FEW Nexus Research Articles

Unraveling the complex interconnections between food-energy-water nexus sustainability and the supply-demand of related ecosystem services

Matching the supply and demand of related ecosystem services can be an effective way to realize long-term sustainable management of the food-energy-water nexus (FEW Nexus) in drylands. However, few studies have focused on the matching of supply and demand for ecosystem services associated with advancing the sustainability of FEW-Nexus, there is limited research in this domain, which lacks systematic and quantitative analysis of the relationship between them and FEW Nexus sustainability. Here, this research takes the West Liaohe River Basin in the arid region of China as a case study. Based on a localized FEW Nexus sustainability evaluation index system, the FEW Nexus sustainability and the supply-demand matching characteristics of the corresponding ecosystem services in the West Liaohe River Basin from 2005 to 2015 were assessed. The relationship between them was analyzed quantitatively through the methods of coupling coordination degree and geographical detector. The results showed a synergistic improvement in both FEW Nexus sustainability and the supply-demand situation of combined ecosystem services. The supply of food production and water yield were able to meet their demands adequately from 2005 to 2015, with a strengthening surplus, leading to an overall surplus and gradual improvement in the integrated ecosystem services. This surplus synergistically promoted the process of FEW Nexus sustainability. The results of the geographical detector indicate that the supply-demand ratio of carbon sequestration was the main factor influencing FEW Nexus sustainability. Areas with higher FEW Nexus sustainability tended to have larger deficits in carbon sequestration, which was more evident in areas with high levels of urbanization. Therefore, the key to enhancing FEW Nexus sustainability in the basin is to balance the supply of and demand for carbon sequestration services. Overall, the present study not only provides a basis for strengthening the management of the supply-demand of ecosystem services associated with FEW to achieve regional sustainable development, but also offers insights into how the growing demand for the FEW Nexus is exerting pressure on the balance between supply and demand of related ecosystem services.

Food-Energy-Water Nexus in compliance with Sustainable Development Goals for integrating and managing the core environmental verticals for sustainable energy and circular economy

Food, energy, and water resources are intricately interconnected, and nexus provides a holistic approach for addressing these complex links to minimize inefficiencies and waste. Nexus approach and circular economy are considered as effective solutions for sustainability. Quantification of these relations is the first step towards incorporating nexus modeling which helps sustainable production and consumption. For achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, understanding and effectively managing the FEW nexus becomes imperative. With an integral performance perspective, there is a need to address the interdependencies and trade-offs among food, energy, and water systems and challenges of economic, social and environmental sustainability. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the FEW nexus, identify key opportunities and challenges, and propose integrated strategies for managing these core environmental verticals sustainably. The study addresses the accomplishment of these goals through nexus approaches and outlines the need for technological advancements for shared benefits among resources, contributing to conceptual development of nexus and circular economy. The results highlight the critical importance of adopting a nexus approach to advance sustainable development goals, enhance resource efficiency, and promote synergistic solutions across food, energy, and water systems.

Exploring the Spatial Dynamics of FEW Nexus Policies and Their Impact on Income Inequality Using Spatial Econometric Models: Evidence from Southeast Asian Countries

This research investigates the spatial dynamics of Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) Nexus policies in Southeast Asian countries, analyzing their impact on income inequality. Utilizing spatial econometric models, the study explores intricate spatial patterns and employs spatial lag models along with a panel Granger causality test. Examining data from variables such as population, urbanization, life expectancy, GDP, HDI, CO2 Emission and energy consumption, our findings reveal significant spatial dependencies and causal relationships. The study enhances understanding of spatial dimensions in policy impacts for sustainable development, offering valuable insights for targeted FEW Nexus interventions to address income inequality in Southeast Asia.

Pathways for FEW nexus collaboration in U.S. city resilience planning

Pathways for FEW nexus collaboration in U.S. city resilience planning

Using Media Framing to Explore the Food-Energy-Water Nexus: The Case of the Rio Negro Basin in Uruguay

Addressing the call for qualitative and empirical approaches to the food, energy, and water (FEW) nexus studies, this research examined newspapers to explore public discussion framing the understanding of the FEW systems interconnections. We conducted a media content analysis on news articles in Spanish between January 2015 and December 2020 for the main river basin in Uruguay to explore the impacts of increased agriculture productivity on the FEW nexus interactions. As described in the media, we summarized problems, solutions, and calls for action when describing sectoral interdependencies. Results show that the dominant public discussions were event-driven and focused on water quality and climate variability. For instance, the water-energy nexus spiked when a drought impacted hydropower generation, and the food-water nexus spiked due to cyanobacteria blooms, creating impacts beyond the FEW sectors, such as tourism. We concluded by highlighting how FEW nexus goals may enhance the discussion and solutions framing.

