596
Examples of biophysical research areas relevant to decision-maker needs include:
1. Improving our understanding of soil processes, phenomena and interactions
relating to soil organic matter, microbes, nutrients, and moisture to changing
climatic conditions, can lead to methods that increase food yields in ways that
require lower energy, fertilizer, and water inputs and with fewer negative environmental, greater farm labor safety, higher quality food, and with greater economic returns to farm operators.
2. Scaling up the integration of biophysical processes into infrastructure that supports food production (e.g., pollinator conservation and restoration, multifunctional
landscapes, and urban agriculture) or productive use of wasted resources (e.g.,
nutrient recapture from waste streams, and heating services from cooling water in
power plants [cogeneration].
Examples of socio-economic-political research areas include the following:
1. The design of stakeholder engagement processes that lead to the co-production
of knowledge and science and ultimately more informed policy and management
solutions.
2. Improving our understanding of the behavioral reactions of individuals to
changes in FEW systems.
3. Improving our understanding of the multidimensional benefits and costs of
actions in alternative uses so that scarce resources can be reallocated to “highervalue” users.
4. Non-market valuation of important nexus concerns such as public welfare, ecosystem values, environmental damage, and cultural values.
In Sect. 12.3, we explored the challenge of scale selection in defining questions.
Nexus students should align scales of space and time in biophysical processes with
those in FEW governance, resource management, and decision-making so that they
can be synergistic rather than discordant. This is particularly challenging because
the system processes (institutional and physical) involved in the FEW Nexus operate at varied—but specific—scales, so trade-offs between micro-, meso-, and macroscale framings are required.
It is possible to ask many research and practice questions at the FEW nexus, but
as observed by physicist Lisa Randall (2011):
An almost indispensable skill for any creative person is the ability to pose the right questions. Creative people identify promising, exciting, and, most important, accessible routes
to progress—and eventually formulate the questions correctly.
21.3.3 Metrics
In Chap. 13, we described the role of metrics as a bridge between science and decisionmaking, and ultimately behavior. Metrics are selected as means of measuring things
that society values and which can be backed by science. Metrics facilitate effective
B. Kinne et al.
Examples of biophysical research areas relevant to decision-maker needs include:
1. Improving our understanding of soil processes, phenomena and interactions
relating to soil organic matter, microbes, nutrients, and moisture to changing
climatic conditions, can lead to methods that increase food yields in ways that
require lower energy, fertilizer, and water inputs and with fewer negative environmental, greater farm labor safety, higher quality food, and with greater economic returns to farm operators.
2. Scaling up the integration of biophysical processes into infrastructure that supports food production (e.g., pollinator conservation and restoration, multifunctional
landscapes, and urban agriculture) or productive use of wasted resources (e.g.,
nutrient recapture from waste streams, and heating services from cooling water in
power plants [cogeneration].
Examples of socio-economic-political research areas include the following:
1. The design of stakeholder engagement processes that lead to the co-production
of knowledge and science and ultimately more informed policy and management
solutions.
2. Improving our understanding of the behavioral reactions of individuals to
changes in FEW systems.
3. Improving our understanding of the multidimensional benefits and costs of
actions in alternative uses so that scarce resources can be reallocated to “highervalue” users.
4. Non-market valuation of important nexus concerns such as public welfare, ecosystem values, environmental damage, and cultural values.
In Sect. 12.3, we explored the challenge of scale selection in defining questions.
Nexus students should align scales of space and time in biophysical processes with
those in FEW governance, resource management, and decision-making so that they
can be synergistic rather than discordant. This is particularly challenging because
the system processes (institutional and physical) involved in the FEW Nexus operate at varied—but specific—scales, so trade-offs between micro-, meso-, and macroscale framings are required.
It is possible to ask many research and practice questions at the FEW nexus, but
as observed by physicist Lisa Randall (2011):
An almost indispensable skill for any creative person is the ability to pose the right questions. Creative people identify promising, exciting, and, most important, accessible routes
to progress—and eventually formulate the questions correctly.
21.3.3 Metrics
In Chap. 13, we described the role of metrics as a bridge between science and decisionmaking, and ultimately behavior. Metrics are selected as means of measuring things
that society values and which can be backed by science. Metrics facilitate effective
B. Kinne et al.