Maria BlancoUniversidad Politécnica de Madrid | UPM · CEIGRAM Research Centre for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental Risks
Maria Blanco
PhD
Modelling the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus to identify and promote nexus-coherent policies.
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152
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Introduction
I lead the AgroEcoS group at UPM, whose research areas include: bioeconomics, agricultural sustainability, integrated impact assessment of agricultural and environmental policies, food-water-energy linkages in a context of global change.
I am the coordinator of the Master in Agrifood and Resource Economics at UPM.
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Publications
Publications (152)
The biophysical and economic consequences of climate change for agriculture are surrounded by uncertainties. The evaluation of climate change impacts on global and regional agriculture has been studied at length. In most cases, however, global and regional impacts are examined separately. Here we present a regionalized assessment – for the 2030 tim...
This report reviews the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2014-2020) on developing countries, it recommends a range of options for future CAP reforms and it suggests some alternatives for monitoring and evaluation of progress towards Policy Coherence for Development (PCD).
Water, energy and food are essential resources for economic development and social well-being. Framing integrated policies that improve their efficient use requires understanding the interdependencies in the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus. Stakeholder involvement in this process is crucial to represent multiple perspectives, ensure political legitim...
A nexus approach can support the transition to sustainability by addressing trade-offs and pursuing synergies to improve water, energy, and food security. In this paper, a participatory system dynamics model was developed to identify and assess the key interlinkages between water, food, and energy in Andalusia (Spain). A panel of relevant stakehold...
The use of reclaimed or treated water from urban wastewater treatment plants for irrigation has been proposed as an alternative water source to address water scarcity issues in Europe. In this paper using agro-economic modelling, we analyse if treated water available for agriculture has the potential to reduce freshwater abstraction and, consequent...
The bioeconomy and the circular economy are novel aspects that are attracting growing interest. However, despite this, there are few teaching materials related to these concepts, especially in the agri-food sector. The BIOCIR project (Active learning in bioeconomy and circular economy in agri-food systems) aims to fill this gap by creating audiovis...
To enhance water, energy, and food security and promote ecosystems conservation, it is necessary to design policies or solutions capable of addressing cross-sectoral challenges. In this paper, GoNEXUS SEF, an evaluation framework for co-designing and evaluating nexus solutions, is presented. This framework provides guidelines for conducting a nexus...
Following the liberalization of the coffee sector, governance and power balance in the international coffee trade has changed, with associated impacts on livelihoods in producing countries, most of which are middle- and low-income countries. Drawing on trade data for the period 1995–2018, we examine the dynamics and evolution of the international g...
El Pacto Verde Europeo considera la coherencia de políticas como pieza fundamental para lograr el desarrollo sostenible. El enfoque del nexo agua-energía-alimentación es un enfoque sistémico que permite identificar las interrelaciones entre sectores, por consiguiente, puede aportar al diseño de políticas más coherentes que ayuden a avanzar por la s...
Para impulsar la transición hacia el crecimiento sostenible, es necesario comprender las complejas interacciones entre los sistemas socioeconómicos, medioambientales e intersectoriales. El enfoque del nexo agua-energía-alimentos es un enfoque sistémico que puede ayudar a identificar las sinergias y compensaciones entre estos sectores. Por consiguie...
Coherent policies are key to advance towards sustainability.
Challenges in evaluating water transfer projects.
Circular bioeconomy: Opportunities and implications for sustainable development.
Future agricultural development will be challenged by the impacts of climate change on water, which are expected to be particularly strong in southern European regions. Thus, exploring interrelations between agriculture and water under climate change is essential to frame informed policies that ensure sustainable water management while enhancing fo...
The aim of this paper is to investigate if water reuse is a viable cost-effective policy measure for agriculture and if it may contribute to mitigate the water scarcity across the EU, in the context of adaptation to climate change. If this is the case then it would also contribute to the reduction of fresh water abstraction leading to a reduction o...
Counterfactual analysis has been recommended as a means of assessing the impacts of European Rural Development Programmes (RDP) over recent years, although its application has been scarce to date. This paper examines the use of counterfactual analysis to assess socioeconomic impacts in a set of 2007–2013 ex-post evaluations. The analysis undertaken...
The nexus between climate change, agriculture, and poverty has become a major topic of concern, especially for dry regions, which represent a large share of the world’s population and ecosystems vulnerable to climate change. In spite of this, to date, few studies have examined the impacts of climate change on agriculture and the adaptation strategi...
Since 2012 the JRC has been working on the development of a water module in the CAPRI model to allow expanding the analysis of agricultural policy to cover water related issues. This report describes the latest improvements to the module including the change to 2012 base year, the update of the water data used and the spatial coverage, the inclusio...
How well do policies directed toward the water, energy, food, environment (WEFE) nexus work together to support a resource efficient and low-carbon Europe? This article presents policy coherence analysis for the case of Andalusia. Stakeholders were engaged in identifying the WEFE-nexus challenges and policy objectives. Based on their assessment, 32...