The role of urban agriculture in food-energy-water nexus policies: Insights from Europe and the U.S

The growth of urban agriculture (UA) has raised the awareness of city officials and civil society organizations of its potential effects on food systems. This has led to various policies to regulate and support UA. This research characterizes existing food, energy and water (FEW nexus) policies based on policy data from five case study cities in Europe and the U.S. (Dortmund, Gorzów Wielkopolski, London, Nantes, and New York City) to analyze their relationships to UA, and to identify policy types that support resource-efficient UA. The paper presents the results of an analysis of 78 policy documents related to UA and the FEW nexus, and the results of a Q-sort ranking by UA policy experts on the effectiveness of 16 generalized UA policies in promoting resource-efficient UA.The number, type, and degree of support for nexus policies vary among the five case studies. The results show that the majority of policies (36) are implemented at the local scale, that few policies (19) incorporate all elements of the nexus, yet many nexus policies include UA indirectly. Regulations are more prevalent and are considered more effective at ensuring resource-efficient UA than incentives or awareness-raising policies. The study offers guidance to policy makers who want to improve resource use in future UA pointing at the increasing importance of local food policies.

Understanding the Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus in Mixed Irrigation Regimes Using a Regional Hydroeconomic Optimization Modeling Framework

AbstractUnderstanding the nexus between food, energy, and water systems (FEW) is critical for basins with intensive agricultural water use as they face significant challenges under changing climate and regional development. We investigate the food, energy, and water nexus through a regional hydroeconomic optimization (RHEO) modeling framework. The crop production in RHEO is estimated through a hierarchical regression model developed using a biophysical model, AquaCropOS, forced with daily climatic inputs. Incorporating the hierarchical model within the RHEO also reduces the computation time by enabling parallel programming within the AquaCropOS and facilitates mixed irrigation—rainfed, fully irrigated and deficit irrigation—strategies. To demonstrate the RHEO framework, we considered a groundwater‐dominated basin, South Flint River Basin, Georgia, for developing mixed irrigation strategies over 31 years. Our analyses show that optimal deficit irrigation is economically better than full irrigation, which increases the groundwater pumping cost. Thus, considering deficit irrigation in a groundwater‐dominated basin reduces the water, carbon, and energy footprints, thereby reducing FEW vulnerability. The RHEO also could be employed for analyzing FEW nexus under potential climate change and future regional development scenarios.

FEW Nexus (food-energy-water nexus) in family farming: a case study at RedeCoop/RS

Resumo: O objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar as ações da RedeCoop nas cooperativas participantes, por meio da abordagem FEW Nexus (nexo alimento-energia-água). Para isso, considerou-se uma pesquisa qualitativa e o método de pesquisa foi o estudo de caso. Adicionalmente, o método de análise escolhido foi a análise de conteúdo com categorias pré-analíticas. A coleta de dados deu-se através de entrevistas com os gestores das cooperativas e documentos, como atas, chamadas públicas e postagens em redes sociais. Ao longo da análise dos resultados, analisou-se a segurança alimentar, energética e hídrica e a produção agrícola familiar dentro do âmbito das cooperativas participantes da RedeCoop. Segundo a análise dos resultados, a RedeCoop possui ações diretas e indiretas no que tange aos elementos do nexo alimento-energia-água. Age, positivamente, nas cooperativas participantes, diretamente, nos elementos alimento e energia; e, ainda, atua indiretamente no que diz respeito ao elemento água. Nas conclusões, apresentou-se possíveis ações que podem fortalecer a atuação da RedeCoop nos elementos FEW Nexus. A presente pesquisa mostrou que a discussão do FEW Nexus poderá auxiliar a agricultura familiar sustentável. Além disso, o estudo tem a capacidade de contribuir na elaboração de políticas públicas que auxiliem na produção de alimentos feita pelos agricultores familiares.

