Digitalization is gaining increasing attention in Higher Education (HE). The integrationof digital tools into instructional settings is particularly challenging, However, it offers manyopportunities to improve the learning process of students, especially in interdisciplinary teachingscenarios such as teaching sustainable usage of space and resources i.e. for the coastal zones and themarine areas. Worldwide, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and Integrated Coastal Zone Management(ICZM) are much needed approaches to manage and organize the increasing use of the sea andcoastal areas. Both are complex fields that are attracting more and more attention in interdisciplinaryHE. Correspondingly designed, the module ‘Planning and Management of Coastal Zones and SeaBasins’ at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, provides a case for integrating digital tools intoHE. In 2020, the digital serious game ‘MSP Challenge´ was used in an online learning format. Thisinteractive and collaborative tool supports informed decision making based on real and simulateddata, comparable to business (decision) processes based on environmental information systems(EIS). Therefore, the MSP Challenge game fosters not only the understanding of the complex topicbut additionally methodological skills which can be transferred to the usage EIS. While playing,students become able to (1) evaluate and simulate impacts of uses on coastal and marineenvironments, (2) describe the main interactions in ecosystems, (3) conceptualize information forsectoral or integrated MSP and (4) reflect on the role and use of data. In the presented case masterstudents studying “Water and Coastal Management” participated in the module. Moreover, thedigital serious game and the interdisciplinary topics of MSP and ICZM provides additionalopportunities to explore subtopics (e.g. IT-related) from other disciplinary perspectives.
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Antibiotics are a factor in developing antibiotic resistance in the environment. Outbreaks due to pathogens and resistant bacteria are an emerging issue in this decade. Resistance of Escherichia coli to two groups of antibiotics has been revised recently by the World Health Organization (WHO). These data showed that bacteria have already developed resistance to third and fourth group of antibiotics. The WHO report on surveillance and antibiotics consumption evaluation showed that antibiotic consumption varies in EU countries. Outbreaks have increased in parallel to these data depending on country, season, sex, and age group. This chapter revises the routes of spreading and surveillance of E. coli. There is a particular focus on water sources including hospitals, urban wastewater treatment plants (UWTPs), diffuse sources, and water reuse. Extensively revised data are given on the control techniques by biological and advanced processes. The emerging issue of gene transfer control in parallel to the control of bacteria is expressed. A detailed literature survey of emerging technologies of photocatalysis and nanoparticles is given.
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Self-organisation in environmental service delivery is increasingly being promoted as an alternative to centralised service delivery. This article argues that self-organised environmental service delivery must be understood in the context of legal rules, especially environmental legislation. The article’s aim is twofold: first, to understand the changing relationship between the government and citizens in self-organised service delivery, and second, to explore how self-organised environmental service delivery complies with environmental quality requirements stipulated in legislation. The empirical study focuses on wastewater management in Oosterwold, the largest Dutch urban development that experimented with self-organisation. The results show that while individual wastewater management was prioritised and implemented at scale, the applicable legal rules were not adequately considered and integrated. Consequently, the experiment led to a deterioration of water quality. The article concludes that the success or failure of self-organisation in delivering environmental services such as wastewater management critically hinges on ensuring compliance with environmental legislation.
In the Netherlands, the Agri-Food and Water Top Sectors aim at climate neutral food systems that close loops in the food value chains from farm to fork, based on efficiency of natural resource management, optimum use of food, a reduced use of natural resources and less environmental pressure, and optimum use of residue streams. It is also in their ambitions to promote and market Dutch circular solutions in foreign countries, such as emergent economies. The transition to a circular economy in the food chain in emergent economies requires a radical transformation, in which an integrated approach is required. In this regard, Indonesia strives for green development representing an advantageous market opportunity for Dutch SME’s offering circular innovations on the food value chain. The consortium in this project would like to explore the opportunities for applying integrated approaches contributing to the transition to a circular economy in the food chain of emerging countries, in this case Indonesia, that could open market opportunities in the agri-food sector. The integrated approach includes innovations on effective use of natural resources (e.g., soil and water), innovations on ‘reshaping’ local organization and governance, and innovations on food/streams value chains.
In the Netherlands, the theme of transitioning to circular food systems is high on the national agenda. The PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency has stressed that commuting to circular food chains requires a radical transformation of the food chain where (a) natural resources must be effectively used and managed (soil, water, biodiversity, minerals), (b) there must be an optimum use of food by reducing (food) waste . . ., (c) less environmental pressure, and (d) an optimum use of residue streams. The PBL also recognizes that there should be room for tailored solutions and that it is important to establish a benchmark, to be aware of impacts in the production chain and the added value of products. In the line of circular food systems, an integrated nature-inclusive circular farming approach is needed in order to develop a feasible resource-efficient and sustainable business models that brings shared value into the food chain while invigorating the rural areas including those where agricultural vacancy is occurring. Agroforestry is an example of an integrated nature-inclusive circular farming. It is a multifunctional system that diversifies and adapts the production while reducing the carbon footprint and minimizing the management efforts and input costs; where trees, crops and/or livestock open business opportunities in the food value chains as well as in the waste stream chains. To exploit the opportunities that agroforestry as an integrated resource-efficient farming system adds to the advancement towards (a) valuable circular short food chains, (b) nature-based entrepreneurship (nature-inclusive agriculture), and (c) and additionally, the re-use of abandoned agricultural spaces in the Overijssel province, this project mobilizes the private sector, provincial decision makers, financers and knowledge institutes into developing insights over the feasible implementation of agroforestry systems that can bring economic profit while enhancing and maintaining ecosystem services.
