Agri-food and Forestry Sectors for Sustainable Development: Innovations to Address the Ecosystems-Resources-Climate-Food-Health Nexus (Sustainable Development Goals Series) [1st ed. 2021] 3030662837, 9783030662837

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Sustainable Development Goals Series Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Francesco Meneguzzo Federica Zabini

Agri-food and Forestry Sectors for Sustainable Development Innovations to Address the  Ecosystems-Resources-Climate-Food-Health Nexus

Sustainable Development Goals Series

World leaders adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Providing in-depth knowledge, this series fosters comprehensive research on these global targets to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change. The sustainability of our planet is currently a major concern for the global community and has been a central theme for a number of major global initiatives in recent years. Perceiving a dire need for concrete benchmarks toward sustainable development, the United Nations and world leaders formulated the targets that make up the seventeen goals. The SDGs call for action by all countries to promote prosperity while protecting Earth and its life support systems. This series on the Sustainable Development Goals aims to provide a comprehensive platform for scientific, teaching and research communities working on various global issues in the field of geography, earth sciences, environmental science, social sciences, engineering, policy, planning, and human geosciences in order to contribute knowledge towards achieving the current 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This Series is organized into eighteen subseries: one based around each of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, and an eighteenth subseries, “Connecting the Goals,” which serves as a home for volumes addressing multiple goals or studying the SDGs as a whole. Each subseries is guided by an expert Subseries Advisor. Contributions are welcome from scientists, policy makers and researchers working in fields related to any of the SDGs. If you are interested in contributing to the series, please contact the Publisher: Zachary Romano [[email protected]]. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15486

Francesco Meneguzzo • Federica Zabini

Agri-food and Forestry Sectors for Sustainable Development Innovations to Address the Ecosystems-ResourcesClimate-Food-Health Nexus

Francesco Meneguzzo Institute for BioEconomy National Research Council Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

Federica Zabini Institute for BioEconomy National Research Council Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

ISSN 2523-3084     ISSN 2523-3092 (electronic) Sustainable Development Goals Series ISBN 978-3-030-66283-7    ISBN 978-3-030-66284-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66284-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

This book aims at contributing to the global effort towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations within the year 2030. The world is apparently hitting several limits at the same time, among which energy, mineral, and water resources as well as the carrying capacity of global ecosystems, which translates, among other things, into shrinking globalization and trade, economic stagnation and downturn, and lower capacity to deal with natural and man-made emergencies, including pandemics, extreme weather and climate events, and international conflicts. While the COVID-19 pandemic, unfolding at the time of drafting this book, could have also arisen from the human meddling with natural forests, similar to some epidemics since the 1980s, its management has been generally disappointing in the eyes of most people believing in the power of science and technology. Besides immense human suffering, it has caused a disproportionate economic downturn at least in most of the Western world and throughout developing countries, signaling a systemic weakness and possibly representing a harbinger of things to come. Recent research attributes to the global natural forests immense and previously underestimated ecosystem services with regard to the containment of deadly zoonotic infections, climate stability (carbon sequestration and, perhaps even more important, global climate dynamics and precipitation patterns), as well as active support to human health. It was argued that only an urgent, collective, and unprecedented effort aimed at reverting the current path of deforestation and forest degradation could prevent the derailment of the trajectory of human civilization. Agriculture can play a decisive role in the advocated transition, provided that a substantial shift from animal-based food to organic and healthier plant-­ based food is rapidly enabled, aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, freshwater and resource consumption, and leaving a lot of land to natural forest expansion. Enabling such a dietary shift involves scientific and technological innovation on the side of farming (crop protection, efficient organic farming, and water conservation), as well as of processing of food and food waste. Viable solutions are proposed in this book for all these fields. However, due to the deeply social and identity nature of food, such a profound shift will require also an extraordinary effort to spread reliable and authoritative information and advice about its ecological and health benefits.

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Preface

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While the advocated global dietary shift, along with all its enabling conditions, can be attributed a very high intrinsic value, its primary function would be to enable the preservation and expansion of natural forests, whose fragmentation and degradation appears as the most immediate and dangerous threat to human civilization. Sesto Fiorentino, Italy 