Multi-Channel Networked MIMO-MPC-based SiL/HiL/MiL for CC/CV Sections’ Optimization in 6th Gen Hybrid/Islanded Inverters for Mobile Green Nano-Grids in FEW Nexus

The Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) Nexus is an ever-existing paradigm since the big bang. Resilient and mobile green energy nano-grid fabric is the horizon at the pinnacle of 6th generation inverters where FEW and major UNDP SDGs seem to meet. Three major challenges exist in the existing inverters: a) are based on uni-variable PID controllers and do not provide abstract grid parameters that make the decision-making for the consumers and OEMs, especially in islanded nano-grids; b) there is not a single MIMO-MPC-based solution that can employ a mesh network of spatially deployed Nanogrids nodes to derive the abstract key performance indicators (KPIs) in nano-grids, and c) the hardcoded smart inverters’ firmware is impossible to optimize like SoC-based SiL/MiL/MiL looped embedded systems that hamper the adaptation of SISO-MPC and MIMO-MPCs. In this work design, development, and optimization of multi-channel CC/CV section modules based on MIMO-MPC using Hardware in Loop (HiL), Software in Loop (SiL), and Model in Loop (MiL) integrated 6th generation inverters architecture was proposed to achieve the autonomous green mobility nano-girds. The system achieved an efficiency of 7.8kWh/day at 20.8ᵒ tilt with charging states of [23% to 65%].

Sustainable urban systems and just FEW nexus transitions

Sustainable urban systems and just FEW nexus transitions Water, food, and energy systems are providing fundamental services for human wellbeing. However, the current management of these systems is often wasteful, creating inefficiencies that need to be urgently addressed to reduce the over-consumption of our limited natural resources. Here, Jana Fried, Adina Paytan and Waste FEW ULL project participants look at lessons from the Waste FEW ULL project for reducing waste and increasing efficiency in the FEW nexus.

Scientific diasporas and the advancement of science diplomacy: The InFEWS US-China program in the face of confrontational "America First" diplomacy.

The challenges and consequences of climate change have brought together governments around the world to advance scientific knowledge and programmatic actions to develop mitigation strategies while promoting sustainable development. The United States and China—the countries with the highest science expenditures globally—have historically developed a range of joint international research collaborations. However, under the “America First” agenda put forth by the Trump Administration, bilateral diplomatic relations with China reached their highest confrontational peak. Under this scenario science diplomacy served as a catalyst to maintain scientific collaborations between both countries. In 2018, the US National Science Foundation and the China National Natural Science Foundation launched the InFEWS US-China program to promote collaborations to expand food, energy, and water nexus (FEW Nexus) research and applications. Over the past four years, 20 research projects have been awarded from the US side and 47 publications have been reported as research output. By carrying out a descriptive analysis of the InFEWS US-China research and scholarly outputs, we find evidence of the crucial role played by the Chinese scientific diaspora who led 65% of the projects awarded. We find that there is a generally good understanding of the interdependencies between FEW systems included in the project abstracts. However, in the InFEWS US-China scholarly outputs generated to date, there is a lack of usage of a clear FEW Nexus theoretical framework. Further research should address intentional policies that enhance the involvement of scientific diasporas in their home countries to better address climate, sustainability, and development challenges.

Food, Energy and Water Nexus: An Urban Living Laboratory Development for Sustainable Systems Transition

From a climate change perspective, the governance of natural common-pool resources—the commons—is a key point in the challenge of transitioning to sustainability. This paper presents the main strategic advances of the São Paulo Urban Living Laboratory (ULL) regarding Food, Energy and Water (FEW Nexus) analysis and modelling at the border of a high biodiverse forest in a peri-urban region in southeast Brazil. It is a replicable and scalable method concerning FEW governance. The FEW Nexus is an analytical guide to actions that will enable a colossal set of innovative processes that the transition to sustainability presupposes. Sustainable governance of the FEW dimensions, seen as an innovation-based process, is approached by a decision making tool to understand the past and future dynamics of the system. The governance framework is based on a multi-criteria and multi-attribute set of sustainability-relevant factors used as indicators to model complex system dynamics (SD) and the stakeholders’ future expectations through a Delphi approach. Based on the three main dimensions of the Ecosystem Services Approach—Physical and Material Conditions, Attributes of Communities, and Rules-in-Use—the tool comprises thirteen specific sustainability indicators such as water and carbon footprints, land use social development, payment for ecosystem services, and land use gain indices. Its development was designed to generate a long-term network of socioenvironmental stakeholders’ decision making processes and collective learning about a higher level of sustainable systems. System Dynamics modelling demonstrates the associations between sustainability indicators and the impacts of payment for ecosystem services on the land use social development index, or on the trophic state index. The Delphi foresight approach, using the Promethee-Gaia method, allows us to understand the positions of multiple agents regarding the transition process. In this context, decision making tools can be very useful and effective in answering the “how to” questions of ULLs and paving the way for transition, providing collective planning and decision support frameworks for sustainability transition management.

