Nexus Index Research Articles

A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study

Nowadays, food production systems play a relevant role as the steady increase of global population and food demand. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a suitable approach to tackle resources management associated with these three pillars recognizing synergies and trade-offs. Different approaches have been used in the literature to measure the WEF nexus, being material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), two of the most proven methodologies. The MFA approach is based on the amount of resources consumed, while using the LCA perspective considers all flows of the system (LCA footprints approach) or considering only the flows associated with water, energy, and food pillars as the inventory data (WEF-LCA approach). This manuscript compares the three mentioned approaches to identify their strengths and weaknesses. To do this, a sample of 100 Spanish dairy farms is analysed, where a single WEF nexus index (WEFni) is obtained using Data Envelopment Analysis. Results show that only four farms achieved a WEFni equal to 100 in all approaches, while the main difference between them is the number and type of resources considered for calculating the WEF nexus, which could imply a partial identification of hotspots of food systems.

Optimizing water-energy-food nexus index, CO2 emissions, and chemical pollutants under irrigation water salinity scenarios

The escalation of crises related to water quantity of quality, energy, food, and the environment has posed numerous challenges to sustainable development in the agricultural sector. This study seeks to establish an optimal and sustainable framework within the agricultural sector by meeting the objectives of the WEF (Water-Energy-Food) nexus index and environmental. For this, we individually optimized the objectives: maximizing the WEFN index (O1), minimizing CO2 emissions (O2), reducing chemical fertilizer consumption (O3), minimizing chemical pesticide usage (O4), and maximizing gross margin (O5) under various electrical conductivity (EC) scenarios (optimistic, moderate, and pessimistic) within the irrigation network of the Jiroft plain in Iran. In the second stage, we employed a Multi-Objective Programming (MOP) Model to attain these objectives using a weighted sum approach simultaneously. The results of the first stage revealed that under moderate and pessimistic EC irrigation water scenarios, significant alterations in the crop selection within the optimized models for O1 and O5 objectives occurred compared to the baseline scenario, which did not consider EC irrigation water. Specifically, in the pessimistic scenario with an EC irrigation water level of 2.25 ds/m, crops such as onions, tomatoes, and potatoes were replaced within the optimal cropping pattern by wheat, barley, and green-maize, leading to a notable decline in program efficiency. The results from the MOP optimization model indicated that in the pessimistic EC irrigation water scenario, the WEFN index, CO2 emissions, fertilizer consumption, pesticide consumption, and gross margin would change by approximately +12%, −48%, −28%, −8%, and −74%, respectively, compared to the baseline scenario. Consequently, an increase in EC irrigation water, despite improving environmental conditions, would substantially diminish economic profit. Thus, overlooking the impact of EC irrigation water in the WEF nexus analysis could result in misleading conclusions.

Integrating the land–water–climate nexus approach with spatial-based sustainable agriculture production

CONTEXTA policy on agricultural land zoning, based on land suitability maps, has been introduced to optimize the use of resources for crop production in Thailand. However, the impact of activities occurring during cultivation in different land suitability classes has not been considered. A land–water–climate nexus index (LWCNI) has therefore been introduced as a holistic analysis that integrates three indicators––land-use intensity, water-use intensity, and climate change impact in terms of GHG emissions. This can guide resource allocation by highlighting areas that need improvement. OBJECTIVEWe aimed to assess the land–water–climate nexus in different land-suitability classes for sugarcane and cassava in Thailand in order to compare the nexus performances and improve the planning and management of resources for sustainable production. METHODSThe LWCNI was developed and assessed by combining it with geographic information system–based tools for evaluating the nexus performances of sugarcane and cassava cultivation as per the agricultural zoning policies. The scope of the work was “from cradle to farm-gate”, and the final products considered were sugarcane and fresh cassava. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe results revealed that sugarcane cultivation in moderate-suitability areas is the most effective, with the best LWCNI score being 0.87, suggesting efficient cultivation practices with a minimal use of land and water resources, and a minimal climate change impact. The three indicators of land-use intensity, water-use intensity, and GHG emissions for sugarcane were estimated at 0.010 ha/t, 108 m3/t, and 6.2 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)/t, respectively. Cassava cultivation in the high-suitability area was the most efficient, with the best LWCNI score, at 0.95, and using less land, fewer water resources, and having less of a climate change impact. The land-use intensity, water-use intensity, and GHG emissions of cassava were estimated at 0.030 ha/t, 255 m3/t, and 35.7 kgCO2e/t, respectively. Growing crops in marginal and unsuitable areas presented a risk of a high climate change impact as well as competition for water resources due to limited local resources. We found that, even in the same land-suitability class, the amount of fertilizer used by the farmers varied depending on their knowledge, experience, and finances. Excessive fertilizer application increased GHG emissions, which in turn brought about a decrease in the LWCNI score, leading to a poorer nexus performance. SIGNIFICANCEThe findings emphasize the relationship between land and water use and climate change impact across varying spatial contexts. The LWCNI approach offers valuable insights for supporting agricultural zoning policy.

