Resource Nexus Research Articles

Overcoming Resource Nexus Conflicts With a Normative-Institutional Approach: A Case Study of Brazil

Water-energy nexus research highlights the need for co-management across water and energy sectors, whereby joint planning and solutions under better integrated governance of resources could make action more efficient and cost-effective to advance the SDGs. A gap remains in the literature with regards to the normative dimension of the resource nexus. At the background or resource nexus conflicts there are norms, which need to be considered and applied in the resolution of disputes. Brazil has been chosen as case study because of rising conflicts around its high dependency on water and hydropower generation to keep affordable tariffs, while securing multiple water uses. Hydrological factors (e.g., prolonged droughts) and non-hydrological factors (e.g., chronic delays in delivery of new plants and transmission lines) have impacted on water availability, which led to constraints for hydropower generation, with cascading economic, social and environmental impacts. Electricity prices have risen, while water quantity and quality have decreased, affecting multiple users and ecological integrity of rivers. All of which impact negatively on livelihoods and water services and sanitation, aggravated by the fact that electricity represents one of the fastest growing costs for Water services, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) suppliers. The novel combination of research methods based on metrics, historical-institutional analysis, questionnaire, and in-depth interviews served as instruments for the assessment of the water-electricity nexus issues and development of a new legal approach to manage conflicts arising in Brazil. Most of the existing work has favored integration of water and electricity sectors based on quantitative approach to address the interlinkages between them and tackle trade-offs. However, from a legal perspective, very little is known about how these sectors could be better integrated in practice. This study proposes a normative-institutional approach that offers a flexible, integrated, and adequate legal treatment to overcome the conflicts between water and electricity in the context of their asymmetrical governance, policies, regulation, planning and environmental injustices. Split in substantive, institutional, and procedural dimensions this approach is necessary to enhance participatory and equitable resource governance based on the laws of balancing legal principles, rational, inclusive, and transparent procedures. It was concluded that for water-electricity nexus thinking to be connected to the idea of integration it will be necessary to consider justice by taking a normative-institutional approach that can support advances to the SDGs in more holistic and fair ways.

Nexus of ecosystem service-human health-natural resources: The nature-based solutions for urban PM2.5 pollution

With modern industrialization and urbanization, air pollution has become a significant environmental problem in urban areas. The effective removal of air pollutants is crucial for improving air quality, maintaining human health, and achieving human well-being. As the most densely populated city in Taiwan, Taipei City faces a severe fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure problem. This study proposes a conceptual framework in response to urban PM2.5 pollution that adversely affects human health. The PM2.5 removal capacity provided by urban vegetation within Taipei City was first quantified, and its public health benefits were then evaluated. The optimal locations for different nature-based solutions (NBS) were also identified, which could be applied when forming urban PM2.5 pollution mitigation policies. The results revealed that the urban vegetation of Taipei City in 2016 contributed to reducing the health incidence change of premature death and certain diseases, equated monetarily to New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) 9.43E+08. In addition, as one of the four evaluated NBS, direct vertical greening presented with the highest benefit-cost ratio for Taipei City. Spatial mappings of the different NBS locations could guide the government in planning sustainable urban green infrastructure in the future.

Nexus of natural resources, urbanization and economic recovery in Asia: The moderating role of innovation

Despite their population, Asian countries have failed to provide full economic recovery, and what recovery has occurred may be short-lived if they do not protect the environment. Asian nations' economic recovery from the Asian Financial crisis (1997–1998) is examined in this study, with a focus on the consequences of globalization, economic growth, financial development, natural resource utilization and innovation. Econometric approaches that can handle cross-sectionally dependent panel datasets are used to determine the environmental implications of these variables over the period 1980 to 2016. This work uses the second-generation panel unit root and long-run cointegration tests for robust and reliable results. There is a mixed order of integration for the variables, which are cointegrated. The long-term regressions show increased economic recovery due to natural resource use, while technological advancement reduces economic recovery. The results suggest that financial development and eco-innovation enhance economic recovery, whereas urbanization accelerates environmental deterioration by increasing the ecological footprint. This study recommends that Asian countries become more financially incorporated, fund environmental initiatives, support environmental modernization and accelerate economic recovery rates through their energy production and consumption.