Land, food, energy, water and climate are linked and interconnected into a Nexus, characterized by complexity and feedbacks. An integrated management of the Nexus is critical to understand conflicts/synergies and secure efficient and sustainable use of resources, especially under climate change. The Nexus perspective is applied to Sardinia, as regi...
In this study, recent advances in the use of biological waste for bioenergy purposes are reviewed and the circular economy principle is applied to evaluate development policies in the border area between Ecuador and Peru. We identify a set of technologies to produce biogas that can generate productive synergies that involve sustainable processes of...
This study aims at shedding light on the progress of using counterfactual approach for estimating the socioeconomic impacts of the RDPs and to draw lessons for upcoming 2014-2020 mid-term and ex-post evaluations.
This study quantifies the synergies between agriculture and bioenergy considering biodiesel production as part of a set of systemic initiatives. We present a case study in Ecuador taking into account the recent government measures aimed at developing the bioenergy sector. Four scenarios have been evaluated through a newly designed systemic scheme o...
La justificación de las inversiones de dinero público en los Programas de Desarrollo Rural (PDRs) del segundo pilar de la Política Agraria Común (PAC) ha adquirido una dimensión muy relevante en los últimos años. En un mundo con recursos cada vez más limitados, la cuantificación de los impactos de estos
programas resulta una herramienta imprescindi...
El incremento de los residuos biodegradables urbanos y en el sector agrario es una preocupación global que amerita propuestas innovadoras de intervención. Este trabajo aborda una revisión de los resientes estudios en el marco de la economía circular en América Latina, tomando a Ecuador como caso de estudio. Las sinergias entre agricultura y bioener...
Recent studies point to climate change being one of the long-term drivers of agricultural market uncertainty. To advance in the understanding of the influence of climate change on future agricultural market developments, we compared a baseline scenario for the year 2030 with alternative simulation scenarios that differ regarding: (1) emission scena...
The CAP 2015-2020 introduces a new policy tool in the direct payments system, the Green Direct Payment or “greening”, which is subject to the implementation of any of three agricultural practices favourable to environment: crop diversification, maintenance of permanent grassland and ecological focus areas. The objective of this study is to prove th...
The principle of circular economy is reviewed and applied to recent advances in the development of photobioreactors for bioenergy application. The border between Ecuador and Peru is considered as a case study. A set of technologies for biogas and biodiesel production that can generate productive synergies involving sustainable processes and reuse o...
Climate change is critically affecting Mediterranean water resources by increasing drought intensity/frequency, especially in Southern regions. Sardinia has witnessed prolonged water scarcity events with negative impact on environmental resources and socioeconomic development. To understand the impact of climate change, we assess the resilience and...
A four-year EU H2020 project " Sustainable Integrated Management FOR the NEXUS of water-land-food-energy-climate for a resource-efficient Europe (SIM4NEXUS) " started in June 2016, with an overall grant of C 7.9M (www.sim4nexus.eu). The project involves 25 partners from 15 European countries. SIM4NEXUS has four objectives: (i) to adopt existing kno...
According to the 2015 European Environment-State and Outlook (SOER, 2015), the EU's total resource use has declined by 19% since 2007, less waste is being generated and recycling rates have improved in nearly every country; however, despite this progress and the relative decoupling of economic growth from environmental harm that is observed, a majo...
Biofuels production is one of the most extensively studied fields in the energy sector that can provide an alternative energy source and bring the energy industry closer to sustainability. Biomass-based fuel production, or renewable fuels, are becoming increasingly important as a potential solution for man-made climate change, depleted oil reserves...
This chapter reviews and applies the principle of the circular economy to recent advances in bioenergy production. Using Ecuador as a case study, we identify a set of production technologies for both biogas and biodiesel, that may interact in sustainable circular processes of production and by-product reuse. The main contribution of this chapter is...
This chapter reviews and applies the principle of the circular economy to recent advances in the bioenergy production. Using Ecuador as a case study, we identify a set of production technologies for both biogas and biodiesel, that may interact in sustainable circular processes of production and by-product reuse. The main contribution of this chapte...
Durante los últimos años, la política de desarrollo rural ha ido adquiriendo un papel cada vez más importante en la agenda europea, consolidándose hoy en día como una de las principales políticas impulsoras de la sostenibilidad socioeconómica y ambiental de las zonas rurales. Los Programas de Desarrollo Rural (PDRs) son una apuesta clara por parte...
Α novel methodology for addressing policy
inconsistencies and knowledge gaps that hinder the
transition to a greater resource efficiency Europe is
proposed. We focus on the integration of all different
sectors that interact and influence each other, namely the
“water- energy- food- land use- climate nexus” and we
develop tools for identifying and q...
Esta investigación resalta el aporte de la ferias en el mejoramiento de la calidad de vida y reducción de la pobreza de las familias participantes, cuyo estudio se enfoca en el accionar de la Feria BioVida, ubicada en Cayambe, provincia de Pichincha. Su análisis está basado en datos de la Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida 2013-2014 y una encuesta rea...
