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Water-food-energy nexus index to maximize the economic water and energy productivity in an optimal cropping pattern

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Abstract

This article illustrates a method for applying the water-food-energy nexus approach to propose an optimal cropping pattern. The proposed cropping pattern maximizes economic water and energy productivity and minimizes water and energy use. Through this method a water-food-energy nexus index is applied. A case study from Egypt is applied to illustrate the method.

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... For example, food and energy production and consumption require a large amount of water for irrigation and cooling, while water extraction, transportation, and distribution need energy support. At the same time, food generates energy in the form of biomass energy (El Gafy et al., 2017;Li et al., 2021c;Wen et al., 2022;Zuo et al., 2021). Therefore, it is important to clarify the complex relationship between water, energy, and food in order to make rational use of the WEF nexus, thereby alleviating the crisis of resources shortage and helping to realize the coordinated development of resources (El Gafy et al., 2017;Ma et al., 2021). ...
... At the same time, food generates energy in the form of biomass energy (El Gafy et al., 2017;Li et al., 2021c;Wen et al., 2022;Zuo et al., 2021). Therefore, it is important to clarify the complex relationship between water, energy, and food in order to make rational use of the WEF nexus, thereby alleviating the crisis of resources shortage and helping to realize the coordinated development of resources (El Gafy et al., 2017;Ma et al., 2021). ...
... Several studies apply the water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) as a new perspective of agricultural management to comprehensively evaluate the WEF nexus in the cropping systems (El Gafy et al., 2017;Fabiani et al., 2020;Gathala et al., 2020;Karamian et al., 2021;Li et al., 2021c;Sadeghi et al., 2020). The approach not only focuses on the connection of a single factor, but also considers the balance between water and energy consumption, productivity, and benefits to the cropping systems. ...
... Today, the water-energy-food nexus approach has been utilized via different dimensions in several studies under various objective functions in the form of optimization models (Jalilov et al. 2016;Dhaubanjar et al. 2017;El-Gafy et al. 2017;Stamou and Rutschmann 2018;Zhang et al. 2018;Gonzalez-Bravo et al. 2018;Si et al. 2019;Hu et al. 2019;Li et al. 2019;Liu et al. 2019;Zhou et al. 2019;Namany et al. 2019;Nie et al. 2019;Niu et al. 2019;Wicaksono et al. 2019;Sun et al. 2020;Ji et al. 2020;Falconer et al. 2020;Esmaeli and Roshandel 2020;Yu et al. 2020;Medina-Santana et al. 2020;Sadeghi et al. 2020;Radmehr et al. 2021). For instance, Jalilov et al. (2016) attempted to optimally allocate water resources in the Amu Darya River Basin using the concept of the waterenergy-food approach through maximizing the net present value of the total benefits of agriculture and Hydroelectricity generated in the Rogun Dam. ...
... In another category, such studies can be classified into studies with\without considering the environmental issues. Meanwhile, some studies have focused on the optimal planning of water and energy resources only in terms of objectives or constraints related to the water-energy-food approach without considering environmental issues (Jalilov et al. 2016;El-Gafy et al. 2017;Zhang et al. 2018;Wicaksono et al. 2019;Si et al. 2019;Medina-Santana et al. 2020;Sadeghi et al. 2020). Another category of studies has paid attention to the optimal management of resources, in the form of the waterenergy-food approach, taking into account environmental destruction and pollution (Gonzalez-Bravo et al. 2018;López-Díaz et al. 2018;Li et al. 2019;Nie et al. 2019;Namany et al. 2019;Radmehr et al. 2021;Wu et al. 2021). ...
... According to the obtained results in most review studies, most products have physical energy productivity of less than 0.6 (kg/MJ) ( The criterion of water economic productivity reveals that from each m 3 of water consumption for onion cultivation, the economic benefit of $0.0637 can be achieved, indicating the highest water economic productivity. In this regard, El-Gafy et al. (2017) concluded that the highest water economic productivity in Egypt was related to onion production. Meanwhile, the lowest water economic productivity was related to the alfalfa crop. ...
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Accomplishing the objectives of optimal and sustainable management in the agricultural sector is increasingly getting complicated, which includes increasing the sustainable productivity of water and energy resources, ensuring food security, decreasing contaminations from fertilizers and chemical pesticides, and environmental destruction. The present research deals with designing the relationships between the water-energy-food nexus approach with economic and environmental objectives to accomplish the aforementioned objectives. Hence, a multi-objective programming model was developed to maximize the water-energy-food nexus index and farmers' gross margin, minimize the use of chemical fertilizers (nitrogen and phosphate), and minimize the use of chemical pesticides (herbicides) by considering the balancing constraint to groundwater resources. Afterward, the proposed multi-objective model was solved using the augmented ε-constraint method, and then the total of strong and efficient Pareto solutions was extracted. Then, the best solution was chosen using the TOPSIS method and assigning a weight of equal importance to the desired objectives. The irrigation network of Jiroft plain in Kerman province in Iran was chosen as the study area to implement such a system. The obtained results indicated that the optimal and sustainable management in the agriculture sector can be hopeful using the proposed approach in the current research. On the other hand, the results revealed that despite considering the economic objective in the proposed system, the farmers' profits can be significantly decreased. Thus, the realization of optimal and sustainable management in the agricultural sector is not possible without the implementation of policies for increasing the economic incentive of farmers.
... Because of the intercommunications between three sectors (water, energy, and food security nexus), any single-sector approach may lead to serious unpremeditated issues (Bizikova et al., 2013). The water-energy-food nexus index can be accordingly utilized as a tool to evaluate and analyze strategies that combine several aspects to reflect main concerns in the water-energyfood nexus with one number (El-Gafy et al., 2017c). ...
... WEFNI was calculated as follow (El-Gafy et al., 2017c): ...
... This study introduces a linear optimization problem to maximize a water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) to reach an optimal cropping pattern. Actually, The management objective of the WEFNI model was supposed to maximize economic water and energy and minimize water and energy use (El-Gafy et al., 2017c). The general water-energy-food nexus index and its maximization objective function were accordingly formulated as below (El-Gafy et al., 2017a): ...
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The increasing demands of the population and the need for development obliged the optimal use and adaptive management of the watershed resources. Accordingly, it is necessary to adopt comprehensive measures to reach sustainable development goals. This objective can be achieved by the application of interdisciplinary and professional approaches through establishing dynamic and optimal balance in supply and demand resources. However, such important optimization approaches have been rarely practiced at the watershed scale. The present study has been therefore formulated to apply a linear water-energy-food nexus optimization for the Shazand watershed, Markazi Province, Iran. This approach was applied for planning 14 crops planted in orchard, irrigated farms, and rain-fed farms, between 2006 and 2014, and targeting water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) maximization. The connections among the water, energy, and food were then evaluated through determining the amount of consumption, mass productivity, and economic productivity of water and energy. The results of WEFNIs revealed that almond has the highest WEFNI with values of 0.92, 0.76, 0.76, 0.83, 0.86, 0.86, 0.87, 0.87, and 0.88. Whilst, potato with WEFNI of 0.05, 0.05, 0.05, 0.06, 0.09, 0.10 and 0.11, sugar cane with WEFNI of 0.10 and cucumber with WEFNI of 0.13 had the lowest scores and the corresponding lowest performance among the study crops. The outcomes of optimization study explained that the current situation of land use in the Shazand Watershed is unsuitable to minimize water and energy consumption and maximize benefit. The results can be used as an effective tool for designating proper soil and water resource management strategies in the region.
... Because of the intercommunications between three sectors (water, energy, and food security nexus), any single-sector approach may lead to serious unpremeditated issues (Bizikova et al., 2013). The water-energy-food nexus index can be accordingly utilized as a tool to evaluate and analyze strategies that combine several aspects to reflect main concerns in the water-energyfood nexus with one number (El-Gafy et al., 2017c). ...
... WEFNI was calculated as follow (El-Gafy et al., 2017c): ...
... This study introduces a linear optimization problem to maximize a water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) to reach an optimal cropping pattern. Actually, The management objective of the WEFNI model was supposed to maximize economic water and energy and minimize water and energy use (El-Gafy et al., 2017c). The general water-energy-food nexus index and its maximization objective function were accordingly formulated as below (El-Gafy et al., 2017a): ...
Article
The increasing demands of the population and the need for development obliged the optimal use and adaptive management of the watershed resources. Accordingly, it is necessary to adopt comprehensive measures to reach sustainable development goals. This objective can be achieved by the application of interdisciplinary and professional approaches through establishing dynamic and optimal balance in supply and demand resources. However, such important optimization approaches have been rarely practiced at the watershed scale. The present study has been therefore formulated to apply a linear water-energy-food nexus optimization for the Shazand watershed, Markazi Province, Iran. This approach was applied for planning 14 crops planted in orchard, irrigated farms, and rain-fed farms, between 2006 and 2014, and targeting water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) maximization. The connections among the water, energy, and food were then evaluated through determining the amount of consumption, mass productivity, and economic productivity of water and energy. The results of WEFNIs revealed that almond has the highest WEFNI with values of 0.92, 0.76, 0.76, 0.83, 0.86, 0.86, 0.87, 0.87, and 0.88. Whilst, potato with WEFNI of 0.05, 0.05, 0.05, 0.06, 0.09, 0.10 and 0.11, sugar cane with WEFNI of 0.10 and cucumber with WEFNI of 0.13 had the lowest scores and the corresponding lowest performance among the study crops. The outcomes of optimization study explained that the current situation of land use in the Shazand Watershed is unsuitable to minimize water and energy consumption and maximize benefit. The results can be used as an effective tool for designating proper soil and water resource management strategies in the region.