Water-energy-food-greenhouse gas nexus: An approach to solutions for water scarcity in agriculture of a semi-arid region

CONTEXTAgricultural systems involve intricate interdependencies among water, energy, and food. Increasing understanding of these linkages, along with implications for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and developing new assessment approaches are critical for achieving key sustainability goals. OBJECTIVES1) Evaluation of the impacts of tillage, irrigation and residue management practices on water and energy consumption, and GHG emission in the cultivation of irrigated wheat and rapeseed, 2) Developing a novel Water-Energy-Food-Greenhouse gas (WEFG) nexus index to provide a holistic assessment of the linkages among water, energy, food, and GHG emissions in agriculture, and 3) Assessing the sustainability of irrigated wheat and rapeseed cultivation under different methods of tillage, irrigation and residue management applying the WEFG nexus index. METHODSThis study formulated a new WEFG nexus index applying eight indicators of water and energy consumption, CO2-eq (CO2 equivalent) emission, water and energy mass productivity, water, energy and CO2-eq economic productivity to evaluate the sustainability of wheat and rapeseed cultivation under two field management practices: 1) furrow irrigation with conventional tillage (FICT), and 2) center pivot irrigation with no-tillage (CPNT), within a semi-arid region in northeastern Iran. Irrigation in both systems was done by applying a deficit irrigation approach. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSCPNT resulted on average in 46% and 53% energy consumption reductions from water and diesel usage, respectively, compared to FICT. The mean CO2-eq emission under CPNT was 26% lower than that recorded under FICT. Furthermore, the WEFG nexus index score for wheat and rapeseed under CPNT was 0.91 and 0.73, respectively, out of 1, compared to 0.18 and 0.12 for FICT. These scores suggest that the CPNT approach is a more appropriate strategy than FICT, as it effectively reduced water and energy consumption while aligning better with long-term environmental and economic aims. SIGNIFICANCEThe study applies more accurate GHG emission-based indicators to introduce a new WEFG nexus index, and it uses these for evaluation of different field management at the farm level to reduce the uncertainties in the large-scale studies. The proposed methodology for assessing multiple aspects of the WEFG nexus can change previous perceptions about agricultural management in other regions confronting multiple resources and environmental crises.

Land-Water-GHG-Food Nexus performance and physical-socio-economic-policy factors influencing rice cultivation in Central Thailand

Agriculture activity contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through its utilization of land, water, and energy for food production. Hence, the interactions between land, water, and GHG emissions in agricultural production need to be comprehensively studied. The study aimed to assess the Land-Water-GHG-Food Nexus Index (LWGFNI) of rice cultivation across various land suitability classes in Central Thailand and determining the physical, socio-economic, and policy factors that can influence farmers' decisions to choose for cultivating rice instead of shifting to other crops. The results indicated that the highest LWGFNI score was 0.69 for the rice grown in the moderate suitability land class which revealed a lower use of land and water resources as well as GHG emissions compared to other levels of land suitability. The LWGFNI scores of major rice cultivation were greater compared to the second rice in all four-land suitability. The use of fertilizers had a crucial role in enhancing productivity levels and was a significant factor in the generation of GHG emissions. Hence, improving effective production should consider the appropriate use of fertilizer. The physical, socio-economic, and policy-related aspects that significantly influenced farmers' decisions on cultivation of rice included topography, water resources, inherited professions, price guarantee, and knowledge/training factors. The methodology used and results obtained can help policy makers to plan the use of water and land resources efficiently and appropriately with local resources based on land suitability class. The assessment results revealed the GHG hotspots and the strategies to mitigate GHG emissions associated with rice cultivation.

