Salinization of soils and freshwater resources by natural processes and/or human activities has become an increasing issue that affects environmental services and socioeconomic relations. In addition, salinization jeopardizes agroecosystems, inducing salt stress in most cultivated plants (nutrient deficiency, pH and oxidative stress, biomass reduction), and directly affects the quality and quantity of food production. Depending on the type of salt/stress (alkaline or pH-neutral), specific approaches and solutions should be applied to ameliorate the situation on-site. Various agro-hydrotechnical (soil and water conservation, reduced tillage, mulching, rainwater harvesting, irrigation and drainage, control of seawater intrusion), biological (agroforestry, multi-cropping, cultivation of salt-resistant species, bacterial inoculation, promotion of mycorrhiza, grafting with salt-resistant rootstocks), chemical (application of organic and mineral amendments, phytohormones), bio-ecological (breeding, desalination, application of nano-based products, seed biopriming), and/or institutional solutions (salinity monitoring, integrated national and regional strategies) are very effective against salinity/salt stress and numerous other constraints. Advances in computer science (artificial intelligence, machine learning) provide rapid predictions of salinization processes from the field to the global scale, under numerous scenarios, including climate change. Thus, these results represent a comprehensive outcome and tool for a multidisciplinary approach to protect and control salinization, minimizing damages caused by salt stress.

Food security is an essential issue for human survival and civilization. Whenever food–water security is in doubt, the community is negatively affected. Globally, Jordan is the second most water-stressed country, located in an arid, politically divided and migratory active Middle East region that lacks the access to valuable natural resources such as fertile soils. Jordan receives about 78 m³/person/year from renewable resources, which represents 1% of the world water share. Jordan’s Water Minister declared that a 50 million m³ lack of drinking water is to be faced next year; this shortage is added to the lack of irrigation water, which yields food insecurity and food price fluctuations that wear out the consumer. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the impact of agricultural cropping patterns and water security by analyzing the most relevant national databases. The study results will contribute to the development of national policy in order to strategize the aid programs and adaptation measures for more sustainable planning in the Jordanian agri-food sector.

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) devices represent a fruitful hope to cope with water shortage problem throughout the world. The vast development in AWH technology and the wide spread of the various AWH techniques will largely contribute in the implementation of AWH machines in different...

This review presents the usage of adhesives and binders for agglomeration of particle materials, including waste, in order to obtain strong bodies. The binding materials were classified into three categories: inorganic binders, organic binders, and compound binders. Many examples of the...

There are increasing concerns for the promising future of atmospheric water harvesters (AWH). AWH have been analysed theoretically and experimentally using different technologies such as Vapour Compression (VC) Thermoelectric (TE), Sorption (absorption, adsorption) and shape-based techniques....