... Because of the intercommunications between three sectors (water, energy, and food security nexus), any single-sector approach may lead to serious unpremeditated issues (Bizikova et al., 2013). The water-energy-food nexus index can be accordingly utilized as a tool to evaluate and analyze strategies that combine several aspects to reflect main concerns in the water-energyfood nexus with one number (El-Gafy et al., 2017c). ...
... WEFNI was calculated as follow (El-Gafy et al., 2017c): ...
... This study introduces a linear optimization problem to maximize a water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) to reach an optimal cropping pattern. Actually, The management objective of the WEFNI model was supposed to maximize economic water and energy and minimize water and energy use (El-Gafy et al., 2017c). The general water-energy-food nexus index and its maximization objective function were accordingly formulated as below (El-Gafy et al., 2017a): ...
... Hua et al. [34] recently compiled several indices to evaluate the integrated concept, simplifying stakeholders' decision-making. Among them, the contribution of the WEF nexus index (WEFNI), first proposed by El Gafy et al. [100], is notable. In this line, Mondal et al. [101] proposed that this index should be calculated with the following equation: ...
... Moreover, some authors [35,39] have already considered resource self-sufficiency as an appropriate approach to include the WEF nexus in the building and urban context. This paper suggests adapting the WEF nexus index [100,101] using the self-sufficiency concept in each pillar. Furthermore, the interaction and synergy between resources will be considered. ...
... But, one of the key steps in the process of cropping pattern planning, which should be considered, is identifying the major problems and constraints, setting the appropriate goals, and assigning the proper weight to each goal according to the situation of the study area that has received much less attention in previous studies. Majority of the previous studies have mainly focused on maximizing farmers' income and minimizing total irrigation water allocation (Amini Fasakhodi et al. 2010;Regulwar and Gurav 2011;Singh and Panda 2012;Galán-Martín et al. 2015;Joodavi et al. 2015;Sun et al. 2015;Osama et al. 2017;Ikudayisi et al. 2018;Varade and Patel 2019) and few studies have been paid to other aspects of sustainability such as maximizing energy productivity (El-Gafy et al. 2017), minimizing GHG emission (Dunnett et al. 2018), pesticide use (Joolaie et al. 2017;Mardani Najafabadi et al. 2019), water footprint, and crop diversity indices (Balezentis et al. 2020) to determine optimal cropping pattern. Moreover, despite numerous studies on cropping pattern programming, so far, there is no study specifically designed to determine a set of criteria to be used to design optimal cropping pattern. ...
... In a study in India, Singh (2015) find that the net annual return has increased by about 22% under the optimal land and water allocation which was obtained by a reduction in rice and mustard crop areas against an increase in wheat, millet, cotton, and sugarcane crops. The results of the study performed by El-Gafy et al. (2017) in Egypt showed that optimization of cropping pattern maximizes economic water and energy productivity and minimizes water and energy use. Joolaie et al. (2017) studied the optimal cropping pattern for Sari county of Mazandaran province in the northeast of Iran and reported that compared to the current cropping pattern, the gross margins for economic and social goals increased by nearly 11% and 2%, respectively, and the gross margins for self-sufficiency and environmental goals decreased by nearly 2% and 36%. ...
Article
Optimal cropping pattern of Maragheh-Bonab plain were determined in different decision priorities (from viewpoint of farmers and experts) and annually water availability scenarios [60, 80 and 100 MCM (million cubic meters)/year]. Goal programming model was applied to optimization of cropping pattern with considering eight goals. In the optimal cropping pattern from viewpoint of farmers, water consumption reduced compared to existing condition about 42%, 32%, and 3% at 60, 80 and 100 MCM/year scenarios, respectively. While, from viewpoint of experts, this reduction was about 55%, 32%, and 32% for 60, 80 and 100 MCM/year scenarios, respectively. At 60 MCM/year scenario, total net return was calculated lower than the existing cropping pattern about 11% and 45% from the viewpoint of farmers and experts, respectively. However, optimization at 80 and 100 MCM/year scenarios, increased total net return compared to existing condition about 14% and 24% from the viewpoint of farmers and 14% and 14% from the viewpoint of experts, respectively. In the optimal cropping patterns, despite lower water consumption, amount of net return, economic water productivity, economic energy and land productivity increased against a decrease in employment, global warming potential and environmental impacts of pesticides in the whole area.
... Irrigation is the second largest contributor (22%) to the total carbon footprint of crop production in China [13]. In addition to irrigation, land preparation, fertilizer production, and crop harvesting also consume fossil energy [7,14]. Exploring the mechanism of the land-water-energy system is meaningful for agricultural management. ...
... For example, Lamb et al. assessed the GHG mitigation potential offered by land sparing [3], whereas Wang et al. assessed GHG emissions from the agricultural irrigation process based on the water-energy nexus [12]. Although certain aspects of the land-water-energy nexus have been studied previously [5,14,18], consideration of the effects of land, water, and energy exploitation processes and efficiencies on GHG emissions should be strengthened to ensure both proper use of regional resources and mitigation of global climate change [8]. Furthermore, carbon emissions could be used as a normalized index with which to identify, understand, and analyze the strength of interaction and interdependence among land, water, and energy systems. ...
Article
Agriculture plays an important role in global climate change. The interaction and efficiency of use of land, water, and energy in agricultural activities are the principal factors affecting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and food production. However, comprehensive analysis exploring the mechanism of the land–water–energy system in agricultural production remains lacking. This study developed such a framework based on regional agricultural GHG emissions by combining top-down analysis that considered cross-sectoral interactions with bottom-up analysis that addressed the context-specific conditions of resources and technology. We employed the proposed framework to analyze the interaction of land–water–energy and factors influencing agricultural GHG emissions and to explore mitigation measures based on a case study of the Sanjiang Plain (China). Results showed cropland on the Sanjiang Plain produced 1.8 million tonnes of protein and released 10.9 million tonnes of CO2eq in 2015 using 3.0 million ha of arable land, 12.1 billion m³ of water, and 100.4 PJ of energy. Owing to their high input of resources and flooded cultivation, rice fields produced 29% of total crop protein but consumed 51% of total crop water use, 43% of total crop energy use, and emitted 54% of total crop GHG (CO2eq). Structural adjustment through conversion of half the paddy fields into dryland crops (e.g., wheat) could mitigate GHG emissions by 18.8% in 2020 compared with the baseline scenario. However, such change would be almost impossible given the Sanjiang Plain is one of China’s most important rice-producing areas. If integrated technology improvements were adopted, e.g., advanced crop–soil nutrition management, groundwater protection measures, water-saving irrigation technology, and low-carbon energy technology, GHG emissions could be reduced by 23.9% without sacrificing food production. This study used the nexus approach to analyze agricultural GHG emissions, providing a framework for sustainable agricultural management and a reference for understanding the land–water–energy nexus.
... amount of water for food production (especially irrigation) and energy production 63 , and associated food security, energy security and water security in food-energy-water studies 64 . Some studies have developed nexus indices that collapse the main nexus variables into a single number that is convenient for assessing different strategies and scenarios 65 . Some indices in nexus studies overlap with SDG indicators 66 , such as CO 2 emissions and environmental footprints 26,29 , facilitating direct connections between nexus research and SDGs. ...
... Sankey diagrams 72 are useful to visualize the relationships and flows among different components. Although multi-objective optimization has been used in other fields, the method has just begun to be used in food-energy-water nexus research and decision-making 73 , such as optimizing cropping patterns for maximum economic water and energy productivity and minimum use 65 . ...
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Many global challenges, though interconnected, have been addressed singly, at times reducing one problem while exacerbating others. Nexus approaches simultaneously examine interactions among multiple sectors. Recent quantitative studies have revealed that nexus approaches can uncover synergies and detect trade-offs among sectors. If well implemented, nexus approaches have the potential to reduce negative surprises and promote integrated planning, management and governance. However, application and implementation of nexus approaches are in their infancy. No studies have explicitly quantified the contributions of nexus approaches to progress toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. To further implement nexus approaches and realize their potential, we propose a systematic procedure and provide perspectives on future directions. These include expanding nexus frameworks that consider interactions among more sectors, across scales, between adjacent and distant places, and linkages with Sustainable Development Goals; incorporating overlooked drivers and regions; diversifying nexus toolboxes; and making these strategies central in policy-making and governance for integrated Sustainable Development Goal implementation.