Toward revolutionizing water-energy-food nexus composite index model: from availability, accessibility, and governance

The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has emerged as a critical research interest to support integrated resource planning, management, and security. For this reason, many tools have been developed recently to evaluate the WEF nexus security and monitor progress toward the WEF-related sustainable development goals. Among these, calculating the WEF composite index model is critical since it can provide a quantitative approach to demonstrate the WEF nexus security status. However, the current WEF nexus index model framework needs to include the incorporation of governance indicators, neglecting the importance of governance in the WEF nexus framework. Thus, this article develops a new WEF nexus composite index model that incorporates governance indicators in each subpillar. The principal component analysis (PCA) is adopted to reduce the variables’ collinearity and the model’s dimensionality. A quasi-Monte Carlo-based uncertainty and global sensitivity analysis are applied to the index model to assess its effectiveness. Finally, the new WEF index model is applied to the 16 South African Development Community (SADC) countries as a case study. A critical synergy effect within the WEF nexus framework is identified that nations with better WEF governance ability tend to perform better in improving the WEF accessibility capability, suggesting the importance of governance in the WEF nexus security framework.

A comprehensive assessment indicator of the water-energy-food nexus system based on the material consumption relationship

The input–output relationships among material, energy, and information within the water, energy, and food subsystems are intricately interwoven, constituting an integrated system vital for sustainable development. Various water-energy-food (WEF) nexus indicators have been applied to evaluate the system's internal relationships and state. Nevertheless, these methods fail to aggregate the internal relationships into an indicator. This study proposes a WEF nexus indicator that incorporates the interconsumption into the system using the material flow analysis. The interconsumption consists of energy consumption in the food and water subsystems, water consumption in the energy and food subsystems, and food consumption in the energy subsystem. Moreover, the major factors were identified by the sensitivity factor method. The three countries (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) in the Amu Darya River (ADR) basin exhibit strong interactions in the WEF nexus system, are chosen as a case study. Our results show that in 1992–2018, Uzbekistan's food subsystem consumed the most energy among the three countries; the energy consumption within the water subsystem displays an upward trend across all three countries; the water consumption in the energy subsystem of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is 2–4 times greater than that in Turkmenistan; and the water withdrawals for agriculture within the three countries have remained relatively stable. The composite index in three countries exhibits an upward trend, with the most pronounced increase occurring in Turkmenistan. Uzbekistan has the strongest WEF nexus relationship, with a WEF nexus index that was 2–3 times greater than that of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The most important subsystem of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan is the energy subsystem; however, water resources are the major factors in Uzbekistan. The introduced indicator enables a comparison of the WEF system between regions and temporal variations in a certain region. It can provide intuitive and effective data support for WEF nexus system management.

Dynamic nexus between agricultural water consumption, economic growth and food security

ABSTRACT Water, energy and food (WEF) are important strategic resources for economic development in arid agriculture-based regions. Analyzing development indicators in the management of limited resources to achieve sustainability on a time scale is one of the basic goals of this research. Therefore, a system dynamics model was developed to analyze the WEF system resource flow relationship to achieve sustainable resource development. First, the subsystems of WEF resources were created and their dynamic relationship was formed in the form of a logical loop in a 10-year time frame. The evolution of 7 years (from 2015 to 2022) was taken into consideration to predict the 3-year period (from 2023 to 2025). The results showed that the reduction of water resources exploitation rate in China in interaction with agricultural productivity has automatically improved energy consumption and the nexus index. In China, a dynamic balance between WEF with a focus on water is recommended for planning.