Francesco Meneguzzo Federica Zabini

Contents

1 Sustainability in a Highly Interconnected World��������������������������   1 1.1 Directions to Sustainability: Support to Human Life ��������������   1 1.2 Known and Unexpected Forest Ecosystem Services����������������   2 1.3 Deep into the Forests - Human Life Dilemma��������������������������   3 1.4 Global Forests and the Trajectory of Civilization��������������������   4 1.5 Recommendations and Conclusions ����������������������������������������   4 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   6 2 Technological Sustainability: Efficient and Green Process Intensification ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   9 2.1 Introduction to Controlled Hydrodynamic Cavitation��������������   9 2.2 Methods, Setups, and Mechanisms������������������������������������������  10 2.3 Regimes and Applications for the Processing of Natural Products ������������������������������������������������������������������  12 2.4 Conclusions������������������������������������������������������������������������������  15 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  16 3 Forest Management for Climate Protection����������������������������������  21 3.1 Forest-Based Climate Mitigation Measures������������������������������  21 3.1.1 Offsetting Potential for Global Emissions��������������������  22 3.1.2 Deforestation and Degradation of Tropical Forests������  23 3.1.3 Extensive Reforestation and Afforestation as the Last Resort for Carbon Sequestration? ��������������  24 3.1.4 Advancements, Obstacles, and Challenges������������������  25 3.2 Urban Forests and Electrification of Energy End-Uses������������  27 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  29 4 Forest Ecosystem Services for Human Health������������������������������  33 4.1 Health to Drink: Conifer Parts as Valuable, Widespread Sources of Bioactive Compounds ��������������������������������������������  33 4.1.1 Sustainability, By-Products, and Extraction Methods������������������������������������������������  35 4.2 Health from All Senses: The Emerging Healing Power of Forests����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  36 4.2.1 Physiological and Psychological Benefits��������������������  38 4.2.2 The Role of Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds����  40 4.2.3 Forest Healing: Conclusions and Recommendations ��  47 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  48 vii

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5 Sustainable Crop Protection and Farming������������������������������������  55 5.1 Affordable and Sustainable Biopesticides��������������������������������  55 5.1.1 Constraints on the Spread of Biopesticides������������������  57 5.1.2 Perspectives������������������������������������������������������������������  58 5.2 Organic Farming ����������������������������������������������������������������������  59 5.2.1 Scaling Up Organic Farming: Role of Research����������  61 5.2.2 Scaling Up Organic Farming: Role of Policy ��������������  62 5.2.3 Conclusions������������������������������������������������������������������  62 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  63 6 Water Conservation and Resource Efficiency in Agriculture������  67 6.1 Introduction������������������������������������������������������������������������������  67 6.2 Removal of Organic Contaminants of Emerging Concern ������  71 6.3 Disinfection from Pathogen Microorganisms ��������������������������  73 6.4 Conclusions������������������������������������������������������������������������������  75 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  75 7 Sustainable and Affordable Technologies for Food Processing���  77 7.1 Beverages to Increase Food Antioxidant Intake������������������������  77 7.2 Controlled Hydrodynamic Cavitation and Beverages��������������  78 7.2.1 Microbiological Stability and Shelf Life����������������������  78 7.2.2 Preserving and Enhancing Healthy Properties��������������  79 7.2.3 Bioavailability��������������������������������������������������������������  79 7.2.4 Overall Benefits From Hydrodynamic Cavitation��������  80 7.3 The Cases of Brewing ��������������������������������������������������������������  81 7.4 The Cases of Cereal-Based, Legume-Based, and Oilseed-­Based Beverages��������������������������������������������������  82 7.5 Cavitation-Based Manufacturing of Fruit Juices����������������������  84 7.6 Innovation in the Dairy Sector��������������������������������������������������  86 7.7 Natural Food Preservatives, Edible Coatings, and Antimicrobial Packaging����������������������������������������������������  88 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  90 8 Sustainable Exploitation of Agro-­Food Waste������������������������������  95 8.1 A New Value Chain for Agro-­Food Waste��������������������������������  95 8.2 Innovative and Deployable Methods����������������������������������������  96 8.3 The Case of the Integral Valorization of Citrus Fruit Processing Waste����������������������������������������������������������������������  99 8.3.1 Properties and Activities of the IntegroPectin�������������� 100 8.3.2 Citrus Peel Flavonoids Against COVID-19������������������ 102 8.4 Turning Agro-Food Waste into Renewable Energy Products and Other Materials���������������������������������������������������� 102 8.4.1 Bioethanol �������������������������������������������������������������������� 103 8.4.2 Biodiesel ���������������������������������������������������������������������� 103 8.4.3 Biogas and Biomethane������������������������������������������������ 105 8.4.4 Materials: Fat Liquors and Biochar������������������������������ 105 8.5 Conclusions������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 106 References������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 107 Index���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 113

Contents

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Sustainability in a Highly Interconnected World

1.1

Directions to Sustainability: Support to Human Life

The unexpected and unconceivable pandemic from Covid-19 that plagued the world since early 2020 raised several key questions and was a general wake up call. In fact, science revealed initially almost powerless to counteract the spreading of the infection, which proceeded at a frantic pace, also due to the extreme level of global interconnection and mobility. Beyond the short-term acute effects of the infection to sick people, longterm and persistent effects appeared as much a source of concern, among which are neurological and neuropsychological disorders affecting a nonnegligible fraction of infected people who suffered even from mild symptoms [1]. Modern science revealed incapable to provide timely answers to basic questions, such as the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its leap to humans, the genetic factors affecting the personal outcomes of the disease, the type and duration of immunity, the type and extent of mutations, the extent to which any possible vaccines will shield from the infection, or its most severe outcomes [2]. Humans of the twenty-first century woke up to the harsh reality of their vulnerability not only as individuals but also as a species, despite all the technological and medical progress accumulated since the first industrial revolution.