... The agricultural WEFNI method minimises water and energy consumption during the crop growth process while simultaneously ensuring the highest water and energy mass and economic productivity to ensure economic benefits for farmers [48,49]. The indicator type can be categorised as either positive or negative as follows: ...
Article
Agricultural sustainability is substantially influenced by the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus and CO 2 emissions. However, previous research has minimally focused on the impacts of agricultural CO 2 emissions on sustainable agricultural management. Therefore, to address this research gap, based on the water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) and CO 2 emissions, this study constructs a multi-objective nonlinear optimisation method for sustainable agricultural management. The crop production and emissions reduction potential under various opti-misation schemes were analysed using the major crops (rice, wheat, maize, and cotton) in the Tarim River Basin (TRB), the largest inland river in China, as a test case.Cotton, as a high water-and energy-consuming crop, had a lower water and energy mass productivity than other crops. Improvements in irrigation efficiency and mecha-nisation in the TRB have had major effects on water conversation and carbon reduction. The intensity of agricultural CO 2 emissions in the basin showed a decreasing trend from 1990 to 2020, with wheat CO 2 emissions decreasing only slightly (-10860.92 kg CO 2 eq/ha). In the optimal scenario that ensures maximum WEFNI and minimum agricultural CO 2 emissions, the irrigation efficiency increases to 0.59, and the crop area for wheat and maize increases substantially, indicating that the TRB still exhibits potential for crop production. Most importantly , the Dina would save 4250.52 × 10 4 m 3 of water resources, increase the area of maize cultivation by 1249.84 ha, increase food production by 0.68 × 10 4 tonnes, and reduce energy consumption and agricultural CO 2 emissions by 1297.52 × 10 4 MJ and 890.25 × 10 4 kg CO 2 eq, respectively. The optimisation model had obvious effects on water saving and agricultural CO 2 reduction and may represent a vital component in completing the "14th Five-Year Plan" of the basin and promoting the sustainable agricultural development.
... Improving or reducing the efficiency of one factor may have an impact on another factor, so a comprehensive analysis of WLEC can provide information on the actual efficiency level of agricultural production. Although some applications of the WLE relationship in agriculture have been studied in the past [16][17][18], it is necessary to explore strategies for the effective use of water, land and energy, and their effect on greenhouse gas emissions, to ensure appropriate utilization of regional resources and alleviate global climate change [19]. In addition, ACE can serve as an important indicator for evaluation of APE, and can be used to identify, understand and evaluate the intensity of the interaction and the interdependence between water, land and energy systems, thus providing a practical significance of the results on APE. ...
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Maintaining low carbon levels is an important strategy to minimize the levels of carbon emissions globally, and utilization of energy in agricultural production activities is one of the major sources of carbon emissions. Promoting carbon reduction in agricultural production is a key method to achieve “carbon neutrality and carbon peaking”. This article established an input–output index system for evaluating agricultural production efficiency from the “water, land, energy and carbon” dimensions, and then used the super-efficient SBM model to calculate the value of agricultural production efficiency. The article combined the Malmquist index and spatial autocorrelation method to explore the spatiotemporal characteristics of agricultural production efficiency in Sichuan Province. Finally, this article analyzed the factors that affect agricultural production efficiency in Sichuan Province. The research results indicated that: (1) Agricultural carbon emissions in Sichuan Province decreased from 2011 to 2020, and agricultural carbon emissions in the eastern region were higher than the western region. (2) The agricultural production efficiency in Sichuan Province was generally above 0.88, with fluctuations observed from 2011 to 2020. Increase in agricultural production efficiency in the region was highly correlated with advances in technological progress. The spatial distribution of agricultural production efficiency exhibited an opposite trend to agricultural carbon emissions, and Moran’s I index was approximately 0, indicating a relatively random spatial distribution. (3) Analysis of influencing factors showed that the urbanization rate was inversely proportional to agricultural production efficiency, and the level of agricultural economic development was directly proportional to agricultural production efficiency. The agricultural production efficiency analysis model established in this article provides key information for developing policies to improve agricultural production efficiency and provides a basis for the practical promotion of low-carbon agricultural production in Sichuan Province. The paper provides a reference to develop strategies to achieve the regional “double carbon” goal.
... Pertanaman yang optimal mempertimbangkan keterkaitan yang erat antara aspek air, energi dan ekonomi. Selanjutnya, pengelolaan pasokan air diarahkan untuk memaksimalkan keuntungan ekonomi, sosial dan lingkungan (El-Gafy et al., 2017). Secara khusus, Hornbeck dan Keskin (2015) menyebutkan bahwa pengelolaan air harus menguntungkan secara ekonomi. ...
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p> The provision of water for plants is a major component supporting the success of planting on dry land. One source of water that can be utilized is groundwater. This study aims to determine the use of groundwater in supporting the cultivation of groundnut, corn and soybeans on dry land during dry season. The study used plots of farmers' land to grow groundnut, corn and soybeans complete with technology packages for each commodity. The application of technology includes cultivating groundnut by farmers and cultivating groundnut, corn and soybeans according to the recommended technology components. Harvest data were analyzed descriptively. Economic analysis is used to calculate the profitability and feasibility of farming. The results showed that corn plants with technology recommendations gave the highest yield, dry seeds of 5.50 tons ha-1, dry biomass of 18.63 tons ha-1, with carbon absorption in seeds of 2.62 tons ha-1 and biomass of 8.92 tons ha-1. The profit from corn cultivation was 22,090,000 IDR ha-1 with a benefit-cost (B/C) of 1.35, groundnut 20,985,000 IDR, with a higher B/C of 1.50. Soybean plants provide the lowest profit and B/C, amounting to 4,124,000 IDR and 0.26. Technologically and economically, the cultivation of groundnut, corn and soybeans with the support of groundwater irrigation is feasible to develop on dry land during the dry season. Socially, groundnut is more accepted by farmers. </p
... Numerous studies have been carried out that analyze the inter-linkages between the 17 SDGs. These include adopting a nexus approach to ascertain the impact of one goal on another (El Gafy, Grigg, & Reagan, 2017;Liu et al., 2018;Putra, Pradhan, & Kropp, 2020;Zhang, Wang, Pradhan, Zhao, & Fu, 2022a), network analysis (Zhou, Moinuddin, & Xu, 2017), developing SDG models (Collste, Pedercini, & Cornell, 2017) and examining the degree of interdependence between the various SDGs (Nilsson et al., 2018). These studies have focused on adopting a holistic approach to collectively achieve SDGs either as a whole or by further bifurcating them into "essential needs," "objectives" and "governance" (Putra et al., 2020;Zhang et al., 2022a;Zhang, Wang, Pradhan, Zhao, & Fu, 2022b). ...
Article
The CHANS structure (coupled human and natural systems) offers a prism through which dynamic human and nature interactions can be viewed. Multiple frameworks have been developed under CHANS that look at a certain aspect of such interactions at different levels. One such framework is metacoupling, which is considered a tentative solution to achieving various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this context, this paper aims to give a comprehensive overview and develop an innovative conceptual model to understand intracoupling which comes under the umbrella concept of metacoupling. Based on the review of literature and the qualitative observations from the authors’ perspective the study has been designed in the form of a review of literature and later a conceptual framework has been developed. The model proposed in the article is applied to analyze the Public Distribution System (PDS) in India. PDS plays a vital role in ensuring food security which is given high priority in the list of SDGs. This framework is expected to offer the policy makers and researchers a new perspective in seeking creative solutions for the achievement of SDGs. It can also help in furthering the studies and theory-building process related to sustainability. Pioneering future applications to other social and economic challenges are suggested. Also, implications for research and policy are provided. To conclude, this paper adds to the existing literature on human nature interactions by providing a theoretical perspective to better understand the intricacies associated with it.
... Two findings indicate that most of the research results in the capacity building nexus publications are devoted to developing analytical and evaluation tools to assist policymakers (Imasiku and Ntagwirumugara, 2020;Nhamo et al., 2018). Amina Seeliger Jobbins et al., (2017, 2021, 2018, 2018, 2017b, 2018 4. Discussion ...
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The importance of integrating water, energy, and food (WEF) resource management into nexus approach has been widely recognized. However, despite its rapid growth, there are little discussion of the knowledge transfer from nexus research to practice of WEF nexus implementation in Africa. This research examines the WEF nexus implementation baseline through critical analysis of present studies and official project reports initiated by African government institutions from 2011 to 2021. The findings indicate that numerous WEF nexus research projects in Africa focus on generating fundamental knowledge with limited practice. Indeed, among the 237 WEF-related applied projects analyzed, only 26 projects correspond to the nexus approach in three resource sectors. Many proposed projects are managed at the level of individual resource areas and are prioritized according to urgent needs or regional contexts rather than being integrated for mutual benefit. The word "pro-duction" receives a high score in the statistics of term frequency and inverse document frequency (TF-IDF), expressing that it is considered very relevant in the process of implementing the nexus approach. The results of the similarity index between the content messages of the academic articles and the project implementers' reports show a low similarity score of 0.25, indicating some imbalance in understanding and adapting nexus concepts between these two critical sectors. Hence, reflecting on the various nexus opportunities reviewed in this study, such as Bonn nexus conceptions and projects allocation, may serve as a focal point and assist WEF nexus implementers, particularly scholars, in resolving the numerous ambiguities that exists in WEF nexus research and practice.
