Abstract
There is an increasing appreciation that food–energy–water (FEW) nexus problems are approaching criticality in both the developing and developed world. As researchers and managers attempt to address these complex resource management issues, the concept of the FEW nexus has generated a rapidly growing footprint in global sustainability discourse. However, this momentum in the FEW nexus space could be better guided if researchers could more clearly identify what is and is not a FEW problem. Without this conceptual clarity, it can be difficult to defend the position that FEW innovations will produce desired outcomes and avoid unintended consequences. Here we examine the growing FEW nexus scholarship to critically evaluate what features are necessary to define a FEW nexus. This analysis suggests that the FEW nexus differs from sector-focused natural resource or sustainability problems in both complexity and stakes. It also motivates two new foci for research: the identification of low-dimension indexes of FEW system status and approaches for identifying boundaries of specific FEW nexuses.
Highlights
As the world’s population approaches ten billion people by 2050 [1], food, energy, and water security have become important societal priorities
Balancing livestock production depended on a farmer observing and reacting to changes in available food, energy, and water resources. The transparency at this local scale imposed a set of checks-and-balances that, while perhaps not optimally efficient, was an effective mechanism for ensuring relative sustainability (Figure 2a)
Specialization in any sector is the outcome of increases in production efficiency and optimization, and has been an important part of resource management since at least as far back as the 18th century with Smith’s Wealth of Nations [53]
Summary
As the world’s population approaches ten billion people by 2050 [1], food, energy, and water security have become important societal priorities. Pumping has so outstripped recharge that groundwater levels have been estimated to be falling 2 to 6 m per year, with recent wells descending support 40% of the ten-fold increase in irrigated agriculture in Yemen between 1970 and 2004 [25] which correlates with a drop in aquifer reserves. One can see how connections among the three sectors have contributed to a system-level response; changes in the energy sector are transacted through the water sector to the food sector with a net system-level loss of security To learn from such examples, and to identify others that are emerging, a clear definition of what is and is not a “FEW nexus” is needed, as well as when these systems transition to crisis. Identifying the salient features of the FEW nexus will depend on correctly framing FEW problems and in turn the research agenda [42]
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