However, the reaction of researchers from around the world was rabid and even touching. Plenty of previous researches were reviewed and expanded in record time, in the search for effective treatments and directions to avoid further catastrophic outbreaks of infectious diseases. The primary role of forests and agriculture clearly arose from those researches. In fact, most of the epidemics and pandemics of zoonotic origin, hitting the world in the last few decades, appeared to share a common trait, i.e., the human interference with natural forest environments, in terms of deforestation, fragmentation, and pressure at the edges of the forests, especially in the biodiversity-rich tropical areas [3]. That is the case, for example, of ebola [3, 4], dengue, lyme, and leishmaniosis [3]. Such disturbances, due to excessive logging, new infrastructures, settlements, and cultivations, led to a drastic increase of edges (total length of boundary between two habitat types, per unit of core area), favoring the contact among humans and wild animals, including nonhuman primates [5], as well as the isolation of virus host reservoirs,, in turn favoring dangerous developments of many pathogens through coevolutionary processes [3]. Commercial hunting for bushmeat and the consequent consumption added to the problem, since it may have caused the direct contact of humans with intermediate species carrying viruses responsible for different diseases,

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 F. Meneguzzo, F. Zabini, Agri-food and Forestry Sectors for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66284-4_1

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such as respiratory ones and possibly including SARS-­CoV-­2 [3, 6]. Meddling with natural closed forests is therefore a safe recipe to attract imminent and deadly risks to human life, not to mention the obvious harms to biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Nevertheless, wild herbs often growing in forest ecosystems, and certain crops, have shown great potential for effective treatments of Covid-­19, often outperforming synthetic drugs. That is the case of certain recipes of the Traditional Chinese Medicine, including decoctions made of many different herbs [7, 8], and especially certain flavonoids abundant in vegetables and fruits, such as especially hesperidin, a flavanone glycoside whose primary source is the peel of citrus fruits, exhibiting a broad spectrum of favorable biological activities, including antiviral ones [9–12]. These premises are sufficient to draw important and innovative directions to sustainability and support to human life: • Rigorous conservation of the integrity of natural forests • Promotion of crops able to supply natural products endowed with high biological value, including anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and antiviral ones However, the role of forest ecosystems all over the world goes very far beyond the containment of deadly epidemics.

1.2

Known and Unexpected Forest Ecosystem Services

The first and most obvious ecosystem service supplied by global forests is carbon sequestration, amounting annually to almost 30% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by human activities into the atmosphere, half of which due to tropical forests (Chap. 2). Given such astounding level, afforestation and reforestation were proposed as a last resort to fight global climate change ([13] and Chap. 2). Yet, there is even more and more subtle than this. Capitalizing on past studies, showing that large tropical forests, such as the Amazon, recy-

cle locally up to half of the moisture transported from the oceans in the form of precipitation [14], in 2010, it was shown that not only tropical forests but also middle and high latitude ones are very efficient moisture recyclers [15]. Even more important, such recycling turns into precipitation in areas far away from forests themselves. So much so that, for example, in South America, the Río de la Plata basin depends on evaporation from the Amazon forest for 70% of its water resources, and western China  – the Chinese breadbasket – depends for as much as 80% of its freshwater resources on moisture recycling from the Eurasian forests. Few years earlier, it was argued that large natural forests not only recycle moisture that, transported by the prevailing winds, trigger precipitation far away from the forests but also drive the winds [16]. In particular, the condensation of the water vapor transpired by the plants in coastal forests creates low-pressure areas in the atmosphere, which suck in the wind from the ocean. This wind transports moisture farther inland, until it reaches other large forests, and the process repeats, creating a moisture stream over very large distances. This mechanism explains why the exponential decay of precipitation rates with the distance from the ocean, observed over non-forested continental areas and attributed a characteristic length scale around 600  km, vanishes over forested continents, at least over several thousand kilometers. Later, the finding that the characteristic length scale of precipitation over forested continents oscillates between a peak in summer (coincidental with the peak of forest activity) and a minimum in winter, as well as that deforested coastal areas can receive even more precipitation, at the expense of the interior, confirmed the overall theory [17]. However, for its proper functioning, this biotic pump requires very delicate conditions. Only natural forests, characterized by high leaf area index and resulting from a long genetic selection, specific to the particular geographical area and climate, can reach an equilibrium state where soil moisture is preserved and the precipi-

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1.3  Deep into the Forests - Human Life Dilemma

tation regime is remarkably constant, preventing extreme events such as floods, droughts, and fires, and ultimately allowing the forest settings to self-sustain, besides supplying far downstream areas with constant and reliable precipitation. Eliminating coastal forests, which initiate the biotic pump mechanism, replacing natural forests with plantations, fragmenting, or creating too large spaces between contiguous natural forests, lead to instabilities in the precipitation regime, the progressive degradation of inland forests, and ultimately the vanishing of reliable water supplies in downstream areas hosting large human settlements [16]. Figure 1.1 reproduces a scheme of the biotic pump mechanism. While the biotic pump theory has been under scrutiny for a long time [19], nowadays, it has been increasingly accepted [20], as well as further refined. A complex mathematical modeling of a network of forest ecosystems showed that if the distance separating two forest ecosystems increases, then at least one of those ecosystems is likely to converge to an extinction state [18]. Moreover, deforestation, whatever the cause, can compromise the level of resilience of forest ecosystems and can lead to an accumulated forest loss. Equally important, natural forests optimize the proportion of old and young trees, allowing the forest itself to thrive: reforestation with young trees does not allow the biotic pump mechanism to recover.