... Hence, resources management in the river basins is a key responsibility for the managers. On the one hand, previous studies highlighted the challenges for supplying these essential resources in future decades (Bizikova et al. 2013;El Gafy et al. 2017). On the other hand, the instream flow of the rivers has been decreased due to increasing water demand (Postel 1998). ...
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Balancing the benefits and environmental degradations of the reservoirs is a challenging issue in the reservoir management. The present study proposes and evaluates an integrated framework to optimize reservoir operation in which hydropower loss and economic loss of irrigation supply are minimized while ecological degradations at downstream river are alleviated. The ecohydraulic simulation was utilized in the structure of the reservoir operation optimization. Reservoir operation losses and environmental degradations were minimized in three hydrological conditions including dry years, normal years and wet years. Moreover, the cropping pattern optimization was applied to mitigate the economic loss of irrigation supply as the main responsibility of the reservoir in the study area. Particle swarm optimization was applied in the reservoir operation optimization. Based on the results in the case study, reliability indices of hydropower production and farmers’ revenue are 15–25 and 30–60%, respectively. Moreover, the physical habitat loss is considerably reduced in all hydrologic conditions by proposing optimal environmental flow. The proposed method is able to provide a fair balance between downstream environmental degradations and economic benefits of the reservoir including farmers’ revenue and hydropower production. Low computational complexities are the most important strength point for the developed model. HIGHLIGHTS A novel optimization method for reservoir operation.; Linking ecological impacts and energy and food production in an integrated model.; Ecohydraulic simulation was carried out by fuzzy approach.; Cropping pattern model was applied to maximize net revenue.;
... This new understanding first arose from the water-energy nexus (Schnoor 2011) and gradually shifted to the water-food-energy nexus (Bonn 2011Nexus Conference 2011Hoff 2011;FAO 2014;Jarvie et al. 2015;El-Gafy 2017;El-Gafy et al. 2017a;Reddy et al. 2018;Karabulut et al. 2018;De Vito et al. 2019;Huang et al. 2021). Many authors also extend the water-food-energy nexus to include other concepts such as climate (Boelee et al. 2011a;Field and Michalak 2015;Liu 2014), land (Song 2017), environment (Boelee et al. 2011a;Salmoral and Yan 2018;Yazdandoost and Yazdani 2019), ecosystem services (Boelee et al. 2011b;Karabulut et al. 2015;Liu 2016;Bell et al. 2016), social and economic sustainability (FAO 2014;El-Gafy et al. 2017b;Schlör et al. 2018;Das et al. 2020), and the life cycle assessment (Al-Ansari et al. 2015;Karabulut et al. 2018). ...
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The concept of the water-food-energy nexus has been widely studied in the past decade. In this paper we expand on this concept to include environmental, economic, and social aspects as well as life cycle assessment based thinking. We proposed a set of Environmental Footprint Assessment, Life Cycle Assessment, and Socio-Economic Assessment indicators and calculated them using a developed System Dynamic Model for Water-Land-Food-Energy-Environment-Economic-Social Nexus (SD-WLF3ESN). The developed model was applied to predict the WLF3ESN of the corn crop in the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB)-USA for the period 2016-2030. The prediction was based on scenarios for population, land, yield, crop use, and crop production costs and returns at the county level of WLEB. A matrix for WLF3ESN of the corn crop in WLEB was developed. This matrix can help in developing policies and strategies for managing the nexus in the basin.
... For example, the nexus specialized in agriculture could include irrigation management as an important linkage between water and food. When considering nexus-wide decisionmaking approaches, more challenges emerge, including the identification of interactions among the nexus elements and the conflicts between stakeholders' interests and environmental impacts (Mohtar and Bassel, 2019;El Gafy et al., 2017;Dargin et al., 2019). ...
Article
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the blueprints for achieving a sustainable future, and understanding the interlinkages among social, economic, and environmental fields is a key factor in accomplishing them. The goal of this study was to analyze a framework for sustainable economic growth considering the trade-offs among economic inequality, resource security, and labor requirement through an industrial water, energy, and labor (I-WEL) nexus approach. We analyzed the economic intensity of industrial water, energy, and labor in 47 prefectures in Japan; we found that the more industrialized prefectures showed lower water but higher energy intensities than relatively less industrialized prefectures. We then classified four I-WEL nexus zones—high efficiency, labor-intensive, water-intensive, and water- and energy-intensive zones—based on their economic intensities and by using the K-means clustering method. Finally, we applied economic growth scenarios, weighted by I-WEL nexus zones, and quantified water, energy, and labor requirements by scenario at the local, regional, and national scales. The results show that, by using weighted economic growth in the high-efficiency I-WEL nexus zones and relative to the baseline scenario (which assigns equal ratios of increased economic growth to all prefectures), a potential savings of 337 Mm³/year of freshwater and 184 PJ/year of energy can be realized. However, as the more industrially developed prefectures were included in the high-efficiency zone, this scenario increased the Gini coefficient, i.e., the economic inequality among prefectures. In summary, this study shows that the application of the I-WEL nexus can be used as a framework for sustainable economic growth considering the trade-offs between efficiency of resource use and economic inequality.
... In addition, land management influences greenhouse gas emissions through planting structure and soil nutrient balance (Fan et al., 2020), and the greenhouse effects caused by the energy use related to agricultural activities further intensify the pressure for reducing agricultural emissions (El Gafy et al., 2017;Howells et al., 2013). Among them, planting structure and fickle precipitation greatly affect the carbon emissions and irrigation related energy consumption including pumping, transportation, surface water and groundwater application, which further increase agricultural water consumption indirectly (Mushtaq et al., 2009). ...
Article
Climate change exacerbates the vulnerability of water resources, and water-energy-carbon nexus makes water management more complicated. This paper attempts to explore the water resource synergy management paths within urban metabolic system against the background of human actively respond to climate change. We hold that: (1) Climate change would aggravate water scarcity risk from a supply-based perspective. Meanwhile, the normal metabolism of water consumers and energy consumption and mitigation options against climate change would directly and indirectly respectively, affect the water usage from a demand-based perspective. (2) Agriculture has great water-saving potential resulting from drip irrigation and drought-resistant technologies, but the potentials would be gradually endangered by biomass crop popularization. Industrial water saving mainly lies in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and CO2-enhanced water recovery (CO2-EWR). Domestic water-saving depends on sewage source treatment and awareness of water and energy conservation. Ecological water-saving should focus on the circulation of natural ecosystems and hydraulic systems. (3) Synergy management emphasizes the dynamic complementarity among water consumers in the urban metabolic system. Particularly, it is possible to compensate industrial water usage through agricultural water-saving due to fossil energy-based carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the medium to long term, while it is probably reversed due to the biomass crops expansion and bioenergy-based CCS (BECCS) deployment in the future. Additionally, seasonal changes and regional disparities should be fully taken into consideration. Overall, water resource policies should contribute towards effective water allocation within the urban metabolic system and low-carbon technologies deployment against climate change.
... Hence, implementing and using EWF Nexus indices to summarize the effects of multiple complex resource processes will be useful in measuring progress toward policy objectives ( Basheer and Ahmed Elagib, 2019 ). El Gafy et al. (2017) demonstrated that by using EWF Nexus indicators to analyse a system can minimize energy and water consumption and maximize economic productivity. Normally, an integrated assessment modeling is required to assess the dynamic nature of spatial-temporal phenomena of complex interrelation within EWF processes. ...
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This study introduces a novel energy, water and food nexus ‘Node’ methodology which includes: (a) decentralization using GIS-based approaches; (b) development of composite geospatial risk indicators using the Analytical Hierarchy Process; and (c) assessment of resource utilization. The methodology is applied to open fields agriculture, conventional greenhouses and hydroponic greenhouses in Qatar using the following nine risk factors: temperature, humidity, solar radiation, soil quality (As and Fe concentration), groundwater depth, groundwater recharge rate, groundwater salinity and groundwater pH. The analysis concludes that the critical factors that increase risk in open field farms are weather factors, such as temperature, solar radiation and humidity, with relative weights of 0.18527, 0.16860 and 0.15785 respectively, whilst groundwater factors have the highest impact on conventional and hydroponic greenhouses. Furthermore, although hydroponic greenhouses are more efficient in terms of water consumption in comparison to open fields, they consume more energy due to cooling and desalination requirements.
... El Gafy et al. applied the Nexus approach to food production in Egypt. They calculated that 11 million USD could be gained if the proposed cropping pattern is implemented; meanwhile, the water and energy savings would be about 1.9 km 3 and 1006TJ respectively [60]. However, the Nexus complexity will varies greatly depending on the regional features, and any type of current Nexus was hardly extended to other situations. ...