Applying a water-energy-food nexus approach to seafood products from the European Atlantic area

By 2050, food production's environmental impacts are projected to double without intervention. Crucial changes in dietary habits are needed, and seafood can be pivotal. The focus in calculating burdens using life cycle assessment (LCA) indicators has shifted towards exploring interconnections within the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus. Addressing this evolution, this manuscript has applied an innovative methodology to calculate a WEF nexus index (WEFni). This index seamlessly integrates both environmental and nutritional profiles across diverse case studies involving fisheries, aquaculture, and processing production systems in the European Atlantic area. The results showed that when it comes to fishing, purse seine fishing obtained the highest score (99%). For the aquaculture activities, seafood (>73%) obtained better results than fish farming. About processing treatments, freezing (>79%) has lower environmental loads than canning. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was carried out according to a caloric- and edible-based functional unit as well as the modification of the weighting factors assigned to each footprint, in which important variations were reported in the WEFni of most case studies. Consequently, although the methodological guidelines supporting the WEFni have great potential to serve as an ecolabeling tool, certain aspects need to be re-evaluated. On the other hand, it could be interesting to include the potential biodiversity loss, as well as other socioeconomic indicators, with the purpose of considering a more sustainability criteria. Finally, the contribution of this paper to the food industry literature is of paramount importance, as it represents a first step towards holistic assessments and easy-to-understand ecolabelling processes that can promote sustainable production and consumption.

Water-food-energy nexus assessment for major agricultural crops and different irrigation methods of Lake Urmia basin, Iran

ABSTRACT In this study, the water-food-energy nexus in the Lake Urmia basin was investigated to establish a balance between water and energy consumption, aiming to protect the environment and ensure food security. The research was conducted on 17 farms located in different parts of the Lake Urmia basin, encompassing the predominant crops in the region as well as a variety of irrigation systems. An integrated water-food-energy nexus index was developed, which included irrigation application efficiency, water productivity, energy ratio, energy efficiency, various water footprints and the carbon footprint. The implementation of drip irrigation systems can significantly reduce potential harm to water and energy resources, and the environment.

Analyzing the Water, Energy, and Food Security Nexus Index in Morocco

The WEF Nexus Index’s quantitative perspective provides a way to evaluate the trade-offs that need to be taken into account for sustainable development. Morocco’s natural resources are being impacted by climate change, and the demand for energy, water, and food are increasing the pressure on these resources. Academics are becoming more interested in measuring the synergies and trade-offs between this resource. The purpose of this paper is to offer an interpretation of how the Morocco WEF Nexus Index has changed over the course of 5 years, as determined by open databases. The index’s value decreased and Morocco’s ranking deteriorated during this period, as evidenced by the results. The results are useful for evaluating Morocco’s progress in managing integrated resources and aiding in decision-making and policy development. On an interactive website, A group of visual representations linked to WEF Nexus Index has been put together.

Development of a novel framework for agriculture simulation model for food-energy-water nexus analysis in watershed-scale

Agricultural crop production is the most vital sector of the food subsystem within the Food-Water-Energy (FEW) Nexus system, and many environmental and external factors affect it. Complex interactions between FEW subsystems and complex interrelations within each FEW subsystems affect each other dynamically. As a result, in this study, based on the dynamics between FEW subsystems and within FEW subsystems in agriculture, the Agriculture Simulation Model for the Food-Energy-Water nexus (ASM-FEW) is presented at the watershed scale. ASM-FEW includes modules for multi-crop yield modeling and calibration, energy consumption, indices related to FEW, and a comprehensive Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index (WEFNI) to assess crop production efficiency FEW Nexus approach. Modeling evaluation criteria demonstrate the precise crop yield modeling of ASM-FEW for the study area, the Maragheh-Bonab region in the Urmia Lake Basin, from 2005 to 2015. Model evaluation criteria demonstrate precise crop yield modeling. Results show that Potato and rainfed Chickpea exhibit the highest and lowest energy consumption indices, at 222,766 and 19,503 MJ/ha, respectively. Water economic productivity indices indicate irrigated Potato and Wheat as the highest and lowest, with values of 1.084 and 0.114 $/m3, respectively. Energy economic productivity indices reveal that irrigated Onion and rainfed Wheat are the highest and lowest, at 0.132 and 0.006 $/MJ, respectively. Lastly, according to the WEFNI index, irrigated Onion and irrigated Wheat are the most and least suitable crops for cultivation, with values of 0.66 and 0.264, respectively.