DRY AIR

CONDENSATION

1.3

 eep into the Forests D Human Life Dilemma

Another study published in 2020 went deep into the mechanisms of life on our planet [21]. According to the study, plants represent the energetic basis for the functioning of the global ecosystem, while the biggest animals and in particular herbivores (among whom are humans), consuming live biomass, pose a constant threat to ecosystem stability. The evolution of the animal kingdom toward ever bigger species was considered as a signal of degradation of the so-called “life algorithm”: only very small animals (linear size up to about 1  mm) are able to survive using only dead biomass spontaneously released by plants, complying with the principle of sustainability. The global ecosystem has always reacted to the appearance of big animals by reserving them a very small fraction of its fluxes (resources and energy), thus succeeding in preserving its own stability. The development of human brain and abilities, however, allowed us to exploit resources outside the plant kingdom, mainly fossil fuels, leading to an accelerated exploitation of forest ecosystems aimed at productive and economic expansion also in the face of an ever-growing global population. However unlikely, even the availability of newer, cheaper, and renewable energy sources, while certainly positive in the short term to curb the carbon emissions into the

MOISTURE

MOIST AIR

SOIL

RUNOFF

MOISTURE

OCEAN

LAND

Fig. 1.1  Biotic pump mechanism: a simplified scheme. Adapted from [16, 18]

CONDENSATION

MOISTURE

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atmosphere, if expanded limitless, would add to the problem of the consumption of live biomass. According to the authors, so far the humankind was able to recover from any crisis and avoid the worst consequences of its predatory behavior, making use of its own ability to undertake huge collective efforts [21]. Today, such efforts should be directed toward sobriety of lifestyles and cultural progress (scientific and technological), in order to refocus life on culture and knowledge and match the commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with the preservation and expansion of forest ecosystems. This perspective represents the greatest hope for a really sustainable future, such as the one designed by the United Nations for 2030 [22], and a better future for everyone.

1.4

Global Forests and the Trajectory of Civilization

A seemingly robust, combined deterministic and stochastic model of the trajectory of our civilization, based on the multiple and decisive roles of global forests in the global ecosystem sustaining the human life, was elaborated and published in 2020 [23]. Deforestation was assumed as the single dominant driver of such trajectory on the side of resource consumption, the others being population growth rate and the rate of technological development, the latter represented by the energy consumption rate [23]. The reasons underlying the dominance of deforestation can be better understood based on the authors’ words: “Trees’ services to our planet range from carbon storage, oxygen production to soil conservation and water cycle regulation. They support natural and human food systems and provide homes for countless species, including us, through building materials. Trees and forests are our best atmosphere cleaners and, due to the key role they play in the terrestrial ecosystem, it is highly unlikely to imagine the survival of many species, including ours, on Earth without them.” The turning point after which collapse occurs was defined as the time when the population size

reaches its peak, because it was deemed “unrealistic to think that the decline of the population in a situation of strong environmental degradation would be a non-chaotic and well-ordered decline.” The escape from catastrophic collapse was strictly tied to the possibility that technological growth allows harnessing resources from the outer space before the turning point; moreover constant rates of deforestation and technological growth were assumed. Results were quite dire: humankind would be left two to four decades (2040–2060) before catastrophic collapse occurs, with a maximum chance of 10% to avoid it. While this short time frame provides a justification for the above constant rates, immediate and very strong collective efforts, mainly aimed at stopping and reversing deforestation, were left as the only realistic chance to avoid the collapse [23].

1.5

Recommendations and Conclusions

Based on all of the above, meddling with natural forests appears as a safe recipe to attract very dangerous risks to several aspects of human civilization as well as to civilization itself, at least as we know it. As a general direction, natural forests should be strictly protected and allowed to recolonize the originally forested edge areas as well as coastal areas. Shrinking resources of fossil fuels and mineral resources, along with pollution, driven by the rapidly expanding global population, per-capita consumption, and technological progress, were blamed since early 1970s for the obviously unsustainable development and the risk of decline after hitting the limits to growth [24]. What is emerging today is that the degradation of global large forests alone, with their delicate equilibrium and irreplaceable services, could put an end to all other concerns even before they materialize and spread into everyday life, in a way that would be anything but pleasant for everyone. Before and more than the human-based interconnection, the world is heavily interconnected by its most important terrestrial ecosystems: the natural forests, which provide carbon sequestra-