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Rapid urbanization poses great challenges to water-energy-food nexus (WEF-Nexus) system, calling for integrative resources governance to improve the synergies between subsystems that constitute the Nexus. This paper explores the synergies within the WEF-Nexus in Shenzhen city while using the synergetic model. We first identify the order parameters and their causal paths in three subsystems and set several eigenvectors under each parameter. Secondly, a synergetic model is developed to calculate the synergy degree among parameters, and the synergetic networks are then further constructed. Centrality analysis on the synergetic networks reveals that the centralities of food subsystem perform the highest level while the water subsystem at the lowest level. Finally, we put forward some policy implications for cross-sectoral resources governance by embedding the synergy degree into causal paths. The results show that the synergies of the Nexus system in Shenzhen can be maximized by stabilizing water supply, coordinating the energy imports and exports, and reducing the crops sown areas.
... For the time being, scenarios for the potential impact of these options have not been quantified. However, recently, Egyptian researchers have begun to investigate the energy footprint of agricultural water management (El Gafy et al. 2017a;El Gafy et al. 2017b). ...
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Strategies for managing water stress negotiate a complex series of trade-offs and opportunities. Game-changing opportunities for water stressed regions are emerging with new emissions reduction strategies and energy options. These have particular significance for socio-economic development pathways in the marginal drought-prone regions. In this paper, we explore the energy-water-environment nexus in watersheds undergoing acute water stress and energy transitions in the Arab region and the Horn of Africa. A review of published and ongoing scientific activity was used to elaborate four case studies and identify common trade-offs between objectives to reduce water stress, increase productivity and lower energy costs and emissions. The available scientific evidence base for assessment of these trade-offs was then compared via a discursive process amongst review team members. Collectively, the case studies present a state of the art in available geoscientific methods currently applied in the Arab region to quantify nexus trade-offs for decision-making concerning increasing groundwater use, water harvesting and wastewater reuse across the case studies. The review pursues the wider geographic relevance and scope of this emerging scientific agenda. It identifies global opportunities to boost and progressively enhance the geoscientific information bases for decision-making in the most water stressed regions, as well as direct comparisons with emerging discussion in the Horn of Africa region. Insights for sustainable development decision-makers are highlighted and further scope for the transfer of insights within and beyond the Arab region are discussed.
... Using indicators of water-energy nexus, Elagib et al. (2019) showed how hydrological phenomena, such as drought and flood, can determine the state of hydropower generation from dams in an urban environment. Analysis of nexus indicators can help decrease water and energy consumption and increase economic productivity (El Gafy et al., 2017). A review carried out by Dai et al. (2018) found a few studies that include historical analyses of the water-energy nexus. ...
Article
This study performs a temporal analysis of nine water-energy nexus indicators for hydropower generation and irrigation water pumping. The Blue Nile, a major tributary of the Nile, within Sudan is taken as an example to demonstrate the temporal evolution of the nine nexus indicators. The indicators are water-energy productivity, firm daily energy generation, percentage of days at power generation capacity, variation in daily energy generation, annual energy generation, highest daily pumping energy, lowest daily pumping energy, variability in daily pumping energy, and annual pumping energy. A daily calibrated and validated water balance model of the Lower Blue Nile is used to construct time series for the nine indicators from 1984 to 2016. Time series analysis is performed to detect significant trends and regime shifts in the nine indicators. The analysis reveals that the heightening of the Roseires Dam in 2012/2013, one of the dams in the study region, resulted in significant shifts in annual energy generation, percentage of days at power generation capacity, variation in daily energy generation, water-energy productivity, and annual pumping energy. The significant shift (an increase in this case) that occurred in the percentage of days at power generation capacity indicates that the hydropower capacity of the Roseires Dam could be raised to utilize its hydropower potential more efficiently. It is shown that annual hydro-energy generation in the study region is dependent on water availability in the dry season (November to June). The temporal analysis of the nexus indicators demonstrates ability to detect significant natural phenomena and human interventions in the hydrological system. Understanding the temporal dynamics of the water-energy nexus is key to efficient utilization of water and energy resources, especially in a basin like the Nile where considerable alterations to the headwaters are underway.
... A large amount of water is required for irrigation activities in the cultivation phase. Thus, there are close interactions between water and food, which is the main reason why "energy-water-food nexus" issues have attracted the attention of researchers [176,178,179]. ...
... For the time being, scenarios for the potential impact of these options have not been quantified. However, recently, Egyptian researchers have begun to investigate the energy footprint of agricultural water management (El Gafy et al. 2017a;El Gafy et al. 2017b). ...
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Strategies for management of water stress negotiate a complex system of trade-offs and opportunities for improved energy management. Game-changing opportunities to maximise synergies at the nexus may be emerging in the selection of energy options and emissions reduction strategies. In this paper, we explore the energy–water–environment nexus in urbanizing watersheds undergoing water stress and energy transitions in four water stressed basins in the Mediterranean region and the Horn of Africa. In each case, geoscientific work is gradually building the robustness of the assessments of available options for energy technologies to manage water. These reveal tradeoffs and synergies including costs and implications for carbon emissions as well as water conservation. Original insights for sustainable development decision-makers emerging from each of the four case studies are reviewed and further scope for the transfer of insights between them is discussed. Collectively, the cases present a state of the art in available geoscientific assessment methods applied to quantify the stakes at the water-energy- environment nexus. The review and comparison between cases also highlights knowledge gaps and opportunities to boost and progressively enhance the information base for decision-making at this critical nexus. The conclusion underlines the broader relevance of geoscientific insights gained for other water stressed basins in other regions.
... Despite this growing prominence, the nexus in its nascent form is still ambiguous and serves multiple purposes. First, it is employed as analytical perspective to describe and better understand the interlinkages between water, energy, and food resource systems (e.g., El Gafy et al., 2017;Martinez-Hernandez et al., 2017). Second, it serves as boundary concept to facilitate discussion between the academia and politics concerning resource governance and sustainable development (e.g., Bazilian et al., 2011;Hernandez et al., 2014;Abdullaev and Rakhmatullaev, 2016;Brouwer et al., 2018). ...
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In the context of accelerated global socio-environmental change, the Water-Energy-Food Nexus has received increasing attention within science and international politics by promoting integrated resource governance. This study explores the scientific nexus debates from a discourse analytical perspective to reveal knowledge and power relations as well as geographical settings of nexus research. We also investigate approaches to socio-nature relations that influence nexus research and subsequent political implications. Our findings suggest that the leading nexus discourse is dominated by natural scientific perspectives and a neo-Malthusian framing of environmental challenges. Accordingly, the promoted cross-sectoral nexus approach to resource governance emphasizes efficiency, security, future sustainability, and poverty reduction. Water, energy, and food are conceived as global trade goods that require close monitoring, management and control, to be achieved via quantitative assessments and technological interventions. Within the less visible discourse, social scientific perspectives engage with the social, political, and normative elements of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. These perspectives criticize the dominant nexus representation for its managerial, neoliberal, and utilitarian approach to resource governance. The managerial framing is critiqued for masking power relations and social inequalities, while alternative framings acknowledge the political nature of resource governance and socio-nature relations. The spatial dimensions of the nexus debate are also discussed. Notably, the nexus is largely shaped by western knowledge, yet applied mainly in specific regions of the Global South. In order for the nexus to achieve integrative solutions for sustainability, the debate needs to overcome its current discursive and spatial separations. To this end, we need to engage more closely with alternative nexus discourses, embrace epistemic pluralism and encourage multi-perspective debates about the socio-nature relations we actually intend to promote.
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A major challenge for agricultural water management (AWM) in the 21st century is to feed a growing population in the face of increasing intersectoral resource competition, evolving diets, degradation, pandemics, geopolitical conflicts and climate change. This has to be achieved within the planetary boundaries and without compromising the livelihood and environmental (ecosystem) objectives linked to water, including provisioning, supporting and regulating services. This paper uses a systems and nexus lens to unravel the centrality and complexities in AWM, with particular emphasis on the interconnected dimensions and objectives of AWM, as well as its practices and technologies. AWM exists beyond water and food with linkages to human and environmental well‐being. AWM needs to catalyse transformation and integrate approaches across systems, users and scales to meet its objectives in a changing climate. It must provide perspectives beyond productivity, managing water risks and safeguarding food security – as important as these are – and integrate our understanding of the interconnected climate, land, water, food and ecosystems to address planetary health outcomes. By doing so, AWM could catalyse contextualised, equitable, innovative solutions that acknowledge local socio‐economic and institutional structures and limitations while catalysing sustainable development and climate resilience.
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In addressing the complex challenges of sustainable development, the Water‐Energy‐Food (WEF) nexus underscores the critical role of wastewater management. This study evaluates centralized and decentralized wastewater treatment systems using the innovative Water‐Energy‐Food‐Economy‐Environment Nexus Index (WEFEENI). Centralized systems are traditionally favored in urban settings due to economies of scale, yet they encounter high costs and environmental impacts. In contrast, decentralized systems offer flexibility and lower operational costs, making them suitable for less populated regions. Our findings reveal that decentralized systems significantly reduce energy consumption by 72.88%, investment costs by 52.01%, and operating costs by 87.98%, while also lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Although centralized systems excel in food production and annual income, decentralized systems perform better in water and energy productivity, green space development, and aquifer recharge. The study highlights the importance of adopting a holistic approach, tailored to specific contexts and priorities, to achieve sustainable wastewater management.