An African perspective on the Water-Energy-Food nexus

There is a need to address resource security and distributional justice in developing countries. People need water, energy, and food to sustain their livelihoods, grow economies, and achieve sustainable development. The interactions between these resource sectors form the crux of water-energy-food (WEF) nexus assessments. In this study, we have utilised the WEF Nexus Index to analyse the WEF nexus of 54 African nations. The results from the analysis were used to illustrate the opportunities and constraints for future development. Generally, African countries are performing sub-optimally in the WEF Nexus Index due to the insecurity of water, energy and/or food. The performance of countries varies with context, highlighting the need for contextual analysis in identifying challenges and potential solutions. Implementation of interventions for achieving WEF security needs to be planned from an integrated perspective to optimise synergies and minimize trade-offs. Implementation of the WEF nexus approach towards simultaneous security of WEF resources has potential to improve the WEF nexus. For example and for many African countries, policies that undergird investments in energy supply projects are needed to unlock available freshwater resources and meet food requirements—energy is shown to be a critical enabler of development. Such projects can be utilised to enhance the ability of farmers to manage water through drought-proofing rainfed agriculture, an increase in irrigation development, or both. WEF nexus-based studies, policies, and projects must be focused on the direct and indirect achievement of SDGs 1, 2, 6, 7, and 13, both in terms of access and availability, to ensure distributional justice, especially in the African context. Such actions, combined with broad public participation, can have a ripple effect on other SDGs such as SDGs 5, 10, and 17, thereby reducing inequalities and building partnerships to attain these aspirational goals. The assessment of Africa’s relatively low scores in terms of the WEF Nexus Index does not represent a negative narrative. Instead, it provides an entry point to identifying hotspots and understanding the underlying challenges, through which more detailed analyses can lead to identified solutions and policies. Many African countries are trapped in an environment that could be termed a ‘poverty-unemployment-inequality nexus’ (due to the interlinkages that exist between these ‘wicked’ problems). The WEF Nexus Index provides high-level insights into these opportunities.

On-farm water energy food carbon-footprint nexus index for quantitative assessment of integrated resources management for wheat farming in Egypt

To improve the farming efficiency, Egypt has been struggling to narrow the water, energy, and yield gaps owing to exacerbated water shortage. For quantitative diagnosis of farming performance, the paper presented an on-farm water, energy, food, and carbon-footprint (WEFC) nexus index made up of four equally pillars. The arithmetic average preserved the multi-centric approach and equal importance of the four pillars. The index was applied to test and rank 2,042 wheat-based farmer fields in Egypt representing diverse inputs, agronomic and irrigation practices, soil types, and agroecological conditions. The water metric was the ratio of saved water, difference between maximum water consumption recorded in the country and actual water consumption, to the maximum water consumption. Likewise, the energy metric was obtained. The food metric was the ratio of actual yield to maximum yield in the country. The carbon-footprint metric was the ratio of difference between maximum CO2 emission in the country and actual emission to the maximum emission. The index values showed a wide range from 18.69% to 87.33% with a high standard deviation emphasizing the diversity of farming practices, soil types, and agroecological conditions. The highest ten values were recorded in fields with sandy soils, relatively large area, drip irrigation, recommended seeding and fertilization rates, well drainage, weeds removal, and tillage. The drip irrigation system in 51 out of 52 fields had above average value. The lowest ten values were in fields with clay soils and flood irrigation, where 18.7% of 1,780 fields exceeded the above average value. Raised beds with furrow irrigation in 83.15% of 184 fields exceeded the above average value. Fertilization rates of nitrogen and phosphorus in 61% and 53% of fields respectively exceeded the recommended rates with no significant reflection on the food metric. The low index values in fields with flood irrigation were attributed to high water losses causing high water consumption, energy consumption, and CO2 emission. The index was a good indicative of input resources consumption and output production as it varied inversely with water and energy consumption and CO2 emission and proportionally with yield. Since the high-water consumption was the main entry point for low index values in fields with flood irrigation, changing the irrigation to drip system or revisiting the irrigation scheduling and the estimated applied irrigation water amount were recommended. The index can be utilized to quantify the effectiveness of both recommendations and further new site-specific interventions and to assess their impact at scale. The index also recommended land use consolidation where farmers retain ownership of their lands but with cooperative farming.