1.5  Recommendations and Conclusions

tion, climate stability, and protection from deadly infectious zoonoses. In the light of the above, the efforts to implement popular large-scale interventions to mitigate climate change, such as extensive afforestation or reforestation [13], could be jeopardized by the delicate equilibrium of the network of natural forests, which makes shortcuts more unlikely to be successful than previously imagined. Allowing natural forests to regrow and expand, while certainly a rather slow process, appears to be the single safest measure to restore the climatic equilibrium of the planet, provided that carbon emissions slow down at an accelerated pace. While extensive land areas should be left to the expansion of natural forests in order to restore the climatic equilibrium and contain deadly infections, the growing human population needs increasing food supplies, which puts great pressure on agricultural production. In the search for a way out from this dilemma that, if unresolved, could lead to forced reduction of the global population and the collapse of civilization, a global shift in dietary habits appears as a difficult but hopefully feasible solution. Shifting the human diet from animal-source to plant-source proteins would allow saving remarkable amounts of land, water, and GHG emissions. Animal-source proteins from intensive farming (needed to feed livestock) need 2.4–33  times more land and water consumption and generate 2.4–240  times more GHG emissions [25]. The basic reason is that only 15% of plant-source proteins from feed crops were estimated to turn into animal-source proteins for human consumption, while 85% are wasted. The environmental impact of the food supply chain is quite large, as it accounts for 26% of the anthropogenic GHG emissions, with another 5% caused by nonfood agriculture and other drivers of deforestation, mostly due to the farm stage [26]. Moreover, food production creates about 32% of global terrestrial acidification and about 78% of eutrophication, and the global agricultural system covers about 43% of the world’s iceand desert-free land and accounts for two-thirds of freshwater withdrawals for irrigation. Most of the impacts are due to crops intended for live-

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stock feed, including as much as 67% of deforestation for agriculture [26], meaning that immense savings could be achieved by means of a global dietary shift. Moreover, in a plant-based diet, besides protein-­rich food, such as legumes, crops supplying products endowed with precious bioactive compounds should be promoted as preventive aids to sustain human health, for example, delivered in the form of plant-based milk substitutes (vegetable beverages), a class of products that is gaining market share year after year [27]. Indeed, distinct and remarkable benefits for climate, forests, and human health would be simultaneously achievable by means of a global dietary shift toward plant-based food, as pointed out and advocated by the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) [28]. The same organization highlighted that “food is also a deeply social issue  – one that is tied to identity”, thereby the extent of the advocated shift is immense and “providing reliable information and advice, alongside regulation and incentives, will be essential to changing hearts and minds. Health professionals have a critical role to play here, as trusted professionals.” Besides proper information and advice, emerging and spreading technological developments, such as controlled hydrodynamic cavitation (Chap. 2), allowing the most effective and efficient processing of plant-based food and food waste, represent fundamental opportunities to enable dietary shifting. The same technologies would allow superior extraction rates and preservation of the bioactive compounds and could enable convenient manufacturing of functional foods. The most stringent recommendations emerging from the above discussion can be summarized as follows: • Strict conservation of the integrity of natural forests and sustained promotion of their free expansion, starting from the oceanic coastal areas; • Extraordinary effort to promote a global dietary shift from animal-based to healthier plant-based food, both via technological and product innovation, and suitable information and advice

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The road toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, to be achieved within the year 2030 [22], appears very narrow. However, humankind has been able to recover from any crisis and avoid the worst consequences of its behavior, relying on its capability to undertake tremendous collective efforts. This historical evidence allows hoping for a better future for everyone. The next chapters further expand the discussion, primarily aimed at enabling the actions recommended in this chapter. Chapter 2 explains the emerging class of methods and technologies based on controlled hydrodynamic cavitation, as an especially effective and efficient tool for the extraction and processing of food, food waste, and plant parts, as well as water and wastewater remediation and disinfection. Chapter 3 provides an overview and some insight into forest management practices to be implemented toward the mitigation of global climate change, within the limits set in this chapter. Chapter 4 illustrates the ecosystem services provided by the forests for human health, limited to the most direct services: functional food resources and functional environments suitable for human health. Chapter 5 illustrates the most feasible pathways toward sustainable farming: replacing conventional pesticides with biopesticides and conventional farming with organic farming, while securing the food supply chain. Chapter 6 provides an overview and presents solutions that are feasible and deployable on a large scale, for the saving of water resources in agriculture, focused on the reuse of wastewater for irrigation. Chapter 7 explores the most promising and quickly deployable innovations in the food-­ processing sector, with focus on the manufacturing of plant-based beverages and advanced food preservation techniques. Finally, Chap. 8 affords the subject of the sustainable integral exploitation of agro-food waste, with special focus on plant-based food and its transformation into healthy, energy, and technical products.