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Economic growth and population increase have exacerbated water scarcity and environmental issues by elevating demand, pollution, and climate change. To ensure food security and sustainability, it is essential to optimize the use of water and land resources in agriculture Numerous studies have explored this problem, focusing on cropping pattern optimization. This paper systematically reviews 162 articles on cropping pattern optimization (1996–2024), using statistical analysis to identify keywords and filter papers most relevant to agricultural resource allocation and cropping pattern optimization. Our review examines modeling characteristics, decision types, and approaches related to mathematical programming and the scope of research. Finally, a gap analysis is conducted to identify areas for further exploration. Our analysis revealed that the majority of studies were carried out in Asia. In the last decade, food security has significantly influenced optimal cropping patterns, with a trend toward the simultaneous allocation of land and water resources. Furthermore, multi-objective models are emerging in response to the need for sustainable solutions, while stochastic approaches predominate in modeling uncertainty. However, there is a need for more innovative methods to capture the inherent uncertainty of environmental parameters, particularly in the context of climate change where historical data is not reliable. The review highlights the need for integrating cropping pattern optimization with supply chain design and considering broader aspects such as international trade, seasonal uncertainty, and resource allocation. It also emphasizes the importance of incorporating diverse agricultural practices, managing agricultural waste, and aligning with farmers’ preferences. By addressing these issues, the findings align with several Sustainable Development Goals, including zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, and responsible consumption and production, promoting sustainable agricultural practices, efficient resource use, and enhanced food security. Future research should focus on integrating interdisciplinary insights, leveraging advanced technologies, and fostering stakeholder partnerships to develop effective, sustainable agricultural systems and a climate-resilient system under increasing environmental uncertainties
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Multisectoral integration has been at the core of sustainability debates and is continuously rearticulated though different concepts. Following the 2007–2008 financial, food, and energy crises, a new concept, the water–energy–food nexus, gained prominence to identify trade-offs and synergies between water, energy, and food systems and guide the development of cross-sectoral policies. The nexus is essentially a systems-based perspective that explicitly recognizes these three systems as both interconnected and interdependent, and thus integrated approaches are required that move beyond sectoral, policy, and disciplinary silos. The nexus is also a political process, one in which the interplay of different types of power, as well as the actors wielding them, is not just a procedurally technical one. This tension between the nexus as a complex system and the nexus as a political process constitutes the core debating idea, in terms of feasibility, methods, and theory, in this article.
Chapter
Food, water, and energy systems are interconnected, and recognizing both the conflicting and compatible needs of these systems in this interrelatedness is critical to ensure the sustainability of all demands. The ecosystem services (ESs) approach has the potential to enlighten the interrelationships between these systems more comprehensively by allowing us to express the benefits provided by land in a multi-layered and multi-faceted manner and spatially to be explicit based on land use/land cover (LULC) information. In this study, three ESs related to water, food, and energy security, namely water flow regulation, crops, and biomass for energy are evaluated for four different scenarios and the current situation. The results show an increase in ES demand areas and a decrease in ES potential areas for the Business-as-Usual and Maximum Development Scenarios, and an increase in potential areas and a decrease in demand areas for Maximum Conservation and Climate Change Adaptation Scenarios. Due to the need for further studies on the integration of ESs into spatial decision-making and the fact that ES information to achieve water, food, and energy security is not yet widespread, this study is expected to contribute to the literature by providing suggestions on how ESs can be utilized in spatial decision-making in the context of water, food, and energy security.
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cropping It is related to the low-yield crops of rainfed barley (67 percent) and dry wheat (48 percent). On the other hand, as a result of applying this policy and according to the prices of the crop year 2019-400, the area under cropping of cucumber, potato and blue wheat has increased the most and the orders increased by 129%, 82% and 51%. Another important point regarding this policy is that water consumption will be reduced by 39%.
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Urban sustainability is key to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Secure and efficient provision of food, energy and water (FEW) resources is a critical strategy for urban sustainability. While there has been extensive discussion on the positive effects of the FEW nexus on resource efficiency and climate impacts, measuring the extent to which such synergy can benefit urban sustainability remains challenging. Here, we have developed a systematic and integrated optimization framework to explore the potential of the FEW nexus in reducing urban resource demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Demonstrated using the Metropolis Beijing, we have identified that the optimized FEW nexus can reduce resource consumption and GHG emissions by 21.0% and 29.1%, respectively. These reductions come with increased costs compared to the siloed FEW management, but it still achieved a 16.8% reduction in economic cost compared to the business-as-usual scenario. These findings underscore the significant potential of FEW nexus management in enhancing urban resource efficiency and addressing climate impacts, while also identifying strategies to address trade-offs and increase synergies.
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The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus has gained recognition as an innovative approach for analyzing the interconnectedness of global resource systems and achieving sustainability goals. In the Mediterranean, where water scarcity, climate change, and ecosystem degradation pose significant challenges, implementing an integrated Nexus approach is crucial. Through an integrative review of 136 scientific articles, we found that water-energy interlinkages dominate Nexus research in the Mediterranean, driven by the need for energy-intensive water distribution systems to meet drinking and irrigation water demands. However, the expansion of the Nexus approach to other components is limited, mostly focusing on assessing impacts on the physical environment and climate, without capturing feedback dynamics. Furthermore, Nexus research in the Mediterranean is primarily conducted at isolated case study levels, with few studies working at the entire Mediterranean scale. There is promising evidence of Nexus research expanding to socio-economic interactions, cultural and behavioral change, and resource governance innovations, but these domains remain segregated due to limited integration of methods across disciplines. To advance Nexus implementation in the region, sustainable technology and natural resources management, which are key fields of operationalization, would benefit from harmonization. In conclusion, Nexus research in the Mediterranean would benefit from integrating knowledge in multi-scale, multi-sector, and multi-dimensional frameworks to support technological, socio-economic, and governance interventions. This would enable a more comprehensive and coherent approach towards achieving water, food, and energy security while preserving the environment in the Mediterranean region.
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The water-energy-food nexus index in the agricultural management of the Tarim River Basin (TRB) is an important index that reflects agricultural inputs productivity. This study used the crop water requirement, energy equivalent, and agricultural water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) model to comprehensively evaluate the water and energy consumption, water and energy productivity, and the WEFNI of the main crops (rice, wheat, maize and cotton) in the TRB from 1990 to 2019. The results indicated that different crops had significant differences in water and energy consumption. The blue water requirements of wheat, maize, rice, and cotton were 3174.9 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, 4271.8 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, 7283.3 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 8769.3 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively. Of these crops, wheat had the lowest blue water requirements and cotton had the highest. In addition, the planting area of the TRB increased by 105 × 10⁴ ha during the study period, with cotton accounting for 45% of the total planting area. The expansion of the planting area led to a continuous improvement in cotton production income, leading to the highest energy economic productivity in cotton (0.065 $/MJ). However, the increase in total water and energy consumption, water and energy mass productivity in cotton were lower than in the other three crops (0.15 kg/m³ and 0.04 kg/MJ). The average WEFNI of rice, wheat, maize and cotton was 0.40, 0.45, 0.43 and 0.35, respectively. This demonstrated that wheat had the highest resources utilization productivity in agricultural inputs, while cotton had the lowest. These results can provide an important scientific basis for current and future agricultural management optimization.
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In Africa, water resources pervade multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs), which mainly focus on eliminating poverty (SDG 1) and hunger (SDG 2), promoting good health and well-being (SDG 3) and supporting clean water and sanitation (SDG 6). Africa's water scarcity problems have been worsened by population growth and climate change. Agriculture is the largest consumer of water in Africa, and a clear understanding of the water-food nexus is necessary to effectively alleviate water-related pressures on food security. Water footprint (WF) accounts and decompositions provide insights into water management planning for policy-makers. We investigated the WF of food consumption from 2000 to 2018 in 23 African countries and used the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) to decompose its driving forces into consumption structure, per capita food consumption, water intensity and population effect. The WF of food consumption increased from 609.8 km³ in 2000 to 1212.9 km³ in 2018, with an average annual growth rate of 3.7%. The population effect contributed most to this change (64.6%), followed by per capita food consumption (28.3%) and consumption structure (7.1%). Cereals (46.7%) and livestock (24.4%) were the major contributors to the increase in the total WF. Our findings highlight that controlling population growth and improving water efficiency are effective measures to relieve water-related pressures on food consumption. However, a healthy dietary structure must also be promoted because Africa's current dietary energy level is below the global average. Moreover, nine countries in the research area have an inadequate supply of dietary energy; this will inevitably drive the WF of food, as calories increase and diets change. This study is helpful for understanding the water-food nexus in Africa and provides strategies to conserve water and enhance food production.