En este estudio se evalúa el impacto de la participación en la Feria Agroecológica BioVida sobre el mejoramiento de la calidad de vida de los pequeños y medianos agricultores que participan de este circuito corto de comercialización, ubicado en el cantón Cayambe, provincia de Pichincha en Ecuador. Se analiza cómo influye la participación de los agr...
This study quantifies the synergies between agriculture and bioenergy, considering biogas production as part of a set of systemic initiatives related to circular agriculture. The costs and benefits of each initiative are estimated both separately and within the system as a whole. The field of study is the border area between Ecuador and Peru, where...
This paper analyses the effects of the greening payment, adopted in the Common Agricultural Policy 2015-2020, on crop diversification in Spain.
Strengthening the planning of hydrological resources to optimize the use of water in agriculture is a key adaptation measure of the Chilean agricultural sector to cope with future climate change. To address this challenge, decision-makers call for tools capable of representing farmers’ behaviours under the likely stresses generated by future climat...
Strengthening the planning of hydrological resources to optimize the use of water in agriculture is a key adaptation measure of the Chilean agricultural sector to cope with future climate change. To address this challenge, decision-makers call for tools capable of representing farmers’ behaviours under the likely stresses generated by future climat...
This report describes the organization structure used on the 16thIBS.2014 Program,
held in Fortaleza, on September 14 to 19th, 2014, under the sponsorship of the Federal
University of Ceara - UFC with the support of :Ceara State University - UECE;
University of Fortaleza - UNIFOR, Federal Institute of Education of Ceara - IFCE;
National Center of T...
The latest reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) introduces a new instrument, the green payment, to deal with the environmental impacts of the EU agriculture. The new measures set in place from January 2015 state that eligible farmers will receive 30% of the national direct payments envelope provided they are compliant with three “greening...
This paper contributes to shed light on the economic impacts of changes in water availability due to climate change on small-scale agriculture. We provide an hydro-economic modelling framework that captures the socio-economic effects of water shocks on smallholder at river basin scale. This approach link a farm risk-based economic optimization mode...
The study enables the CAPRI model to make simulations of the potential impact of climate change and water availability on agricultural production, as well as looking at the sustainable use of water and the implementation of water-related policies including water pricing. To investigate the role of irrigation as adaptation strategy to climate change...
The latest reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) introduces a new instrument, the green payment, to deal with the environmental impacts of the EU agriculture. The green measures include crop diversification, maintaining permanent grasslands and introduction of ecological focus areas. The objective of this paper is to analyse the environmen...
Recent studies point to climate change being one of the long-term drivers of agricultural market uncertainty. To advance in the understanding of the influence of climate change on future agricultural market developments, we compare a reference scenario for 2030 with alternative simulation scenarios that differ regarding: (1) emission scenarios; (2)...
The purpose of this research is to assess the welfare effects of climate change on the Chilean agricultural sector, with special focus on changes in water availability. The productive impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector are well analyzed at both a global and national level. There is, however, a lack of evidence about the aggregated...
The economic effects of climate change on agriculture have been widely assessed in the last two decades. Many of these assessments are based on the integration of biophysical and agro-economic models, allowing to understand the physical and socio-economic responses of the agricultural sector to future climate change scenarios. The evolution of the...
The economic effects of climate change on agriculture have been widely assessed in the last two decades. Many of these assessments are based on the integration of biophysical and agroeconomic models, allowing to understand the physical and socio-economic responses of the agricultural sector to future climate change scenarios. The evolution of the b...
Water trading schemes have been widely regarded by the literature as first order economic instruments to ease irrigation water management and promote sustainable use of this resource. This article analyzes the consequences of introducing a water trading scheme in the irrigated area of the Canal de Urgel. To model the creation of this pricing instit...
The Baseline validation I (D7.1) deliverable includes an overview of the main agricultural modelling systems and their baseline generation processes, as well as a description of the CAPRI baseline
Agriculture could be one of the most vulnerable economic sectors to the impacts of climate change in the coming decades, with impacts threatening agricultural production in general and food security in particular.Within this context, climate change will impose a challenge to policy makers, especially in those countries that based their development...
Los centros de intercambio de derechos de agua han sido ampliamente considerados por la literatura como instrumentos económicos de primer orden para flexibilizar la gestión del agua de riego y promover un uso sostenible de este recurso. Este artículo analiza las consecuencias de la creación de un centro de intercambio de derechos en la zona regable...
This study quantified the synergies between agriculture and bioenergy considering biodiesel production as part of a set of systemic initiatives. The costs and benefits of each initiative were estimated separately and appraised within the system as a whole. The field of study was Ecuador and it included the recent legal measures taken by the governm...
Projections for world food production and prices play a crucial role to evaluate and tackle future food security challenges. Understanding how these projections will be affected by climate change is the main objective of this study. By means of a bio-economic approach we assess the economic impacts of climate change on agrifood markets, providing b...
Agriculture could be one of the most vulnerable economic sectors to the impacts of climate
change in the coming decades. Considering the critical role that water plays for agricultural
production, any shock in water availability will have great implications for agricultural
production, land allocation, and agricultural prices. In this paper, an...