Abstract
For more efficient development planning, food-energy-water (FEW) nexus indicators should be provided with higher spatial and temporal resolutions. This paper takes Zhangye, a typical oasis city in Northwest China’s arid region, as an example, and uses the unweighted, geometric mean method to calculate a standardized, quantitative, and transparent estimation of the FEW nexus for each county. The role of influencing factors is also analyzed. The results showed that (1) the coordination of the FEW nexus in each county gradually increased from 2005 to 2015. Spatially, the distribution of the FEW nexus showed a tendency to be higher in the southwestern region and lower in the northeastern region. (2) Food security and water security were weaker than energy security. Specifically, there were more limitations to food accessibility, water availability, and water accessibility than for other indexes. (3) The FEW indexes are positively associated with per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and negatively correlated with the average evaporation and altitude of each county (district). Decision makers should concentrate on combining industrial advantages, developing water-efficient ecological agriculture, and improving production quality to increase market competitiveness and should actively explore the international market.
Highlights
As the most fundamental resources of economic and social development [1,2], food, energy, and water are closely interrelated [3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Food security and water security were weaker than energy security
The spatial distribution of the FEW indexes showed a tendency toward higher values in the southwest and lower values in the northeast
Summary
As the most fundamental resources of economic and social development [1,2], food, energy, and water are closely interrelated [3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. With the growth of the population, urbanization and climate change as well as people’s demand growing for food, energy and water, it is estimated that the nine billion people living on earth will need 30% more water, 40% more energy, and 50% more food to survive by 2030 [7,10,11]. Hussien et al developed an integrated model based on a survey of 419 households to capture the interactions between WEF at the end-use level in household scale [33] The details of these studies can be summarized as follows: scholars establish FEW nexus analysis frameworks and models, quantify the interrelationships between FEW nexus and explore methods for analyzing and simulating FEW nexus from the aspects of economics, statistics, and system dynamics [2,7]
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