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Water, energy and food are vital resources for human well-being, poverty reduction, and sustainable development. The study of each of the resources mentioned presents its own individual complexity and when considering the interrelationships between them, this becomes more complex. The interconnection of these resources is known as the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEF Nexus), and represents a framework that captures the interrelationships, synergies and trade-offs between the demand for water, energy and food in the context of threats, emerging constraints and development sustainable in particular regions or systems. Water, energy and food are limited but critical resources for human and natural systems and are being depleted at a faster rate than the planet can replenish. The WEF Nexus has become an essential approach to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mainly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG 7 (Clean and Affordable Energy). This work presents an exhaustive and systematic review of the literature on the WEF Nexus in the 2008-2020 period, addressing the articles published in journals, conferences and technical reports where the case studies carried out, the proposed methodologies and the types of data are analyzed that are required in the different models. This will achieve a clear view of the current global level regarding the WEF Nexus. As a complementary contribution, a methodological proposal is presented for the beginning of the Nexus WEF study for countries with emerging economies witha multi-criteria approach, taking the Republic of Paraguay as a case study.
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The concept of water-food-energy nexus has been widely studied in the past decade. In this paper we expand on this concept to Water-Food-Land-Energy-Ecosystem-Environment Nexus with economic and social aspects based on the life cycle assessment thinking. Set of Environment Footprint Assessment (EFA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and Socio-Economic Assessment (SEA) indicators are proposed to apply this approach. Decision Support System for Water-Land-Food-Energy-Ecosystem-Environment-Economic-Social nexus (SD-WLF4ES-Nexus) applying system dynamic model approach for simulating this tackle is utilized. SD-WLF4ES-Nexus is applied to predict the WLF4ES nexus of one of the main crop, corn crop, in twenty counties located in Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) in USA for the period 2016-2030. The prediction is based on scenarios for population, planted and harvested land, and yield, crop production use by segments, and crop production costs and returns. A matrix for WLF4ES nexus of corn crop in WLEB is developed. This matrix can help in developing polices and strategies for managing the nexus in the basin.
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The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has emerged as a frontier issue in interdisciplinary research and is one of the most complex sustainability challenges that the world is faced with today. In this review, we ask: (i) how can the interdependent relationships among water, energy, and food resources be identified? (ii) what methods have been applied to understand these relationships? and (iii) what are the future opportunities and challenges for the WEF nexus development? To answer these questions, we provide a critical assessment of the relevant literature from Web of Science database on WEF nexus published between 2008 and 2019 using a bibliometric analysis. Using the resulting 396 published articles, we systematically reviewed the concept and the bibliometric characteristics of the WEF nexus research to assess the development footprint. Based on the most popular topics and research methods found in these publications, we discussed the major research limitations as well as future opportunities and challenges for WEF research. An examination of internal and external relationships among topics showed that the three most recent hot areas of WEF nexus research include (i) water, energy, and food, (ii) policy-making and resource management, and (iii) system models and methods. Specifically, considering that no one method can solve all problems, we innovatively summarized the application scope and the advantages and disadvantages of each method, with a particular focus on the WEF nexus models. This was undertaken to support readers in choosing a scientific method to analyze the specific WEF nexus related issues. We anticipate that complex interdependence mechanisms, data uncertainty, analytical model development, and in-depth policy implementation will pose the greatest challenges for future WEF nexus research; however, these challenges will also generate better research opportunities. This bibliometric review highlights that to increase understanding of complex WEF systems and formulating optimal strategies to manage them is of great significance for environmental and social sustainability.
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People from rural areas face some limitations to reach sustainable development, such as the lack of electricity. In this work, we propose a multi-objective nonlinear programming model to find the optimal design and operation of water, energy, and food systems for agricultural communities. To this aim, we develop, using a bottom-up approach, a mathematical formulation of a superstructure that includes renewable power technologies, water management devices, and food and energy crops. Numerical experiments are carried out using data from a community in Michoacan, Mexico. The results from the sensitivity analyses show that selling bioethanol as an economic activity can be attractive for this community by slightly increasing the biofuel price and the sugarcane yield. Moreover, the epsilon-constraint method, along with a Pareto filter, is applied to obtain compromised solutions. Some of these solutions represent a significant improvement in social and environmental dimensions while maintaining an acceptable economic index. These results show this methodology's usefulness for analyzing economic opportunities and obtaining strategies to manage the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEFN), especially the land distribution between food and energy crops. The model proposed constitutes a contribution, as a decision-making tool, to the sustainable development of rural communities.
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Ensuring water, energy, and food security with minimum damage to groundwater resources is a key challenge to achieve sustainable development in arid areas. To address this scientific and policy challenge, a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM)-nonlinear programming approach is developed for informing debates over improved management of the groundwater, energy, and food nexus that optimally allocates resources to food production to improve economic benefit and control groundwater depletion. Furthermore, this approach is capable of evaluating management policies affecting resource planning at a regional level. The approach is applied to the Neishaboor basin in northeast Iran. The main results are: (i) economic profit and food production depend on groundwater availability and energy use, which raise environmental protection challenges; (ii) the solutions could be used to define optimal policy strategies for sustainable management of groundwater, energy, food, and simultaneously achieve economic and environmental goals; (iii) improved irrigation efficiency would be considered as an efficient strategy under conditions of growing water scarcity. The results of this research can inform policy makers on effective strategies for integrated groundwater, energy, and food planning.
Conference Paper
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The purpose of the current research is to quantitatively study the water-energy-food nexus in the watershed scale to agricultural sector. Using this suggested approach, the interrelation between water and food was inscribed through water consumption, water mass productivity, and economic water productivity indicators. The interrelation connecting energy and food was included by energy consumption, energy mass productivity, and economic energy productivity indicators. Ultimately, the interrelation between energy and water were realized through energy consumption for irrigation. Water-energy-food nexus index (WEFNI) of the crops̓ production system calculated using a compound indicators for the node year of 2014. The results showed that the determined WFENI of the Shazand watershed crops varied from 0.17 to 0.79. Almond had the highest WEFNI, while potato and sugarcane had the lowest WEFNI among the food crops. WEFNI can be used to develop policies for the optimal cropping pattern for minimizing the water and energy consumption and maximizing their productivity. This indicator can be applied to evaluate strategic progress in water and agriculture as a comprehensive tool. Keywords: Effective Rainfall, Energy Productivity, Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index, Economic Productivity, Adaptive Management
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Most disenfranchised populations live and work in rural areas under poverty and with limited access to basic resources as energy, water and food supply. Individuals and families in rural areas face difficult odds that often result in inequality and disenfranchisement. They are more likely than their urban counterparts to suffer from the consequences of poverty, facing huge problems associated with undernourishment that mostly end in human casualties. The Human Development Index (HDI) helps to identify healthy life criteria and a decent standard of living that is closely related to quality of life. Several strategies have been reported to improve the living conditions in disenfranchised communities around the world. However, there is not an integrated approach to reducing poverty and ensuring sustainable use of the environment and natural resources in these communities, accounting for the water–energy–food nexus to improve the HDI. Therefore, this paper presents a new optimization approach accounting for the water–energy–food nexus in order to increase the HDI in disenfranchised communities by simultaneously considering economic, environmental and social sustainability criteria. A case study taking into account fourteen of the municipalities of the State of Michoacán from Mexico with the lowest HDI was considered to apply the proposed approach. The results show that by the implementation of this integrated approach, it is possible to increase the HDI in such communities by 4.3%, which is higher that results show by Mexico’s HDI values in last 17 years of 0.93%, making the model attractive for decisions makers.
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Analysis the water–food–energy nexus is the first step to assess the decision maker in developing and evaluating national strategies that take into account the nexus. The main objective of the current research is providing a method for the decision makers to analysis the water–food–energy nexus of the crop production system at the national level and carrying out a quantitative assessment of it. Through the proposed method, indicators considering the water and energy consumption, mass productivity, and economic productivity were suggested. Based on these indicators a water–food–energy nexus index (WFENI) was performed. The study showed that the calculated WFENI of the Egyptian summer crops have scores that range from 0.21 to 0.79. Comparing to onion (the highest scoring WFENI,i.e., the best score), rice has the lowest WFENI among the summer food crops. Analysis of the water–food–energy nexus of forty-two Egyptian crops in year 2010 was caried out (energy consumed for irrigation represent 7.4% of the total energy footprint). WFENI can be applied to developed strategies for the optimal cropping pattern that minimizing the water and energy consumption and maximizing their productivity. It can be applied as a holistic tool to evaluate the progress in the water and agricultural national strategies. Moreover, WFENI could be applied yearly to evaluate the performance of the water-food-energy nexus managmant.
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The water resources and agricultural policies in Egypt tend to minimize the food gap, increase self-sufficiency, maximize the economic value of water, decrease the cultivated area of voracious crop water and optimize the water allocation and use. The main goal of the present study is developing a decision support system that can be utilized to assist in achiving these polices and stategies. The decision support system was applied to: (i) analyze of the current situation of the consumed water and the cultivated areas by main crops and their net return, (ii) calculate economic value of irrigation water for main crops at twenty two governorates in Egypt, and (iii) solve a linear optimization problem where the objective function is maximizing the economic value of the irrigation water, and finally (iv) propose an optimal cropping pattern at the Egyptian governorate level. The paper concludes that proposing a cropping pattern at the governorate level is essential where it provides a reliable and accurate view of the economic value of irrigation water rather than the national level. The proposed cropping pattern reduces the national food gap and the cultivated areas of voracious crops water, and saves the irrigation water. Alternatives to utilize the saved water due to the proposed cropping pattern are suggested.