1  Sustainability in a Highly Interconnected World

References 1. Paterson, R.W., Brown, R.L., Benjamin, L., Nortley, R., Wiethoff, S., Bharucha, T., Jayaseelan, D.L., Kumar, G., Raftopoulos, R.E., Zambreanu, L., Vivekanandam, V., Khoo, A., Geraldes, R., Chinthapalli, K., Boyd, E., Tuzlali, H., Price, G., Christofi, G., Morrow, J., McNamara, P., McLoughlin, B., Lim, S.T., Mehta, P.R., Levee, V., Keddie, S., Yong, W., Trip, S.A., Foulkes, A.J.M., Hotton, G., Miller, T.D., Everitt, A.D., Carswell, C., Davies, N.W.S., Yoong, M., Attwell, D., Sreedharan, J., Silber, E., Schott, J.M., Chandratheva, A., Perry, R.J., Simister, R., Checkley, A., Longley, N., Farmer, S.F., Carletti, F., Houlihan, C., Thom, M., Lunn, M.P., Spillane, J., Howard, R., Vincent, A., Werring, D.J., Hoskote, C., Jäger, H.R., Manji, H., Zandi, M.S.: The emerging spectrum of COVID-19 neurology: clinical, radiological and laboratory findings. Brain. 143(10), 3104–3120 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaa240. 2. Callaway, E., Ledford, H., Mallapaty, S.: Six months of coronavirus: the mysteries scientists are still racing to solve. Nature. 583, 178–179 (2020). https://doi. org/10.1038/d41586-­020-­01989-­z. 3. Guégan, J.F., Ayouba, A., Cappelle, J., De Thoisy, B.: Forests and emerging infectious diseases: unleashing the beast within. Environ. Res. Lett. 15, 83007 (2020) 4. Olivero, J., Fa, J.E., Real, R., Márquez, A.L., Farfán, M.A., Vargas, J.M., Gaveau, D., Salim, M.A., Park, D., Suter, J., King, S., Leendertz, S.A., Sheil, D., Nasi, R.: Recent loss of closed forests is associated with Ebola virus disease outbreaks. Sci. Rep. 7, 14291 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-­017-­14727-­9. 5. Bloomfield, L.S.P., McIntosh, T.L., Lambin, E.F.: Habitat fragmentation, livelihood behaviors, and contact between people and nonhuman primates in Africa. Landsc. Ecol. 35, 985–1000 (2020). https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10980-­020-­00995-­w. 6. Kang, S., Peng, W., Zhu, Y., Lu, S., Zhou, M., Lin, W., Wu, W., Huang, S., Jiang, L., Luo, X., Deng, M.: Recent progress in understanding 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) associated with human respiratory disease: detection, mechanisms and treatment. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents. 55, 105950 (2020). https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105950. 7. Yang, R., Liu, H., Bai, C., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Guo, R., Wu, S., Wang, J., Leung, E., Chang, H., Li, P., Liu, T., Wang, Y.: Chemical composition and pharmacological mechanism of Qingfei Paidu Decoction and Ma Xing Shi Gan Decoction against Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): in silico and experimental study. Pharmacol. Res. 157, 104820 (2020). https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2020.104820. 8. Basu, A., Sarkar, A., Maulik, U.: Molecular docking study of potential phytochemicals and their effects on the complex of SARS-CoV2 spike protein and human ACE2. Sci. Rep. 10, 17699 (2020). https://doi. org/10.1038/s41598-­020-­74715-­4.

References 9. Bellavite, P., Donzelli, A.: Hesperidin and SARS-­ CoV-­ 2: new light on the healthy function of citrus fruits. Antioxidants. 9, 742 (2020). https://doi. org/10.3390/antiox9080742 10. Behloul, N., Baha, S., Guo, Y., Yang, Z., Shi, R., Meng, J.: In silico identification of strong binders of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain. Eur. J.  Pharmacol. 890, 173701 (2020). https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2020.173701. 11. Meneguzzo, F., Ciriminna, R., Zabini, F., Pagliaro, M.: Review of evidence available on hesperidin-­ rich products as potential tools against COVID-19 and hydrodynamic cavitation-based extraction as a method of increasing their production. PRO. 8, 549 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/PR8050549 12. Haggag, Y.A., El-Ashmawy, N.E., Okasha, K.M.: Is hesperidin essential for prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19 infection? Med. Hypotheses. 144, 109957 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2020.109957. 13. Bastin, J.-F., Finegold, Y., Garcia, C., Mollicone, D., Rezende, M., Routh, D., Zohner, C.M., Crowther, T.W.: The global tree restoration potential. Science. 365, 76–79 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax0848 14. Salati, E., Dall’Olio, A., Matsui, E., Gat, J.R.: Recycling of water in the amazon basin: an isotopic study. Water Resour. Res. 15, 1250–1258 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1029/WR015i005p01250. 15. Van Der Ent, R.J., Savenije, H.H.G., Schaefli, B., Steele-Dunne, S.C.: Origin and fate of atmospheric moisture over continents. Water Resour. Res. 46, 12 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1029/2010WR009127. 16. Makarieva, A.M., Gorshkov, V.G.: Biotic pump of atmospheric moisture as driver of the hydrological cycle on land. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11, 1013–1033 (2007). https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-­11-­1013-­2007. 17. Makarieva, A.M., Gorshkov, V.G., Li, B.L.: Revisiting forest impact on atmospheric water vapor transport and precipitation. Theor. Appl. Climatol. 111, 79–96 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-­012-­0643-­9. 18. Cantin, G., Verdière, N.: Networks of forest ecosystems: mathematical modeling of their biotic pump mechanism and resilience to certain patch deforestation. Ecol. Complex. 43, 100850 (2020). https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2020.100850.

