Abstract
Food-energy-water (FEW) resources are necessary for the function of multiple socio-natural systems. Understanding the synergies and trade-offs in the FEW nexus, and how these interconnections impact earth’s systems, is critical to ensure adequate access to these resources in the future; an essential component for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (Scanlon et al., 2017). Although, over the last decade, the identification of FEW nexus complexities has increased at a global (IPCC, 2018; D’Orodico et al., 2018), national (Lant et al., 2019), and city scale (Rushforth and Ruddell, 2018), these findings are yet to be adequately translated into ‘on the ground’ action due a lack of technical and political capacity (Weitz et al., 2017). Specifically, local FEW systems have been overlooked in these analyses (Scanlon et al., 2017; Lant et al., 2019), thus leaving small and medium towns vulnerable due to a lack of data and inadequate FEW system management. Building on three years of field-tested FEW nexus research in the Ruddell Lab, we argue that participatory citizen science projects, such as our FEWSION for Community Resilience initiative, can bridge the data-policy gaps that exist within local FEW system management by: 1) providing last mile data on the FEW system, and 2) translating local data into evidence-based solutions at a grassroots level. Thus, we present a broadly applicable framework and call to action for local scale participatory citizen science to solve complex FEW nexus issues at a local, regional, and national scale.
Highlights
Policy and decision making at all levels of government, and within the non-profit and private sectors, is increasingly focused on supply chain and network issues which transcend disciplinary, governance, and jurisdictional boundaries
In theory, participation in scientific research (PPSR) approaches offer benefits for improving resilience and helping communities to solve complex FEW nexus issues. Building upon these theoretical assumptions, we developed the F4R initiative: a 3 year participatory study which implements a PPSR approach to build the capacity of a small town to identify and manage its local FEW nexus
Implementing a citizen-led approach provides a host of benefits to stakeholders in the nexus, and requires action and commitment at all levels: 1. Citizens have an opportunity to learn, contribute, and become leaders that drive action in their community
Summary
Policy and decision making at all levels of government, and within the non-profit and private sectors, is increasingly focused on supply chain and network issues which transcend disciplinary, governance, and jurisdictional boundaries. PPSR approaches recognize that varying degrees of participation and methods for engagement may be used to achieve the social, political, or economic goals of a community These approaches have been widely adopted in the fields of environmental science and conservation to build resilience by engaging with citizens to produce “last mile” data on local socioenvironmental systems, including marine conservation (Cigliano et al, 2015) and sustainable water management (Buytaert et al, 2016). Citizens analyze the vulnerability and resilience of local FEW supply chains, providing essential information for the latter stages Through this process, a community cocreates research questions, collects and communicates food-energy-water data, analyzes this data, evaluates the impacts of local decisions, and identifies actions that build the community’s capacity for resilience (Figure 2). Examples of trade-offs between competing objectives include cost, security, socio-environmental quality, trade network dependence, vulnerability, resilience, jobs, profitability, equity, and self-sufficiency of food vs. energy vs. water supply chains
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