An Assessment Framework for Integrated Food-Energy-Water Nexus Governance: Application to the Cases of Phoenix and Cape Town

Food-energy-water nexus governance has been promoted as an approach to integrate the management and policy of the three sectors together for coordinated governance. However, there are limited approaches to evaluate, assess, or measure the governance of the food-energy-water nexus. Assessment of the governance process is important to move the concept from conceptualization toward implementation and to understand the specific potential and limits of the nexus governance process. Therefore, this study presents a theoretical framework and associated indicator set to assess urban collaborative food-energy-water nexus governance in practice. This theoretical framework is then applied to two example cases: Phoenix, Arizona, USA and Cape Town, South Africa. The implementation of this framework provides recommended factors needed for improved collaborative FEW nexus governance in cities. These cases showcase the utility of this framework in assessing urban collaborative food-energy-water nexus governance.

Recover the food-energy-water nexus from COVID-19 under Sustainable Development Goals acceleration actions

The interwoven relationship between food, energy, and water (FEW) is described as the FEW nexus. The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the FEW nexus and impeded the progress of FEW-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (SDG 2: Zero Hunger; 6: Clean Water and Sanitation; 7: Affordable and Clean Energy). We aim to find solutions to recover the FEW nexus from COVID-19. First, we discussed the challenges faced by FEW amid COVID-19. Second, we observed responses of the FEW nexus under COVID-19's interference. Finally, we proposed the solutions that guide the FEW nexus in recovery from the pandemic by mining 164 FEW-related SDG Acceleration Actions. The key solutions include 1) building or upgrading FEW facilities and infrastructure, 2) improving nature's contribution to the FEW nexus, 3) developing digital technologies, 4) innovating the source and production of FEW, and 5) promoting community production and transforming the lifestyle. Our work highlights the importance of feasible and accelerated actions that recover the FEW nexus in the post-pandemic era.

Sources of Variability and Uncertainty in Food-Energy-Water Nexus Systems

Highlights Accounting for variability and uncertainty empowers stakeholders to make better-informed decisions. Considering spatial and temporal sources of variability contributes to more robust modeling systems. Stochastic methods that factor in uncertainty contribute to a better understanding of the FEW nexus systems. A robust modeling system will contribute to the design of resilient FEW nexus systems. Abstract. A nexus approach contributes to the strategic allocation of resources to secure food, energy, and water for the world population. Integrated models considering the complex interactions across food, energy, and water (FEW) enhance decision-making and strategic planning towards resilience. However, a significant number of the existing integrated models leave unaddressed the inherent variability and uncertainty present in the FEW sectors. Here, we review the importance of characterizing variability over spatial and temporal scales and the importance of decreasing the uncertainty present within a FEW nexus systems. The review also discusses existing modeling tools that address variability and uncertainty on single and paired elements of the FEW nexus systems, as well as integrated tools that address the sources of variability and uncertainty across the nexus. Finally, the review highlights the opportunity to address the limitations of existing models through multidisciplinary approaches and the potential to integrate publicly available models, as has already been the case for single and coupled elements of the FEW nexus. Addressing variability and uncertainty would improve the robustness of a FEW systems modeling and would provide stakeholders with the capacity to make better-informed decisions. Keywords: Climate variability, Food-water-energy nexus, Modeling, Spatial variability, Temporal variability, Uncertainty.