World uncertainty, natural resources, consumer prices, and financial development in high-income countries

In this uncertain world, every economy is facing challenges to achieve sustainable development with available resources. Ample research has explored the nexus of natural resources and financial development. However, world uncertainty and financial development's nexus are uncommon in literature. Therefore, this study is planned to re-investigate the nexus of natural resource rents and financial development by recruiting world uncertainty, human capital, and consumer price index. Theoretically, the natural resource curse hypothesis is being followed. To empirically estimate the linkages, “the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR)” and “Bootstrap Quantile Regression (BSQR)” are employed. Findings report the negative role of world uncertainty with the existence of the natural resource curse. Whereases, human capital, and consumer prices are found to support for financial development in high-income countries. High-income economies are suggested to invest more in human capital and plan to minimize uncertainty in the long-run. Findings have robust policy implications.

Exploring the nexus of freshwater resources and international conflict: bibliometric insights and a research agenda for the future

Exploring the nexus of freshwater resources and international conflict: bibliometric insights and a research agenda for the future

Exploring the nexus of freshwater resources and international conflict: bibliometric insights and a research agenda for the future

Exploring the nexus of freshwater resources and international conflict: bibliometric insights and a research agenda for the future

Chemical sciences, technological innovations, and resource circulation

A multi-loop resource nexus, which features an intricate network of various resource loops, is proposed to promote circular economies. To realize efficient transfer and transformation of resources, the chemical sciences are critical for innovations in low-carbon resource recovery technologies.

Rebel Resource Efficiency and the Escalation of Civil Conflict

Abstract What explains the ebbs and flows of government–rebel battles during civil conflict? We posit that rebels, as actors dissatisfied with the status quo, challenge the government when they can sustain fighting and absorb losses on the battlefield. This is possible when the group's resource base is stable and unlikely to be undermined by market forces, government action, or external interveners. If, however, rebel portfolios are extraordinarily profitable, rebels will focus on profiting from their investments, making the escalation of armed conflict less likely. Using a measure that captures the efficiency of rebel resource portfolios and two illustrative cases, we find evidence for this curvilinear relationship: conflicts escalate as resource portfolio efficiency increases but de-escalate slightly when portfolios are very efficient. Thus, the decision to escalate a conflict is revealed to be a function of the entire bundle of resources controlled by rebels and the market value of those resources. By accounting for the entirety of rebel resource portfolios, this study refines the insurgent–resource nexus, leading to a better understanding of civil conflict dynamics.

Impact of non-renewable energy and natural resources on economic recovery: Empirical evidence from selected developing economies

Panel data examines the effects of renewable and natural resource usage on Green economic recovery in the top 10 nations adopting non-renewable energy from 1975 to 2018. Misunderstandings of sustainable energy legislation are often a result of structural breakout that go unnoticed. Fourier-based approaches are used to examine the nexus of non-renewable energy and natural resources on green economic recovery in selected countries. Economic recovery in eight of the ten nations depends on natural resource development, whereas sustainable energy contributes to economic recovery in Germany, Denmark, and France over the long term. Italy, Malta, the UK, and Greece are examples of countries where the energy-led growth theory holds. Even though Italy's economy relies on non-renewable energy, the preservation theory holds for both power parameters in Germany and sustainable power in China. While non-renewable energy is not as powerful as exhaustible power, the total findings demonstrate that natural resource development has the potential to be a significant driver of green economic recovery. Policies to combat energy ineffectiveness should thus check an overworked world-ecology, reduce urban oddities, and encourage ecological learning for a better atmosphere.