Assessment of sustainable agricultural development based on the water-energy-food nexus framework in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, China.

Water, energy and food are inextricably linked in agricultural system. Social and environmental issues arising from socio-economic development pose new challenges for sustainable agricultural development. Achieving sustainable agriculture from the perspective of water, energy and food resource conservation is of critical importance to the national strategy for high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin in China. In this study, the mass productivity and economic productivity of water and energy in agricultural system were considered, and an integrated assessment index system for agricultural system based on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEFN) was proposed in three dimensions: reliability, coordination and resilience. Based on these indicators, the agricultural water-energy-food nexus index (AWEFNI) and integrated risk index (IRI) were performed to assess the current status of agricultural development in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Results indicate that the AWEFNI in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River is increasing year by year, and the level of sustainable agricultural development is improving, but the overall level is lower. The AWEFNI values vary widely among provinces. The reliability of single subsystem in the study area accounts for more than 1/3 of the AWEFNI, with poor water endowment， rich food and energy resource endowments, the coordination of the AWEFN is weakening. The resilience of the third subsystem is gradually declining. The contradiction in water and energy supply and demand in Ningxia is the most prominent among the five provinces, and the level of AWEFN development is the lowest, so the regulation policies should be implemented as soon as possible to promote the synergistic development of AWEFN around the region.

SUSTAINABLE ISLAND (SAIL): AN INNOVATIVE WAY FOR REACHING A SIGNIFICANT RISE IN INDONESIA WATER, ENERGY, AND FOOD NEXUS INDEX

Indonesia, being an archipelagic country, ranks third in terms of climate risk. Sustainable islands (SAIL) are novel ideas offered as an effective way of achieving Indonesia's sustainable development while also accelerating climate change mitigation and adaptation. The water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus approach will be used to expand SAIL's programs. In this nexus, water is the most essential governing factor for the ecosystem and society. Thus, the SAIL program is adopting rainwater harvesting (RWH), a sustainable technology that supplies water with low energy and cost. To irrigate the crops and generate electricity, the island RWH tank is created by impounding surface runoff over natural landscape depressions equipped with a hydrokinetic power system. An RWH system with a pico-hydropower system is installed on the roofs of all island buildings for both household water consumption and electricity generation. The immediate implementation of the SAIL concept promises to boost Indonesia’s WEF nexus index. Keywords: Island; Nexus; RWH; Sustainability; WEF.

An inclusive approach for integrated systems: Incorporation of climate in the water-food-energy-land nexus index

Land and water resources are largely used for food production during agricultural activities. Some farm operations are energy intensive and climate is also affected due to the use of fossil energy during the farm operations. Thus, the nexus assessment without considering climate as an indicator may not provide a holistic outlook toward a secure, efficient, and sustainable use of resources. Therefore, this study aimed to incorporate climate as an indicator in the already existing water-food-energy-land nexus methodology. To implement the water-food-energy-land-climate nexus index, the wheat crop production system in Punjab, Pakistan was taken as a case study. Twelve different indicators were normalized and then aggregated to assess the value of the water-food-energy-land-climate nexus index. Higher the value represents better the sustainable production of crops and land suitability. The value of the water-food-energy-land-climate nexus index varied from 0.34 to 0.78 across Punjab indicating a wide range of sustainable wheat crop production and land suitability for wheat cultivation. The northwest region was showing a lower water-food-energy-land-climate nexus index value as compared to the south. The south and central Punjab areas are more suitable for the wheat crop as compared to the north or west. The water-food-energy-land-climate nexus index could also be used as a comprehensive tool to evaluate the performance of other crops as well. It can also help in formulating an inclusive policy for sustainable development goals — such as SDG 2 (elevate food security), 6 (enhance water security), 12 (responsible consumption and production), and 13 (climate action).

