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S. H. Sadeghi and E. Sharifi Moghadam
5 Conclusion
This chapter took aim to stipulate a summary of the water, energy, and food nexus.
Water, energy, and food are three highly connected systems. There is a need for a
coherent knowledge base and database indicators and metrics that cover all relevant
spatial and temporal scales and provisioning views. This nexus must be resolved in
practice in a variety of physical and political environments, including in areas where
little work has been done. Domestically, successful IWM experience, including the
use of water–energy–food nexus approach to determine the optimal model of agricultural management at the watershed scale, should be studied for wider application.
In fact, the problem-oriented nexus solutions can also be utilized locally. Such an
improved linkage understanding can pave the way for new decisions and policies in a
green economy. In this case, help and cooperation between the scientific community,
stakeholders, and decision-makers is essential to address the complexity of resources
management and the development of requests for WEF security. Besides, the concept
of the water–energy–food nexus must be expanded, forming the soil–water–energy–
food nexus. In fact, to address global issues (e.g., food insecurity, water scarcity,
energy insecurity, and soil erosion), the response rests in the sustainable development of natural resources through the successful management of the soil, water,
energy, and food nexus. Therefore, there is a need to create a framework that explicitly identifies connections between systems, reduces transactions, and creates synergies between sections. The WEF nexus should develop interdisciplinary, distinct,
and obvious participation using clear and generally accepted approaches among all
stakeholders. However, to reach more significant conclusions, more insight studies
are needed in various aspects with the cooperation of different specialties in the
diversity of spatial, temporal, and systemic scales. Besides, dynamic and comparative assessment of performance of adapting WEF as well as other derivate with
considering more chapters is strongly advised to adaptively manage the watershed.
References
1. Abbott M, Bazilian M, Egel D, Willis HH (2017) Examining the food–energy–water and
conflict nexus. Curr Opin Chem Eng 18:55–60
2. Adhikari K, Hartemink AE (2016) Linking soils to ecosystem services—a global review.
Geoderma 262:101–111
3. Ahuja S (2015) Food, energy, and water. In: Food, energy, and water: the chemistry connection.
Elsevier, 461 p
4. Al-Sumaiti AS, Banhidarah AK, Wescoat JL, Bamigbade AK, Nguyen HT (2020) Data collection surveys on the cornerstones of the water-energy nexus: a systematic overview. IEEE Access
8:93011–93027
5. Allan T, Keulertz M, Woertz E (2015) The water–food–energy nexus: an introduction to nexus
concepts and some conceptual and operational problems. Int J Water Resour Dev 31:301–311
6. Bakhshianlamouki E, Masia S, Karimi P, van der Zaag P, Sušnik J (2019) A system dynamics
model to quantify the impacts of restoration measures on the water-energy-food nexus in the
Urmia Lake Basin, Iran. Sci Total Environ 134874
S. H. Sadeghi and E. Sharifi Moghadam
5 Conclusion
This chapter took aim to stipulate a summary of the water, energy, and food nexus.
Water, energy, and food are three highly connected systems. There is a need for a
coherent knowledge base and database indicators and metrics that cover all relevant
spatial and temporal scales and provisioning views. This nexus must be resolved in
practice in a variety of physical and political environments, including in areas where
little work has been done. Domestically, successful IWM experience, including the
use of water–energy–food nexus approach to determine the optimal model of agricultural management at the watershed scale, should be studied for wider application.
In fact, the problem-oriented nexus solutions can also be utilized locally. Such an
improved linkage understanding can pave the way for new decisions and policies in a
green economy. In this case, help and cooperation between the scientific community,
stakeholders, and decision-makers is essential to address the complexity of resources
management and the development of requests for WEF security. Besides, the concept
of the water–energy–food nexus must be expanded, forming the soil–water–energy–
food nexus. In fact, to address global issues (e.g., food insecurity, water scarcity,
energy insecurity, and soil erosion), the response rests in the sustainable development of natural resources through the successful management of the soil, water,
energy, and food nexus. Therefore, there is a need to create a framework that explicitly identifies connections between systems, reduces transactions, and creates synergies between sections. The WEF nexus should develop interdisciplinary, distinct,
and obvious participation using clear and generally accepted approaches among all
stakeholders. However, to reach more significant conclusions, more insight studies
are needed in various aspects with the cooperation of different specialties in the
diversity of spatial, temporal, and systemic scales. Besides, dynamic and comparative assessment of performance of adapting WEF as well as other derivate with
considering more chapters is strongly advised to adaptively manage the watershed.
References
1. Abbott M, Bazilian M, Egel D, Willis HH (2017) Examining the food–energy–water and
conflict nexus. Curr Opin Chem Eng 18:55–60
2. Adhikari K, Hartemink AE (2016) Linking soils to ecosystem services—a global review.
Geoderma 262:101–111
3. Ahuja S (2015) Food, energy, and water. In: Food, energy, and water: the chemistry connection.
Elsevier, 461 p
4. Al-Sumaiti AS, Banhidarah AK, Wescoat JL, Bamigbade AK, Nguyen HT (2020) Data collection surveys on the cornerstones of the water-energy nexus: a systematic overview. IEEE Access
8:93011–93027
5. Allan T, Keulertz M, Woertz E (2015) The water–food–energy nexus: an introduction to nexus
concepts and some conceptual and operational problems. Int J Water Resour Dev 31:301–311
6. Bakhshianlamouki E, Masia S, Karimi P, van der Zaag P, Sušnik J (2019) A system dynamics
model to quantify the impacts of restoration measures on the water-energy-food nexus in the
Urmia Lake Basin, Iran. Sci Total Environ 134874