593
biophysical system. Similarly, the complexity of multifaceted socio-economicpolitical systems makes it difficult to forecast all the impacts of particular changes
in FEW governances on human behavior accurately.
Recognizing each of these gaps is an opportunity for future work that fills them
and enables ever more effective solutions to Nexus challenges.
We will now review several interwoven themes where opportunities exist to
overcome those challenges.
21.3.1 Communities of Science and Practice
Integrated research, capacity building, outreach, education, and informed private,
public, and civil sectors are essential for the development of Nexus solutions. Solutions
can be applied and tested locally and then used beyond regional and national borders.
Such solutions require interdisciplinary cooperation, inclusivity, and transparency
among stakeholders. Scientifically enabled policy, monitoring, assessment, and cooperation must complement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to make it possible to achieve them. We noted in Sect. 17.5, the value of developing effective
communities of science and practice that bring diverse scientists, engineers, and
non-science stakeholders together to address nexus challenges.
Interdisciplinary science has traditionally been challenging because of the narrow
disciplinary training and incentives provided by academic and governmental institutions. Public funding of research has likewise been dominated by narrowly disciplinary silos for funding. While the value of interdisciplinary research has been long
recognized, programs that funded such research have often been short-lived compared to the decade or more that it takes to build effective interdisciplinary communities of science. However, academic and government program opportunities funding
for Nexus research have emerged. For example, in the USA, the National Science
Foundation (NSF) launched a program on Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy
and Water Systems (INFEWS) in 2016 (NSF (n.d.)) in the words of NSF:
The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly
and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making
and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for
more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles), biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and
cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for
decision- making and assessment). Investigations of these complex systems may produce
discoveries that cannot emerge from research on food or energy or water systems alone. It
is the synergy among these components in the context of sustainability that will open innovative science and engineering pathways to produce new knowledge, novel technologies,
and innovative predictive capabilities.
The overarching goal of the INFEWS program is to catalyze well-integrated, convergent
research to transform understanding of the FEW Nexus as integrated social, engineering,
physical, and natural systems in order to improve system function and management, address
system stress, increase resilience, and ensure sustainability. The NSF INFEWS activity is
designed specifically to attain the following goals:
21 Opportunities at the Nexus
biophysical system. Similarly, the complexity of multifaceted socio-economicpolitical systems makes it difficult to forecast all the impacts of particular changes
in FEW governances on human behavior accurately.
Recognizing each of these gaps is an opportunity for future work that fills them
and enables ever more effective solutions to Nexus challenges.
We will now review several interwoven themes where opportunities exist to
overcome those challenges.
21.3.1 Communities of Science and Practice
Integrated research, capacity building, outreach, education, and informed private,
public, and civil sectors are essential for the development of Nexus solutions. Solutions
can be applied and tested locally and then used beyond regional and national borders.
Such solutions require interdisciplinary cooperation, inclusivity, and transparency
among stakeholders. Scientifically enabled policy, monitoring, assessment, and cooperation must complement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to make it possible to achieve them. We noted in Sect. 17.5, the value of developing effective
communities of science and practice that bring diverse scientists, engineers, and
non-science stakeholders together to address nexus challenges.
Interdisciplinary science has traditionally been challenging because of the narrow
disciplinary training and incentives provided by academic and governmental institutions. Public funding of research has likewise been dominated by narrowly disciplinary silos for funding. While the value of interdisciplinary research has been long
recognized, programs that funded such research have often been short-lived compared to the decade or more that it takes to build effective interdisciplinary communities of science. However, academic and government program opportunities funding
for Nexus research have emerged. For example, in the USA, the National Science
Foundation (NSF) launched a program on Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy
and Water Systems (INFEWS) in 2016 (NSF (n.d.)) in the words of NSF:
The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly
and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making
and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for
more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles), biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and
cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for
decision- making and assessment). Investigations of these complex systems may produce
discoveries that cannot emerge from research on food or energy or water systems alone. It
is the synergy among these components in the context of sustainability that will open innovative science and engineering pathways to produce new knowledge, novel technologies,
and innovative predictive capabilities.
The overarching goal of the INFEWS program is to catalyze well-integrated, convergent
research to transform understanding of the FEW Nexus as integrated social, engineering,
physical, and natural systems in order to improve system function and management, address
system stress, increase resilience, and ensure sustainability. The NSF INFEWS activity is
designed specifically to attain the following goals:
21 Opportunities at the Nexus