Revisiting the importance of forest rents, oil rents, green growth in economic performance of China: Employing time series methods

The issue of environmental quality with natural resource extraction and excessive carbon emissions is often linked to economic growth. Still, the existing literature is ambiguous due to contradictory evidence concerning the nexus of natural resources, green growth, and economic performance. This study tends to provide a clear picture of the said nexus in the case of China from 1990 to 2020. Using advanced time series approaches, this study finds that all the variables are I(1) stationary, and the cointegration association is valid in the long run. Considering the variable's asymmetrical distribution, this study employed the novel method of moment quantile regression (MMQR). The empirical estimate of the study reveals that natural resources (such as forest rents and oil rents) and green growth adversely affect economic performance, which validates the natural resource curse in the country. The influence of green growth and forest rents is significant, but the oil rents are insignificant. However, carbon emissions positively impact the country's economic performance in the long run. The results are robust and more significant after the robustness test of bootstrap quantile regression. Based on the results obtained, this study suggests increasing investment in environmentally friendly resources to reduce natural resource dependence and negative externalities.

Moderating Role of Knowledge-Sharing on the Nexus of Digital Business and Natural Resources

This study conducts an empirical analysis of the effects of the procedure of transforming digital on natural resource rents in the private and public sectors. In our paper, we analyze the changes in total natural rents (rents from coal, mineral, natural gas, and forest) by digital businesses (e-commerce, involving shopping online, turnovers e-commerce, trading on e-commerce web, and business electronically, involving the use of customer relationship management (CRM), and cloud usage). From 2011 to 2019, a sample of 26 countries from the European Union was examined using various econometric approaches. Our estimation results demonstrate that digital businesses cause a rise in overall natural rents. More precisely, the rents for coal and gas appear to be more influenced by an enterprise’s integration of digital technologies. On the other hand, digitalization in the business sector tends to lower coal rents and mineral and woodland rents. Notably, knowledge-sharing is the most crucial component to promote the efficiency of digitalization in preventing natural rent-seeking.

Integrating fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies into the water, energy & food nexus for sustainable security: A bibliometric analysis

The technologies of the fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR/Industry 4.0) have been a technological catalyst for all fields of human endeavor, permeating the water, energy, and food (WEF) nexus. However, there is no empirical evidence of the extent of applications and the permeability level in ensuring the three resources’ security. This study explored the relationship of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the water, energy, and food nexus by evaluating the applications of the various technologies of 4IR on WEF nexus and examined the effect of 4IR on WEF nexus. The objectives were achieved using the qualitative methodology and bibliometric analysis of content analysis. The result showed that most fourth industrial revolution technologies had not been integrated with the WEF nexus. The result showed that only the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data analytics had permeated the nexus, which shows that data of the resources will be the foundation of the nexus. The systematic collection, accuracy of data, and empirical analysis of data will determine the level of security of WEF nexus. The qualitative results show that there are applications of the fourth industrial revolution technologies to the individual sectors of the nexus, birthing Water 4.0, Energy 4.0, and Food 4.0. The Bibliometric analysis result shows that the integration of the fourth industrial revolution with the WEF nexus will lead to cleaner production practices relating to the technological processes of water, energy, and food resources. These practices will ensure the environment's safety from WEF wastes and the water, energy, and food security in production processes. The empirical research and bibliometric analysis result, rooted in the concept of cleaner production, shows that the fourth industrial revolution affected the WEF nexus. The effects are; the birth of clean technologies & industrial applications, the catalyst for sustainability security of WEF nexus leveraging on life cycle thinking , enablement of technological transfer, enhancement of economic growth, and urban planning . The study concludes that the fourth industrial revolution technologies affect WEF nexus, ensuring the popularization of cleaner production strategies and processes of the resources during trade-offs and synergies. The study recommends the integration of a cleaner production concept in WEF processing. It should follow the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and Technology acceptance theory (TAM) when applying 4IR technologies to the nexus of water, energy, and food resources, for their sustainable security. • 4IR technologies in WEF production leads to WEF resources sustainable security. • Applications of 4IR technologies on WEF nexus has significant effects. • 4IR and WEF nexus ensures Cleaner production of WEF resources.

Circular economy and the food sector: A systematic literature review

The circular economy (CE) paradigm aims to prevent environmental degradation while ensuring the economic and social well-being of the present and future generations. Recently, the CE has garnered rising interest from academics, managers, and policymakers, especially in the food sector. The CE can not only open up avenues for waste reduction, but the corporate players in the food sector also look forward to a CE to enhance customers' loyalty and trust. This paper maps the relatively novel but growing CE and food literature territory by systematically reviewing the studies. The analysis is carried out by integrating different interdisciplinary perspectives that lead to essential themes and sub-themes. The findings include that food waste management is a prominent theme in conjunction with the CE, followed by food packaging, resource nexus, policies and legislation, CE performance, CE principles in the food supply chain, transition challenges, and CE rebound & circular premium. Mapping the key themes and research gaps helps identify the strategic actions for managers and policymakers to transition from the traditional to a CE-based food sector.

