Exorcising Malthusian ghosts: Vaccinating the nexus to advance integrated water, energy and food resource resilience
Exorcising Malthusian ghosts: Vaccinating the nexus to advance integrated water, energy and food resource resilience
Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus interactions vary from seemingly negative and intractable wicked problems to opportunities for enhanced sustainability. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of understanding on WEF resource interactions and to provide a roadmap to enhance integrated resource management. A qualitative perspective based on expert insight and experience was supported by a more quantitative systematic analysis of the literature to define Nexus interactions, describe the nature of different challenges, and explore the factors that influence them. We found that Nexus challenges, and associated interactions (e.g. trade-offs and synergies), vary with complexity and spatial and temporal scale, and biases in research and culture act as barriers to progress. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to develop technical solutions employed through the use of orchestrated shocks (e.g. historic analogues, predictive modelling, experimentation, and scenario planning) to “Vaccinate the Nexus” and improve system resilience. To achieve this, multidisciplinary capability should be developed to solve interdisciplinary challenges, while protecting specialism. It is recognised that through embracing complexity and “Nexus (or Systems) Thinking”, future integration of resource management may be facilitated through holistic education, informed by interdisciplinary research, and ingrained in cross-sector policy and governance.
Energy storage, Fisheries, Hydropower, Systemic shocks, WEF Nexus
Kemp, Paul
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Acuto, Michele
0e54763a-e0db-4cff-8e82-c090c8ecaae8
Larcom, Shaun
9fb333e8-0d54-4bc4-9171-b8b4000a8232
Lumbroso, Darren
981ff2ad-2110-4cfa-b311-b79da2b00d91
Owen, Markus
ac168d1c-bd2d-4eee-a9e2-1abea6119ea0
31 January 2022
Kemp, Paul
9e33fba6-cccf-4eb5-965b-b70e72b11cd7
Acuto, Michele
0e54763a-e0db-4cff-8e82-c090c8ecaae8
Larcom, Shaun
9fb333e8-0d54-4bc4-9171-b8b4000a8232
Lumbroso, Darren
981ff2ad-2110-4cfa-b311-b79da2b00d91
Owen, Markus
ac168d1c-bd2d-4eee-a9e2-1abea6119ea0
Kemp, Paul, Acuto, Michele, Larcom, Shaun, Lumbroso, Darren and Owen, Markus
(2022)
Exorcising Malthusian ghosts: Vaccinating the nexus to advance integrated water, energy and food resource resilience.
Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 4, [100108].
(doi:10.1016/j.crsust.2021.100108).
Abstract
Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus interactions vary from seemingly negative and intractable wicked problems to opportunities for enhanced sustainability. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of understanding on WEF resource interactions and to provide a roadmap to enhance integrated resource management. A qualitative perspective based on expert insight and experience was supported by a more quantitative systematic analysis of the literature to define Nexus interactions, describe the nature of different challenges, and explore the factors that influence them. We found that Nexus challenges, and associated interactions (e.g. trade-offs and synergies), vary with complexity and spatial and temporal scale, and biases in research and culture act as barriers to progress. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to develop technical solutions employed through the use of orchestrated shocks (e.g. historic analogues, predictive modelling, experimentation, and scenario planning) to “Vaccinate the Nexus” and improve system resilience. To achieve this, multidisciplinary capability should be developed to solve interdisciplinary challenges, while protecting specialism. It is recognised that through embracing complexity and “Nexus (or Systems) Thinking”, future integration of resource management may be facilitated through holistic education, informed by interdisciplinary research, and ingrained in cross-sector policy and governance.
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- Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 26 November 2021
Published date: 31 January 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Reference: EP/N005961/1 ) through the IDEAS Factory Sandpits programme.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
Keywords:
Energy storage, Fisheries, Hydropower, Systemic shocks, WEF Nexus
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 453143
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/453143
PURE UUID: 7c041558-c619-4fa0-b03f-6bbe4881f1b3
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Date deposited: 08 Jan 2022 22:35
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:42
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Contributors
Author:
Michele Acuto
Author:
Shaun Larcom
Author:
Darren Lumbroso
Author:
Markus Owen
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