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Egypt has limited available water resources. One of the main targets of the national water resources and agricultural policies in Egypt is the optimal use of these scarce resources. The free cropping pattern policy applied in Egypt gives farmers the right to decide on the cultivated crops according to their own choice. Pollution of the environment and saving irrigation water do not really represent constraining factors for farmers in their decision. The main objective of this research is to investigate the consequences of applying addressed integration among the Egyptian governorates, in order to produce a cropping pattern that optimizes irrigation water use, while considering the viewpoints of farmers as well as decision-makers. Moreover, a partially free cropping pattern policy is scrutinized through the study. A multi-objective optimization approach utilizing the weight goal programming technique was applied to achieve the research. The results of the study illustrated that applying addressed integration among the Egyptian governorates and a partially free cropping pattern policy saves water, reduces cultivated area, lessens fertilizer usage, and increases the net return from crop production. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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A linear programming model has been formulated to suggest the optimal cropping pattern for maximizing net returns and ensuring significant savings of groundwater with the aim of sustaining groundwater use in the Punjab agriculture. The primary data obtained from the project, “Comprehensive scheme to study the cost of cultivation of principal crops in Punjab†for the year 2002-03 pertain to 170 farmers selected through three-stage stratified random sampling technique. As the period of transplantation of paddy has a significant bearing on the amount of groundwater used and its sustainability, the paddy crop has been further classified into Paddy 1 (transplanted before 10th June); Paddy 2 (transplanted during 11th June to 20th June) and Paddy 3 (transplanted after 20th June). At the existing level of water availability, the optimal crop plan has not revealed any significant changes in the production pattern. Restricting the availability of groundwater has resulted into a major shift in the cropping pattern. Such changes could ensure groundwater savings of almost 25 per cent, without any adverse impact on the net returns from crop production. Introduction of new crops in the production plan, such as Bt cotton, has further enhanced the returns from crop production by about 4 per cent along with groundwater savings of 26.55 per cent. The study has suggested that alternate wetting and drying, adoption of system of rice intensification (SRI), use of tensiometers and direct plantation of paddy are some of the other techniques which can save water.
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en Water, energy, and food are interrelated and critical resources for human well‐being and environmental goals. Single‐sector national strategies that focus on individual sectors of the nexus without considering their interconnections may lead to acute unanticipated consequences. In the present study, the system dynamic model platform was used to create a new approach to analysis of dynamic behaviour, focusing on joint water–energy–food interactions stemming from crop production and consumption at the national level under different scenarios and alternatives. The developed system determines: (i) water and energy footprints of crop production and consumption; (ii) virtual water and energy import and export; (iii) the national water and energy saving balance due to trade of agricultural commodities; and (iv) a water–food–energy nexus index. A case study from Egypt was used to test the system and illustrate some of its significance. The research illustrates the importance of considering the water–food–energy nexus when developing national strategies. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Résumé fr L'eau, l'énergie et la nourriture sont interdépendantes en tant que ressources essentielles pour le bien‐être de l'homme et les objectifs environnementaux. Les stratégies nationales mono sectorielles qui mettent l'accent sur un secteur particulier sans tenir compte de ses interconnexions peuvent conduire à des conséquences imprévues et graves. La plate‐forme du système de modèle dynamique a été utilisée pour créer une nouvelle approche de l'analyse du comportement dynamique en mettant l'accent sur les interactions mixtes eau–alimentation–énergie issues de la production et de la consommation des cultures au niveau national sous considération de différents scénarios et alternatives. Le modèle simule les interconnexions entre le montant de la production alimentaire, l'eau pour la production de ce montant, et l'énergie nécessaire à la production alimentaire, y compris l'énergie pour l'irrigation. Le système développé détermine: (i) les empreintes de l'eau et de l'énergie de production et de consommation des cultures; (ii) l'eau virtuelle et l'importation‐export d'énergie; (iii) le bilan des économies d'eau et d'énergie au niveau national dû au commerce des produits agricoles; (iv) un nouvel indice du nexus eau–alimentation–énergie. Une étude de cas en Egypte a été utilisée pour tester le système et illustrer sa portée. La recherche illustre l'importance de considérer le nexus eau–alimentation–énergie lors de l'élaboration des stratégies nationales. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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The construction of the Rogun Dam in the Amu Darya Basin to increase upstream energy generation creates potential trade-offs with existing downstream irrigation, due to the different timing of energy and irrigation water demands. The present analysis, based on a hydro-economic optimization model, shows that cooperative basin-wide maximization of benefits would lead to large increases in upstream hydropower production and only minor changes in downstream irrigation benefits. However, if upstream stations, including Rogun, are managed unilaterally to maximize energy production, hydropower benefits might more than double while irrigation benefits greatly decrease, thereby substantially reducing overall basin benefits. © 2015 International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Published by Taylor & Francis.
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In areas having scarce canal water and poor quality groundwater, an opportunity exists to use the two sources conjunctively for irngation water supply. However, the use of saline water, either in isolation or by mixing with canal water, threatens soil salinization, unless steps are taken to protect the salt balance in the root zone. A deterministic linear programming model has been developed, incorporating both leaching requirements and the salinity response function of crops, to find the optimal cropping pattern and optimum use of saline groundwater. The model was applied to a canal command area.
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The complex problem of irrigation management in a large heterogeneous basin is solved by using a multilevel optimization technique. The real problem consists of determining the optimal cropping patterns in various subareas of the basin, the optimal design capacities of irrigation facilities including both the surface and ground water resources, and the optimal water allocation policies for the conjunctive use. The objective of such a management is to obtain a high level of economic efficiency in the irrigation development and water use system within a hydrologically feasible policy domain. Various alternative activities, such as surface water diversion and pumpage, ground water withdrawal and recharge, and alternative future operational scenarios, have to be analyzed in an integrated way. The solution strategy is based on the physical decomposition of a large system into interconnected subsystems. A computationally efficient algorithm that can be implemented in a microcomputer is developed to solve the multilevel linear programming model by an iterative procedure. A case study is presented to illustrate the application in a realistic situation.
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The irrigation potential of a tank system, thousands of which are found in South India, depends upon a number of factors other than water availability. These factors are mainly influenced by the agricultural technology adopted, food practices of people and livestock, the interdependence of land-human-livestock components of life, and socioeconomic practices prevailing in rural areas. The system needs to pertain not only to grain yield but also to fodder production. In semiarid regions of India, uneven distribution and insufficient rainfall during the initial crop season develops water stress in plants. Relatively higher irrigation efficiency, which is possible to attain in tank systems, leads to an increase in the energy resources required for various agricultural operations. An attempt is made in this paper to investigate the effect of these factors on the optimal use of irrigation potential of a minor irrigation tank system. The method involves developing a linear programming (LP) model to optimize the net profit from the system and to determine the optimal cropping pattern under the influence of various parameters, e.g., animal power, labor, fodder production, the resources of farmers, and the nutritional energy requirement of the system, in addition to water availability. The crucial nature of these factors as well as the irrigation efficiency is analyzed. The solution reveals the effectiveness of prevailing agricultural practices consistent with the availability of water resources in the initial crop season.
The water-energyfood security nexus: Towards a practical planning and de cision-support framework for landscape investment and risk management
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Bizikova, L., Roy, D., Henry, D., David Venema, D., & McCandless, M., 2013. The water-energyfood security nexus: Towards a practical planning and de cision-support framework for landscape investment and risk management (IISD report). Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: The International Institute for Sustainable Development.
The water-energy-food nexus A new approach in support of food security and sustainable agriculture. Retrieved from http
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Understanding the nexus. Background paper for the Bonn2011 nexus conference: The water, energy and food security nexus solutions for the green economy
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Hoff, H. (2011). Understanding the nexus. Background paper for the Bonn2011 nexus conference: The water, energy and food security nexus solutions for the green economy. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute.
Agricultural Sector Model of Egypt (ASME) 2011 version at governorate level with 2007 database and Update instructions
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Planning Sector. (2012). Agricultural Sector Model of Egypt (ASME) 2011 version at governorate level with 2007 database and Update instructions. In Technical report 34 A. National Water Resources Plan Coordination Project (NWRP-CP). Egypt: Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Nexus Conference The water, energy and food security nexus-solutions for a green economy
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Walking the nexus talk: Assessing the water-energy-food nexus in the context of the sustainable energy for all initiative
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The water, energy and food security nexus -solutions for a green economy
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Bonn. (2011). Nexus Conference, 2011. The water, energy and food security nexus -solutions for a green economy. Retrieved from http://www.water-energy-food.org/en/whats_the_nexus.html