7 19. Makarieva, A.M., Gorshkov, V.G., Nobre, A.D., Nefiodov, A.V., Sheil, D., Nobre, P., Li, B.L.: Comments on “is condensation-induced atmospheric dynamics a new theory of the origin of the winds?”. J.  Atmos. Sci. 76, 2181–2185 (2019). https://doi. org/10.1175/JAS-­D-­18-­0358.1. 20. Hesslerová, P., Pokorný, J., Huryna, H., Harper, D.: Wetlands and forests regulate climate via evapotranspiration. In: An, S., Verhoeven, J.T.A. (eds.) Wetlands: Ecosystem Services, Restoration and Wise Use, pp. 63–93. Springer Nature, Cham (2019) 21. Makarieva, A.M., Nefiodov, A.V., Li, B.-L.: Life’s energy and information: contrasting evolution of volume-versus surface-specific rates of energy consumption. Entropy. 22, 1025 (2020). https://doi. org/10.3390/e22091025. 22. United Nations: Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015. A/RES/70/1; New York (2015) 23. Bologna, M., Aquino, G.: Deforestation and world population sustainability: a quantitative analysis. Sci. Rep. 10, 7631 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/ s41598-­020-­63657-­6. 24. Giampietro, M., Funtowicz, S.O.: From elite folk science to the policy legend of the circular economy. Environ. Sci. Pol. 109, 64–72 (2020). https://doi. org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.04.012. 25. Di Paola, A., Rulli, M.C., Santini, M.: Human food vs. animal feed debate. A thorough analysis of environmental footprints. Land Use Policy. 67, 652–659 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j. landusepol.2017.06.017. 26. Poore, J., Nemecek, T.: Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science. 360, 987–992 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1126/science. aaq0216 27. Zandona, L., Lima, C., Lannes, S.: Plant-based milk substitutes: factors to lead to its use and benefits to human health. In: Ziarno, M. (ed.) Milk Substitutes. IntechOpen, London (2020) 28. UKHACC: All-consuming: Building a healthier food system for people and planet; London (2020)

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Technological Sustainability: Efficient and Green Process Intensification

2.1

Introduction to Controlled Hydrodynamic Cavitation

Controlled hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) has gained the status of the most effective and efficient among green process intensification technologies, due to the cheapness, straightforward scalability, and superior process yields achieved by its technological implementations [1]. HC processes were applied in a wide area of application fields, such as drinking water disinfection, wastewater remediation [2–4], food liquid pasteurization and sterilization, biomass pretreatment, creation of ultra-stable nanoemulsions, and many others. HC has also gained a great reputation as a greener extraction method and for its effectiveness in the intensification of food and pharmaceuticals processes [5, 6]. Dubbed as “a blessing in disguise” [7], HC consists of the process of generation, growth, and collapse of vapor-filled microbubbles in a liquid, at temperatures below the boiling point. During bubble implosion, extremely reactive microenvironments (hot spots) occur, locally characterized by very high temperatures, intense pressure waves, hydraulic jets and turbulence [8, 9], in turn associated to micro-pyrolysis events, and limited generation of oxidizing radicals, resulting in the intensification of various physical-­chemical

phenomena. Absent specific oxidizing additives, such as ozone or hydrogen peroxide, the generation rate of free oxidizing radicals is insignificant, especially for short processes [10, 11], which is beneficial to the processing of foodstuffs. Physical phenomena associated with the collapse of cavitation bubbles can be extreme: the temperature and pressure inside a collapsing bubble increase dramatically up to 5000–10,000  K and 300 atm, respectively, due to the work done by the liquid to the shrinking bubble, producing very strong shear forces, micro-jets and pressure shock waves. Shortly, cavitation processes concentrate the energy of the bulk liquid medium into a myriad of microscopic “hot spots” (sites of collapsing bubbles) endowed with extremely high energy density [8, 9]. Comprehensive reviews explored the main fields where HC can be applied as a process intensification technique, showing distinct advantages over competing techniques [12, 13]. Attempts were also made to standardize the process yield metric, aimed at the objective comparison of the energy efficiency of different processes and competing technologies resulting in the same products [1]. In the analyzed applications, HC showed higher process yields by a factor of 1.2 up to two order of magnitude than competing techniques.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 F. Meneguzzo, F. Zabini, Agri-food and Forestry Sectors for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66284-4_2

