is to be achieved.
This data is extracted from the Web of Science and reproduced under a licence from Thomson Reuters. You may not copy or re-distribute this data in whole or in part without the written consent of the Science business of Thomson Reuters.