The nexus of job resources and turnover intentions with the mediating role of employees’ work engagement in the hospitality industry

PurposeEmployees turnover is considered a prevailing worldwide problem (Vasquez,2014). This study aims to test the impact of job resources on employees’ work engagement and turnover intentions of different ages, gender and organizational hierarchy.Design/methodology/approachThis study used an online survey method using the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory. Data were collected from 408 hotel employees. The analysis was conducted through structural equation modeling.FindingsThis study finds that job resources positively impact work engagement. Moreover, work engagement negatively influences employees’ turnover intention. In addition, work engagement is found as an underlying psychological mechanism between job resources and turnover intentions. Further, age, gender and organizational hierarchy play a significant role in moderating the relationship between work engagement and turnover intentions.Originality/valueThis study suggests that job resources can overcome turnover intentions among employees concerning diverse age, gender and organizational hierarchy for reciprocal relationships. Based on JD-R theory, this study empirically tests the neglected role of ages, gender and the organizational hierarchy on employees’ work engagement and turnover intentions in the hospitality sector in a developing country context.

Opportunities and Challenges for Establishing a Resource Nexus Community of Science and Practice

The American Chemical Society’s Division of Environmental Chemistry symposium Toward Creating a Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Community of Practice, brought together 25 cross-disciplinary speakers in five thematic areas: 1) state of the art models and approaches, 2) WEF Nexus initiatives and case studies, 3) WEF governance and stakeholder engagement, 4) chemical processes and WEF Nexus, 5) WEF education, community, and practice. Discussions included diverse perspectives from different areas of expertise and provided key take-home messages toward building a WEF community of practice. This paper summarizes those messages, drawing conclusions regarding the anticipated challenges and opportunities moving toward establishing a resource-nexus community of science and practice that includes the chemical societies. We define the community of science and practice as a bottom-up approach of formal and non-formal scientists, policy makers, practitioners, technology providers, and civil society members concerned with any aspect of water, energy, food, ecosystem resources allocation, management, governance, and financing. The roles of chemistry and chemical processes in understanding the interlinkages of nexus systems must not be overlooked. Chemistry plays an important role in the circularity of the food and agriculture system, and in providing cleaner energy, cleaner water, and more sustainable food production. The question is how to better engage the chemical society in the WEF nexus moving forward? The paper proposes the resource of health, highlighting major challenges and opportunities in the Water-Energy-Food-Health-Ecosystems (WEFH) Nexus, and highlights future steps for fostering dialogue among this broad, multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder community toward establishing an inclusive community of science and practice.

Exploring Cross-Sectoral Implications of the Sustainable Development Goals: Towards a Framework for Integrating Health Equity Perspectives With the Land-Water-Energy Nexus.

Objectives: To assess existing evidence and identify gaps in the integrative framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for their potential to advance cross-sectoral perspectives and actions that connect health equity with the land-water-energy nexus in a watershed context. Methods: Five bibliographic databases were searched from 2016 to 2021. This yielded an initial 226 publications, which were screened for titles, abstracts, and full texts on DistillerSR; resulting in a final 30 publications that were studied. These keywords defined the search terms: “health equity,” “SDGs,” “watershed,” “resource nexus,” and “cross-sectoral.” Results: Thematic syntheses of debates and gaps point to the relevance of the SDGs as a cross-sectoral, integrative platform for place-based programming of the land-water-energy nexus, and to account for negative externalities and cascaded impacts on human and environmental health. Conclusion: For the purpose of monitoring health equity in the contexts of interactions of land, water, and energy in rural, remote, and Indigenous contexts, and on the basis of the SDGs, this paper generates evidence to inform health equity-oriented policies, programs and practices, and to enhance health for equity-seeking populations.