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10

2.2

Methods, Setups, and Mechanisms

tions and nozzles, either orifice plates [24, 25] or Venturi tubes [26, 27], or combinations of both [28]; and vortex diodes [29–31]. Among HC-based possible setups, the most practical and scalable ones entail pumping the flow through one of more constrictions (Venturi tubes and orifice plates), in comparison to which devices based on rotating parts are more expensive and require higher operating and maintenance costs [32]. Vortex-based HC reactors still lack proper modeling and standardization, although they have shown promising performances [33]. Figure 2.1 shows a simplified scheme of an HC-based device, including either different kinds of orifice plates or a circular or slit Venturi. Venturi tubes comprise a circular-shaped or slit nozzle, with a convergence and divergence section, whose respective geometries, in particular convergence and divergence angles, are dictated by a fairly long history of experiments, theory, and numerical modeling [34]. At the respective optimized geometries, slit Venturi reactors usually outperform circular ones, such as for the removal of total organic content from recalcitrant pollutants in wastewater. Wide margins exist for continuous improvement of the per-

HC can be triggered and sustained by several different methods: for example, ultrasound irradiation, creating compression/rarefaction waves in a liquid at rest and known as acoustic cavitation (AC) [14]; pulsed laser irradiation, leading to localized heating and vaporization (optical cavitation) [15, 16]; or mechanical methods, such as HC, inducing liquid acceleration and pressure drop according to Bernoulli’s equation [17]. Compared to AC, which is sustained by ultrasound irradiation, and to optical cavitation, HC-based methods and related devices showed superior performances in terms of complexity and operating costs [18], energy efficiency (2–10 times) and scalability [19–21], and cavitation yield (around 10 times) [19, 22]. Controlled hydrodynamic cavitation processes can be sustained by means of several different devices and respective methods, such as rotor-stator arrangements, where mechanical parts move in a liquid volume [23]; combination of centrifugal pumps with mechanical constric-

pressure release valve Centrifugal pump

Orifices plates

pressure gauge HC reactor

Circular and slit Venturi

tank (B)

discharge

Fig. 2.1  Simplified scheme of an HC-based installation including a centrifugal pump, an HC reactor, a main tank, a pressure release valve, a pressure gauge,

and a discharge tube. Focus on fixed cavitation reactors shaped as orifice plates or Venturi tubes. Adapted from [13]

2.2  Methods, Setups, and Mechanisms

11

Fig. 2.2  Schematic view of the pressure and velocity inside a Venturi reactor. Adapted from [6]

Pressure (P)

P1

V1

V2>>V 1

P2

Pv

Position

formances, including the effects of the slit length as a function of its height [6, 35]. Figure 2.2 shows a schematic view of the pressure and velocity patterns inside a Venturi reactor. The acceleration of the liquid, or pumpable mixture, and the respective pressure drop are regulated by the Bernoulli’s equation [8], i.e., the conservation of the mechanical energy for a moving fluid, represented in Eq. (2.1):

P1 +

1 1 ρ v12 + ρ gh1 = P2 + ρ v2 2 + ρ gh2 (2.1) 2 2

where P1 and P2 (Nm−2) are the upstream bulk pressure and the pressure at the nozzle, respectively; ρ (kgm−3) is the fluid density; v1 and v2 (ms−1) are the fluid speed upstream and through the nozzle, respectively; h1 and h2 (m) are the heights of the fluid; and g (ms−2) is gravity. The third term at each side of Eq. (2.1) represents the specific potential energy, while the second term represents the specific kinetic energy. Assuming

P1

Pv

V1

V2

P2

equal heights, the pressure drop (P2   v1). Whenever P2 drops below the vapor pressure, at a certain temperature level, local evaporation occurs, and vapor bubbles are generated. The increase in kinetic energy at the constriction occurs at the expense of pressure, leading to microbubble and nanobubble generation, which subsequently collapse under pressure recovery downstream of the constriction [36]. The pressure recovery downstream the nozzle is not immediate, generally following a linear profile with the distance from the nozzle itself, until a final pressure level is reached, lower to the initial one due to head loss during the passage of the liquid through the constriction. The dynamics of cavitation bubbles is quite complex, due to processes such as widespread turbulence, diffusion, phase changes (evaporation and condensation), as well as heat exchanges, at the interfaces with solid surfaces and within

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2  Technological Sustainability: Efficient and Green Process Intensification

the fluid, occurring across a wide range of scales, from the bulk one to the microscale. In a comprehensive article on HC dynamics, the Rayleigh-­ Plesset equation of bubble dynamics, representing the radial motion of the cavitation bubble, is only one in a set of four basic equations, the others representing the diffusive flux of water vapor molecules, the heat conduction across bubble wall, and the overall energy balance [8]. However, a widely used dimensionless quantity, named cavitation number (σ) and derived from the Bernoulli’s equation, can be used to characterize the cavitation intensity in a flow system, in terms of global operating conditions. Its representativeness holds in most of relatively simple HC reactors, such as Venturi tubes and orifice plates [8], and relates it with the cavitational intensity, with cavitation generally arising for σ