Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Water, Energy, Land and Food (WELF) Nexus".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 29476

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Resources Development, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
Interests: issues of prosperity; resource and water management; art and aesthetics; civil engineering

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Resources Development, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece
Interests: hydrological modeling; renewable energy; flood risk; water–energy nexus; stochastic hydrology; water resources management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, University of Patras, 27200 Amaliada, Greece
Interests: hydrology; hydroinformatics; irrigation; simulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

(1) Introduction, including scientific background and highlighting the importance of this research area.

A common perception is that wealth as GDP per capita, is a metric for prosperity for humanity which increases life expectancy. However, the true wealth is the availability of water-energy-food nexus which is also related with life expectancy, showing that the coverage of real needs is what prosperity is. 

Humans need a constant supply of water, food, and energy to live, and are necessary in sufficient quantity and quality and require constant replenishment.

The multiple and complex interconnections between water, energy, and food, either expressed as complementarities or conflicts, raised the need for an integrated viewpoint to ensure a fair and sustainable sharing of the three vital resources across all scales of interest (international, national, local). In this vein, the concept of the water-energy-food nexus is recognized as the running paradigm for their combined planning and management.

(2) Aim of the Special Issue and how the subject relates to the journal scope.

In addition to these three critical elements, land is also a precious resource. For instance, land is needed for food production or for cultivating biofuels, both raising water needs for irrigation. It is also used for the installation of all kinds of infrastructures that are associated with energy and water production. In this vein, a major conflict arises within the water-energy-food nexus, given that land is their common interface.

In a fast-changing world, where multifaced crises arising, driving big areas of the world to energy poverty and food crisis, the necessity to study the water-energy-food nexus in combination with land, within a pragmatic approach becomes obvious.

(3) Suggested themes and article types for submissions.

  • The evaluation of land uses in the design and management of water-energy-food nexus projects;
  • New technologies for land uses, evaluated in the frame of water-energy-food nexus;
  • Novel multicriteria frameworks involving land use analysis, for the assessment of the efficiency of water-energy-food nexus projects;
  • Novel tools for quantitative evaluation of WEF aspects including land uses;
  • New frameworks for integrating citizens perspectives and resolving related conflicts (e.g., social opposition to landscape transformation and land use change for WEF projects);
  • The role of WEF projects in the transformation of land aesthetics;
  • Successful case studies of design and management of WEF projects in relation to land uses;
  • The role of the spatial scale of WEF projects in efficiency and related management risks;
  • Self-sufficient communities in terms of the WEF nexus and the role of available land;
  • New datasets and novel approaches for quantifying interactions between WEF and Land.

Dr. G.-Fivos Sargentis
Dr. Theano-Any Iliopoulou
Dr. Andreas Angelakis
Dr. Nikolaos Malamos
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • water-energy-food nexus
  • multi-criteria optimization
  • sustainable management
  • environmental resources
  • landscape transformation
  • land uses
  • self-sufficient communities

