International Journal of Sustainable Engineering

Climate–Resilient Water–Energy–Food Nexus in Water–Stressed Regions: Balancing Water Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Resource Recovery

The impacts of climate change on global water, energy, and food systems are increasingly evident. Water-stressed regions, where resources are already stretched thin, face the greatest vulnerability. These challenges are further compounded by rapid urbanization and population growth, and by anew class of demands emerging from the agentic age; most notably the substantial freshwater and energy footprints of data centers and AI-driven industrialization. Meeting water, energy, and food security targets under these converging stressors requires more than incremental improvements to conventional infrastructure. It demands a deliberate shift toward climate-resilient, nexusoriented engineering. Central to this transition are circular approaches and sustainable agricultural practices, designed with explicit recognition of the interdependencies among water, energy, and food to avoid siloed interventions that resolve one pressure while intensifying another. This Article Collection brings together advances at this interface, spanning resilient infrastructure, material and process innovation, and systems-level integration and optimization.

Conventional pathways to water and food security carry substantial burdens: food systems are among the largest consumers of freshwater and energy, and synthetic fertilizers, while in many arid regions desalination is the primary source of potable water, with brine discharged despite its considerable recovery potential. Similarly, waste biomass from agricultural, industrial, and municipal sources is still predominantly landfilled or incinerated, forfeiting valuable carbon,
nutrients, and energy. Emerging alternatives demonstrate what circular, nexus-oriented engineering can deliver. For instance, IoT-enabled smart irrigation optimizing water and energy use in real time; waste-derived carbonaceous materials for soil enrichment and improved crop productivity; nature-based and hybrid treatment systems purifying water at a fraction of conventional energy demands; microbial protein technologies requiring far less water, land, and fertilizer than conventional feed; and energy recovery technologies transforming treatment facilities from consumers into net producers. Advancing such technologies from proof-of-concept to engineered, scalable is central to climate resilience.

This Article Collection invites contributions addressing, but not limited to:

• precision and smart irrigation
• IoT-enabled water and soil monitoring
• nature-based and hybrid engineered treatment systems for low-energy water purification
• salinity management and water–soil interactions in irrigated and arid environments
• waste-derived materials
• Biochars and their composites for soil enrichment
• removal of emerging and persistent pollutants
• resource recovery from municipal and industrial wastewater
• brine mining and valorization
• conversion of waste biomass into microbial protein, biofertilizers, and other agri-food inputs
• waste-to-energy and bioenergy systems
• water–energy–food nexus integration, modelling, and optimization
• sustainability assessment of novel materials
• systems through life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis

Original research articles, review articles, and case studies are welcome, with encouragement for interdisciplinary studies and work situated in climate-vulnerable regions. Contributions should demonstrate clear relevance to sustainable engineering practice and the strengthening of water and food security under climate stress

Keywords: Smart irrigation, Waste-to-resource engineering, Circular economy, Sustainable agriculture, Resource Recovery

Manuscript Submissions:

Manuscript submission is open until 30th June 2027.

Please carefully review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript as it will be rejected if it does not fall within the scope of the journal.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Manuscripts which do not fall within the scope of the journal will be rejected.

We are able to offer a 10% Discount to all authors, and have a limited number of 20% Discount codes only available for early submissions. It should be noted that discount codes must be entered in at the point of submission as they cannot be applied retroactively, nor can these be combined as only the higher valued discount would be applicable.

To submit your papers to this Article Collection, please:

1. Check "Yes" for the question, "Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?"
2. Select the relevant Article Collection from the drop-down menu under the question, "Climate–Resilient Water–Energy–Food Nexus in Water–Stressed Regions: Balancing Water Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Resource Recovery"
3. Enter the Discount Code on the Final Page (Services) in the “Apply Discount Code” box on the right-hand side of the screen, otherwise this will not be applied to your submission, and you could be then subject to the journal’s Full APC Fee

Please contact Christopher Montgomery, Commissioning Editor regarding details on obtaining your discount codes, and with any other queries for this Article Collection.

Article Collection Guest Advisors

Dr. Khaled A. Mahmoud is a Professor and Research Director of the Water Center at the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), Hamad Bin
Khalifa University, Qatar. His main research interests focus on environmental quality and nanobiotechnology, including the development of renewable nanomaterials for membrane desalination, water treatment, emerging contaminants, nano-catalysis, as well as biomass conversion and resource recovery for sustainable water–energy–food systems.

Dr. Ojima Z. Wada is a postdoctoral researcher at the Water Center of the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar. His research spans biomass-based resource recovery through thermochemical and biotechnological routes, the development and application of sustainable materials for water treatment and soil amendment, integrated waste management, and AI-assisted approaches to environmental sustainability, with a focus on circular solutions for climate-stressed regions.