Analyzing the nexus of COVID-19 and natural resources and commodities: Evidence from time-varying causality

Even though a few studies have focused on natural resources and commodity sectors by considering the pandemic, they have only compared their status in pre-COVID19 to post-COVID19. None of the studies has directly examined the causal relationship between the pandemic, and natural resource index and the primary commodity-related sector indices. This study fills the gap of exploring the dynamic association between them by analyzing the causal relationship between the COVID19, and natural resources index and the primary commodity-related sectors (i.e., agribusiness, energy, and metals & mining) by applying a novel time-varying causality test on daily data from January 23, 2020, to November 12, 2021. The empirical results support the presence of time-varying causality from COVID19 to natural resources, agribusiness, energy and metals & mining. The results obtained from the rolling window algorithm support causal linkages between the variables however at several points it fails to capture the dynamics of linkages between the variables which is captured by the recursive window algorithm. The outcome is robust when the pandemic is proxied by either number of cases or deaths. Similarly, the findings obtained from heteroskedastic-robust specification also validate our findings. Several policy implications are further discussed in the study.

Environmentally Safe Technology to Increase Efficiency of High-Viscosity Oil Production for the Objects with Advanced Water Cut

The depletion of conventional oil reserves creates a significant demand for the development and improvement of methods and technologies for the production of hard-to-recover oil. A huge potential for hard-to-recover oil in Western Siberia lies in the Pokur suite (PK). These deposits are characterized by high oil viscosity and, accordingly, early water breakthrough. This study identifies and substantiates an effective technology for oil production from such and similar deposits using polymer flooding. The obtained data are based on research of the geological structure, the main reservoir properties and those of its fluids, chemical and laboratory methods of analysis, and the results of mathematical and hydrodynamic modeling. According to the results of hydrodynamic modeling, the greatest technological effect of polymeric water flooding is observed in the model of collector permeability at 70 mD and above 1000 mD, but this technology is not recommended for reservoirs with an average permeability of less than 10 mD. Implementation of the best practices through the prism of the resource nexus allows sustainable water management by applying environment-friendly polymers for enhanced oil recovery and contributes to the UN Goal 6 of clean water and sanitation.

The nexus of energy resources and the environment

Currently, every country is striving to realize development for its people. Thus, to achieve this there is a need for ensuring access to reliable energy at all levels. The world is currently relying on the use of non-renewable energy such as fuels, and coal. However, these sources are not environmental friendly. Thus, renewable energy sources such as hydropower, solar energy, geothermal, and biofuels must be emphasized to replace the use of non-renewable energies. People need to understand well the relationship between energy resources and the environment. This paper, therefore, aims at providing the nexus of energy resources and the environment. To achieve this, the author has explained well the concept of energy and energy resources; energy uses and energy efficiency and energy security. Moreover, the author has discussed the impact of energy resources on the environment. Finally, energy savings and practices to best energy use; use of technologies to reduce the pollutant emissions in the atmosphere; and investment in renewable technologies are needed for attaining sustainable energy and environment.

A Food-Circular Economy-Women Nexus: Lessons from Guelph-Wellington

Resource nexus approaches have been expanding to include additional sectors beyond standard water, energy, and food approaches. Opportunities exist by re-imagining the resource nexus approach with the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Emerging research and policy themes, such as the circular economy and gender, can provide additional context to traditional nexus arrangements. To illustrate this, we analyze SDG implementation and interaction from 40 unstructured interviews from SMEs participating in Guelph-Wellington’s Seeding Our Food Future (SOFF) program, part of the wider Our Food Future (OFF) initiative led by the City of Guelph and Wellington County in Ontario, Canada. Results show that 16/17 SDGs and associated targets were present on the program. Environmental SDGs were implemented the most, followed by social and economic ones. SDGs 2, 12, and 5 had the most general implementation and direct paired interactions and were associated with the broadest number of SDGs across the project. These findings support the existence of a Food-Circular Economy-Women nexus in Guelph-Wellington’s agri-food sector. Further analysis shows that this nexus is most active in agriculture, and that women are responsible for introducing a social aspect, which addresses food security. Results can inform food system and circular economy researchers and practitioners.