Land suitability class and implications to Land-Water-Food Nexus: A case of rice cultivation in Thailand

Arable land and water resource scarcity for food production to fulfill the growing demand is a global challenge. Expansion of rice cultivation in Thailand without planning increases land and water depletion especially for the low-productivity rice cultivation areas. The Thai government has an agricultural zoning policy on promoting rice cultivation using land suitability classes for efficient use of land and costs; however, there is still some rice grown on land with low suitability. The study evaluated the land suitability class implications on major and second rice cultivation in view of the Land-Water-Food Nexus performance using Chainat, a key province of rice cultivation in Thailand, as the study area. The land and water intensity indicators were calculated using a normalized approach as the Land-Water-Food Nexus Index (LWFNI). The geographic information system (GIS) tool was used to analyze land-use classification, interpolate the rainfall, and overlay the land suitability classification with the Land-Water-Food Nexus of rice. Rice cultivation on highly suitable areas has a higher LWFNI score for resource efficiency and economic value. Scenarios were considered for changing rice cultivation in marginally and unsuitable areas to alternative crops to conserve water and reduce costs. The option for alternative crops to replace the base case with major rice and mungbean scenario was the most water-saving at about 3,601 m3/ha/year and made a profit increase of about 84,106 baht/ha. Additionally, the major rice and peanut scenario achieved the most profit increase of about 302,366 baht/ha and saved water at about 2,081 m3/ha/year.

Incorporating deep learning predictions to assess the water-energy-food nexus security

Water, energy and food (WEF) are experiencing significant stress due to an increase in their demand and scarcity, and this situation will worsen in the coming years. For this reason, this paper proposes a WEF nexus index, which consists of 6 indicators of availability and accessibility to measure water, energy and food security. The proposed methodology, based on indicators and a scoring system, allows decision-makers to evaluate the nexus security and implement actions to achieve the sustainability of the three resources by 2050. Models based on deep learning are developed for the projection of the production and consumption of resources for the case study of Mexico. The Long Short-Term Memory and Gated Recurrent Unit networks are considered. Projections for 2050 resulted in water consumption of 121,679 hm3, electricity generation of 772,486 GWh and electricity consumption of 932,764 GWh, while food production will reach 351,802,080 tons. This represents an increase of 51.7% in water consumption, 180.33% in electricity generation, 254.54% in electricity demand and 103.05% in food production, compared to 2010. The WEF nexus index has an upward trend because the accessibility of water and energy will increase by 2050, but their availability will decrease; the opposite is the case in the food sector, where availability will increase and access will decrease.

Methodological guidelines for the calculation of a Water-Energy-Food nexus index for seafood products

Indicators from life cycle assessment methodologies (i.e., footprints) have emerged as useful tools for identifying and communicating the environmental impacts of a system thanks to they are accessible and intuitive and easy to understand to non-expert public. However, the focus on a single environmental problem is one of their main drawbacks. From this idea arises the concept of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus, with the aim of raising awareness of the connections between the universal rights to water supply, energy security and food provision. Regarding the latter, the fisheries sector stands out as a fundamental pillar in the fight against malnutrition. In this sense, the European project “blue growth” aims to ensure that the development of the marine sector is not linked to the degradation of its ecosystems. However, although producers and authorities are willing to communicate the sustainability of products, there is still no standard methodology for reporting it. With the purpose of remedying this current situation, this paper aims to provide technical guidance to calculate a single WEF nexus index for ecolabelling seafood products in the European framework (Atlantic area). Therefore, through this, it is expected to create a useful communication channel between producers and consumers through an easy-to-read ecolabel. Nonetheless, certain aspects, such as the footprints selected or the calculation procedures selected have to be reconsidered to refine the methodology proposed, apart from broadening the approach to other food sectors with the aim that the proposed eco-certification can be present in major supply and retail chains.