Extant studies address water, food, and health security issues considerably separately and within narrow disciplinary confines. This study investigates the links among these three issues from an ecological viewpoint with a multidisciplinary approach in a modified Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework developed by the United Nations. The modified framework includes water, food, and health security considerations as the three constituents of human well-being from an ecological (more specifically, ecosystem services) viewpoint. This study examines the links through published data associated with the Minamata incident, which was a historic and horrific methylmercury-induced water, food, and health poisoning crisis in Japan. The results show that when heavy metal pollution changes one component (marine water) of the provisioning ecosystem services, this change subsequently affects another component (seafood) of the services. This then defines the linkages among water, food, and health security as the three constituents of human well-being within the modified framework. The links can have immediate and far-reaching economic, social, legal, ethical, and justice implications within and across generations. This study provides important evidence for emerging economies that ignore the water-food-health security nexus.
Human activities, such as industrial, agricultural, and domestic pursuits, discharge effluents into riverine ecological systems that contains aquatic resources, such as fish, which are also used by humans. We conducted case studies in Malaysia to investigate the impacts of these human activities on water and fish resources, as well as on human well-being from an ergonomics perspective. This research shows that a green ergonomics approach can provide us with useful insights into sustainable relationships between humans and ecology in facilitating human well-being in consideration of the overall performance of the social-ecological system. Heavy metal concentrations contained in the effluents pollute river water and contaminate fish, eventually creating significant health risks and economic costs for residents, including the polluters. The study suggests a number of policy interventions to change human behavior and achieve greater collaboration between various levels of government, academia, civil society, and businesses to help establish sustainable relationships between humans and ecology in Malaysia.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are two major atmospheric pollutants that significantly threaten human health, the environment, and ecosystems worldwide. Despite this, only some studies have investigated the spatiotemporal hotspots of NO2 and SO2, their trends, production, and sources in Asia. Our study presents a literature review covering the production, trends, and sources of NO2 and SO2 across Asian countries (e.g., Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Japan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Kuwait, and Nepal). Based on the findings of the review, NO2 and SO2 pollution are increasing due to industrial activity, fossil fuel burning, biomass burning, heavy traffic movement, electricity generation, and power plants. There is significant concern about health risks associated with NO2 and SO2 emissions in Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, and Iran, as they pay less attention to managing and controlling pollution. Even though the lack of quality datasets and adequate research in most Asian countries further complicates the management and control of NO2 and SO2 pollution. This study has NO2 and SO2 pollution scenarios, including hotspots, trends, sources, and their influences on Asian countries. This study highlights the existing research gaps and recommends new research on identifying integrated sources, their variations, spatiotemporal trends, emission characteristics, and pollution level. Finally, the present study suggests a framework for controlling and monitoring these two pollutants' emissions.