Closing transdisciplinary collaboration gaps of food-energy-water nexus research

The nexus of food, energy, and water (FEW) systems is key to ensuring global sustainability in the face of climate change, population growth, and urbanization. To address FEW resources inequity among different regions and countries, transdisciplinary research networking becomes increasingly important for tackling this intractable, complex grand challenge. In contrast to interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research, transdisciplinary research emphasizes the interactions of scientific, cognitive, and social factors from a top-down view. Intellectual and strategic integrations entail weaving scientific, socioeconomic, and political perspectives together into a new convergence model and fostering a shared vision and comparable assessment, though these goals might not be realistically achievable in the short term. This article summarizes major barriers to transdisciplinary research on FEW nexus grand challenges and possible solutions to be implemented at multiple levels of distinct social systems. Implementation of the solutions relies on not only top-down incentives of governments but also bottom-up initiatives of academic communities and individual researchers. The relevance of shared interests and visions between the research communities and the public is emphasized.

The FEWSION for Community Resilience (F4R) Process: Building Local Technical and Social Capacity for Critical Supply Chain Resilience

Local business leaders, policy makers, elected officials, city planners, emergency managers, and private citizens are responsible for, and deeply affected by, the performance of critical supply chains and related infrastructures. At the center of critical supply chains is the food-energy-water nexus (FEW); a nexus that is key to a community’s wellbeing, resilience, and sustainability. In the 21st century, managing a local FEW nexus requires accurate data describing the function and structure of a community’s supply chains. However, data is not enough; we need data-informed conversation and technical and social capacity building among local stakeholders to utilize the data effectively. There are some resources available at the mesoscale and for food, energy, or water, but many communities lack the data and tools needed to understand connections and bridge the gaps between these scales and systems. As a result, we currently lack the capacity to manage these systems in small and medium sized communities where the vast majority of people, decisions, and problems reside. This study develops and validates a participatory citizen science process for FEW nexus capacity building and data-driven problem solving in small communities at the grassroots level. The FEWSION for Community Resilience (F4R) process applies a Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR) framework to map supply chain data for a community’s FEW nexus, to identify the social network that manages the nexus, and then to generate a data-informed conversation among stakeholders. F4R was piloted and co-developed with participants over a 2-year study, using a design-based research process to make evidence-based adjustments as needed. Results show that the F4R model was successful at improving volunteers’ awareness about nexus and supply chain issues, at creating a network of connections and communication with stakeholders across state, regional, and local organizations, and in facilitating data-informed discussion about improvements to the system. In this paper we describe the design and implementation of F4R and discuss four recommendations for the successful application of the F4R model in other communities: 1) embed opportunities for co-created PPSR, 2) build social capital, 3) integrate active learning strategies with user-friendly digital tools, and 4) adopt existing materials and structure.

Application of Machine Learning (ML) for Enhancing the Transient Performance of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) Platforms Using Radial Basis Function (RBF)

Thermal energy storage (TES) can be utilized as supplemental platforms for improving operational reliability and systemic efficiency in variety of industries, such as for reducing water usage in power production (food-energy-water/ FEW nexus), chemical and agro-process industries and for improving sustainability (e.g., desalination), etc. Phase change materials (PCMs) can be used in TES due to their high latent heat storage capacity during phase transformation. Inorganic PCMs typically have the highest latent heat capacity and are attractive for their ability to store the larger quantities of thermal energy in small form factors while conferring respectable power ratings (however, they suffer from compromised reliability issues, that often arise from the need for subcooling). Subcooling (also known as supercooling) is a phenomenon where the temperature needs to be reduced substantially below the melting point to initiate solidification. A technique for obviating subcooling issues is to allow a small portion of the PCM to remain un-melted. This allows the PCM to initiate nucleation from the un-melted portion of PCM (this is termed as the “cold finger” technique). Thus, reliability is enhanced at the expense of substantial reduction in storage capacity. A fundamental challenge for using this technique is the inability to reliably predict and control the amount of melt fraction in the total volume of the PCM (such that a target amount of the PCM remains solidified or un-melted at the end of each melt-cycle during repeated melting and solidification of the total mass of PCM). However, using Machine Learning (ML) techniques, this deficiency can be addressed by reliably predicting and thus controlling the amount of melt fraction in the total volume of the PCM with a higher accuracy than conventional techniques (such as using multi-physics-based models or numerical solvers). Conventional techniques for predicting transient characteristics in real time control schemes typically leverage multi-physics-based models that are often effective only for a narrow range of operating conditions with concomitant disadvantages: they are highly sensitive to small variations in the measurement uncertainties and are therefore susceptible to large levels of error in the real time predictions (and are unreliable for implementation in diverse range of operating conditions). In this pioneering study, nearest neighbor search processes (such as radial basis functions) were utilized along with machine learning (ML) algorithm using a training data set to predict the PCM melt fraction and to demonstrate the feasibility (and efficacy) of this approach. This technique is simple to implement and is device independent as well as robust (i.e., it can be deployed successfully even under conditions where the sensors malfunction, such as thermocouples that are off-calibration). This technique was demonstrated successfully for predicting the melt fraction of a PCM with high accuracy and robustness. With this method, the melt fraction of a PCM can be accurately determined, which allows the maximum thermal capacity of a PCM to be utilized while mitigating reliability issues (such as subcooling) and enhancing the thermodynamic efficiencies of the TES platforms. Melting experiments were performed using a digital camera (for video recording) and a graduated cylinder containing PCM for monitoring the transient values of the melt fraction based on the height of the liquid phase of the PCM in the cylinder. An array of 3 thermocouples was mounted at specific heights within the body of the PCM to monitor the temperature transients at these specific location during the propagation of the melt front within the PCM. In the final stages of the melting process, the predictions from the ML algorithm was found to be more accurate (90~95% accuracy) than that of the conventional techniques based on physics-based solvers (~60% accuracy). The accuracy of the ML algorithm was low at smaller melt fractions (~30%) and improved substantially at higher melt fractions (~95%). Furthermore, the accomplishments of this study display the feasibility of a RBF ML method which can be implemented for the accurate prediction and control of a real world stochastic system which can exhibit nonlinear and chaotic dynamics which change over time.

