Engineering Nature-based Solutions to Tackle Antimicrobial Resistance

一项全球调查显示，如果情况不变，每年可能有近1000万人死于抗微生物药物耐药性。英国走在全球抗抗生素耐药性斗争的前沿，并制定了到2040年遏制和控制抗生素耐药性的愿景。参照世界卫生组织（世卫组织）抗菌素耐药性行动计划，实施了全球抗菌素耐药性监测方案，以了解趋势、监测干预措施和制定抗菌素耐药性的经验性治疗指南。然而，在水部门，这种AMR监测工作主要集中在常规处理阶段，而不包括基于自然的解决方案（NbS）基础设施。Defra的25年环境计划、水务行业的国家环境计划和环境署2025年计划创造了一个独特的机会，将人工湿地（CWs）作为NbS来提供废水处理，同时提供环境和社会的共同效益。所有水务公司均已部署策略，在污水处理厂进一步推广化粪器。因此，了解CW作为污水处理厂三级处理的新兴首选绿色方法，是否可以作为自然水的最终保障，以减轻此类风险，同时保持共同利益的贡献是至关重要的。从全球抗微生物药物耐药性行动中吸取的经验和教训可以大大促进国家统计局目前缺失的抗微生物药物耐药性监测重点领域。伙伴Walsh教授与世卫组织就抗生素耐药性监测规划和欧洲联合规划进行了合作，并特别关注抗生素耐药性。她的专业知识和经验将加强该项目团队对抗菌素耐药性发生、传播和消除机制的关键知识。对国家统计局抗菌素耐药性的调查最近受到了关注，但由于数据有限，缺乏国际规模的评估。合作伙伴Carvalho博士正在参与欧盟自然项目，以评估来自欧洲大陆的不同化学武器的抗菌素耐药性去除情况，研究结果将与该项目分享。在这个项目中，PI Dr Lyu将在两个工业合作伙伴（Anglian Water和Welsh Water）的支持下，在英国进行第一次实地调查，从英格兰和威尔士的四个不同的应用CWs收集证据。结合来自文献和项目合作伙伴网络的现有数据集，该项目将开展一项国际比较研究，以CWs作为NbS去除废水中的AMR。此外，该团队还将评估被低估的活性氧的贡献，并指出CWs在促进根际活化自由基氧化AMR方面的适应性。最终，该项目旨在通过分享经验、发现知识缺口、探索技术创新和支持基于证据的政策制定，在国际学术界和行业从业者之间建立独特的合作伙伴关系，以开发基于NbS的弹性废水处理基础设施，以减缓抗菌素耐药性的蔓延。

A global survey showed that nearly 10 million people could die each year as a result of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) if the situation is left unchanged. The UK is at the forefront of the global fight against AMR and setting the vision to contain and control AMR by 2040. With reference to the World Health Organisation (WHO) AMR action plan, the global AMR surveillance programme is conducted to understand trends, monitor interventions and develop empiric treatment guidelines for AMR. However, in the water sector, this AMR surveillance effort mainly focuses on conventional treatment stages and does not include nature-based solutions (NbS) infrastructures. Defra's 25-Year Environment Plan, the Water Industry's National Environment Programme, and the Environment Agency 2025 Plan have created a unique opportunity to consider constructed wetlands (CWs) as NbS to deliver wastewater treatment with the provision of environmental and societal co-benefits. All water utilities have deployed their strategies to further promote CWs in sewage works. Therefore, understanding if CW, as an emerging preferred green approach for tertiary treatment in wastewater treatment plants, can act as the final safeguard of natural waters to mitigate such risks while maintaining the contribution of co-benefits is crucial.The experience and lessons learned from the global AMR action could significantly facilitate the current missing NbS focus area on AMR surveillance. Partner Prof Walsh has worked with the WHO on the AMR surveillance programme and the European Joint Programme with a specific focus on AMR. Her expertise and experience will strengthen this project team with key knowledge of the occurrence, transmission, and removal mechanisms of AMR. The AMR investigation in NbS is recently getting attention but suffers from a lack of international-scale assessment with a limited dataset. Partner Dr Carvalho is working on the EU NATURE project to evaluate AMR removal in different CWs from mainland Europe, and the findings will be shared with this project.In this project, PI Dr Lyu will conduct the first field survey in the UK to collect evidence from four different applied CWs in England and Wales with the support of two industrial partners (Anglian Water and Welsh Water). Together with available datasets from the literature and the project partners' network, this project will conduct an international comparative study of AMR removal in CWs as NbS for wastewater treatment. Moreover, the team will also assess the undervalued contribution of reactive oxygen species and indicate adaptations of CWs toward promoting rhizosphere-activated free radicals to oxidise AMR. Ultimately, this project aims to establish a unique collaborative partnership between international academics and industrial practitioners, through sharing experiences, discovering knowledge gaps, exploring technology innovation, and supporting evidence-based policymaking, toward developing a resilient wastewater treatment infrastructure based on NbS to mitigate the spread of AMR.