Strategic decision-support modeling for robust management of the food–energy–water nexus under uncertainty

Food, energy, and water (FEW) are interconnected pillars that underpin the security of people’s livelihoods. In this paper, we propose a decision-support model to better understand and aid management of regional FEW nexus systems under uncertainty. We apply the model to a case study focusing on fluctuations in water supply, which significantly affect production in the agriculture and energy sectors in Shanxi Province, China. We use a two-stage, stochastic, chance-constrained programming approach to the proposed spatially detailed cost-minimizing FEW nexus model under demand and natural resource (land and water) constraints. This approach translates the target reliability level (i.e., the probability that the devised solution can satisfy all constraints) into a penalty that has to be paid in the case of their non-fulfillment. On this basis, robust decisions (i.e., production options suitable for a broad variation in certainty of water supply) are derived. Using this approach, we estimate the penalties required to achieve given levels of reliability by incentivizing the deployment of water-saving technologies. For example, our model predicts that water storage would become cost-effective if the penalty for exceeding the available water supply were 2.5 times higher than the current price for industrial water; this would enable at least 40% reliability compared to 18% if the penalty were at the current water price level. Taking advantage of the differences in water intensity of crops in different sites, our model optimizes the reservoir location, which allows water withdrawal by agriculture to be reduced by 1.23%. We also evaluate the benefits of incorporating uncertainty and missed opportunity due to a lack of perfect information. In the case study, we show that the benefits of including uncertainty in the form of the two-stage stochastic programming approach appear to be quite significant, reaching 4% of the total solution costs. Water-importing costs, taxes, and subsidies are instruments that translate into the penalty in this model; the modeling approach presented here can thus be used to inform cost-effective and robust management of the FEW nexus in Shanxi Province, China, and other water-scarce regions around the world.

Food-Energy-Water Crises in the United States and China: Commonalities and Asynchronous Experiences Support Integration of Global Efforts.

Food, energy, and water (FEW) systems have been recognized as an issue of critical global importance. Understanding the mechanisms that govern the FEW nexus is essential to develop solutions and avoid humanitarian crises of displacement, famine, and disease. The U.S. and China are the world's leading economies. Although the two nations are shaped by fundamentally different political and economic systems, they share FEW trajectories in several complementary ways. These realities place the U.S. and China in unique positions to engage in problem definition, dialogue, actions, and transdisciplinary convergence of research to achieve productive solutions addressing FEW challenges. By comparing the nexus and functions of the FEW systems in the two nations, this perspective aims to facilitate collaborative innovations that reduce disciplinary silos, mitigate FEW challenges, and enhance environmental sustainability. The review of experiences and challenges facing the U.S. and China also offers valuable insights for other nations seeking to achieve sustainable development goals.