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

43 pages, 7444 KiB  
Article
Energy, Trophic Dynamics and Ecological Discounting
by Georgios Karakatsanis and Nikos Mamassis
Land 2023, 12(10), 1928; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12101928 - 16 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1921
Abstract
Ecosystems provide humanity with a wide variety and high economic value-added services, from biomass structuring to genetic information, pollutants’ decomposition, water purification and climate regulation. The foundation of ecosystem services is the Eltonian Pyramid, where via prey–predator relationships, energy metabolism and biomass [...] Read more.
Ecosystems provide humanity with a wide variety and high economic value-added services, from biomass structuring to genetic information, pollutants’ decomposition, water purification and climate regulation. The foundation of ecosystem services is the Eltonian Pyramid, where via prey–predator relationships, energy metabolism and biomass building take place. In the context of existing ecosystem services classification and valuation methods (e.g., CICES, MEA, TEEB), financial investments in ecosystem services essentially address the conservation of trophic pyramids. Our work’s main target is to investigate how trophic pyramids’ dynamics (stability or instability) impact the long-run discounting of financial investments on ecosystem services’ value. Specifically, a trophic pyramid with highly fluctuating populations generates higher risks for the production of ecosystem services, hence for ecological finance instruments coupled to them, due to higher temporal uncertainty or information entropy that should be incorporated into their discount rates. As this uncertainty affects negatively the net present value (NPV) of financial capital on ecosystem services, we argue that the minimization of biomass fluctuations in trophic pyramids via population control should be among the priorities of ecosystem management practices. To substantiate our hypothesis, we construct a logistic predation model, which is consistent with the Eltonian Pyramid’s ecological energetics. As the logistic predator model’s parameters determine the tropic pyramid’s dynamics and uncertainty, we develop an adjusted Shannon entropy index (H(N)ADJ) to measure this effect as part of the discount rate. Indicatively, we perform a Monte Carlo simulation of a pyramid with intrinsic growth parameter values that yield oscillating population sizes. Finally, we discuss, from an ecological energetics standpoint, issues of competition and diversity in trophic pyramids, as special dimensions and extensions of our analytical framework. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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40 pages, 7485 KiB  
Article
Energy and the Macrodynamics of Agrarian Societies
by Georgios Karakatsanis and Nikos Mamassis
Land 2023, 12(8), 1603; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12081603 - 15 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2430
Abstract
For the present work, we utilized Leslie White’s anthropological theory of cultural evolutionism as a theoretical benchmark for econometrically assessing the macrodynamics of energy use in agrarian societies that constituted the human civilization’s second energy paradigm between 12,000 BC and 1800 AC. As [...] Read more.
For the present work, we utilized Leslie White’s anthropological theory of cultural evolutionism as a theoretical benchmark for econometrically assessing the macrodynamics of energy use in agrarian societies that constituted the human civilization’s second energy paradigm between 12,000 BC and 1800 AC. As White’s theory views a society’s ability to harness and control energy from its environment as the primary function of culture, we may classify the evolution of human civilizations in three phases according to their energy paradigm, defined as the dominant pattern of energy harvesting from nature. In this context, we may distinguish three energy paradigms so far: hunting–gathering, agriculture, and fossil fuels. Agriculture, as humanity’s energy paradigm for ~14,000 years, essentially comprises a secondary form of solar energy that is biochemically transformed by photosynthetic life (plants and land). Based on this property, we model agrarian societies with similar principles to natural ecosystems. Just like natural ecosystems, agrarian societies receive abundant solar energy input but also have limited land ability to transform and store them biochemically. As in natural ecosystems, this constraint is depicted by the carrying capacity emerging biophysically from the limiting factor. Hence, the historical dynamics of agrarian societies are essentially reduced to their struggle to maximize energy use by maximizing the area and productivity of fertile land –in the role of a solar energy transformation hub– mitigating their limiting factor. Such an evolutionary forcing introduced technical upgrades, like the leverage of domesticated livestock power as a multiplier of the caloric value harvested by arable and grazing land combined. According to the above, we tested the econometric performance of four selected dynamic maps used extensively in ecology to reproduce humanity’s energy harvesting macrodynamics between 10,000 BC and 1800 AC: (a) the logistic map, (b) the logistic growth map, (c) a lower limiting case of the Hassel map that yields the Ricker map, and (d) a higher limiting case of the Hassel map that yields the Beverton–Holt map. Following our results, we discuss thoroughly our framework’s major elaborations on social hierarchy and competition as mechanisms for allocating available energy in society, as well as the related future research and econometric modeling challenges. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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20 pages, 1408 KiB  
Article
Multidimensional Role of Agrovoltaics in Era of EU Green Deal: Current Status and Analysis of Water–Energy–Food–Land Dependencies
by Aikaterini Roxani, Athanasios Zisos, Georgia-Konstantina Sakki and Andreas Efstratiadis
Land 2023, 12(5), 1069; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12051069 - 14 May 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3751
Abstract
The European Green Deal has set climate and energy targets for 2030 and the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while supporting energy independence and economic growth. Following these goals, and as expected, the transition to “green” renewable energy [...] Read more.
The European Green Deal has set climate and energy targets for 2030 and the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, while supporting energy independence and economic growth. Following these goals, and as expected, the transition to “green” renewable energy is growing and will be intensified, in the near future. One of the main pillars of this transition, particularly for Mediterranean countries, is solar photovoltaic (PV) power. However, this is the least land-efficient energy source, while it is also highly competitive in food production, since solar parks are often developed in former agricultural areas, thus resulting in the systematic reduction in arable lands. Therefore, in the context of PV energy planning, the protection and preservation of arable lands should be considered a key issue. The emerging technology of agrovoltaics offers a balanced solution for both agricultural and renewable energy development. The sustainable “symbiosis” of food and energy under common lands also supports the specific objective of the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy, regarding the mitigation of and adaptation to the changing climate, as well as the highly uncertain socio-economic and geopolitical environment. The purpose of this study is twofold, i.e., (a) to identify the state of play of the technologies and energy efficiency measures of agrovoltaics, and (b) to present a comprehensive analysis of their interactions with the water–energy–food–land nexus. As a proof of concept, we consider the plain of Arta, which is a typical agricultural area of Greece, where we employ a parametric analysis to assess key features of agrovoltaic development with respect to energy vs. food production, as well as water saving, as result of reduced evapotranspiration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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18 pages, 3830 KiB  
Article
The Function of Money in Water–Energy–Food and Land Nexus
by G.-Fivos Sargentis and Demetris Koutsoyiannis
Land 2023, 12(3), 669; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030669 - 12 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3239
Abstract
The water–energy–food (WEF) and land nexus is a basic element of prosperity. However, the elements of WEF are not equally distributed, and the dynamics of trading drives the distribution of goods. Money controls the trading, but money is just a convention and not [...] Read more.
The water–energy–food (WEF) and land nexus is a basic element of prosperity. However, the elements of WEF are not equally distributed, and the dynamics of trading drives the distribution of goods. Money controls the trading, but money is just a convention and not a stable measure. Therefore, we have used the data of gross domestic product (GDP) and the price of electricity of each country in order to convert money to stable energy units. To evaluate the role of money in the WEF nexus, we also convert all the elements of the nexus, in energy units. In addition, we observe that land is the base of WEF and is positively correlated with all of its elements. However, we find that even the richest countries are facing critical deficits in WEF. Adding the money (GDP in energy units) to the WEF nexus, the balance becomes positive and we conclude that trading is necessary for both survival and prosperity. This may be obvious, but at present, global geopolitical conflicts which use economic sanctions as a tool transform the global balance of the WEF nexus, putting the global prosperity in jeopardy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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22 pages, 6546 KiB  
Article
Coupling Coordination and Spatial-Temporal Evolution of Water-Land-Food Nexus: A Case Study of Hebei Province at a County-Level
by Wenzhe Luo, Yanling Jiang, Yuansheng Chen and Zhigang Yu
Land 2023, 12(3), 595; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030595 - 2 Mar 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1941
Abstract
Exploring the interaction between water, land, and food (WLF) is a premise guaranteeing to ease resource restrictions and achieve sustainable development in major agricultural production areas. We chose 26 indicators to build a WLF nexus evaluation index system. We used the coupling coordination [...] Read more.
Exploring the interaction between water, land, and food (WLF) is a premise guaranteeing to ease resource restrictions and achieve sustainable development in major agricultural production areas. We chose 26 indicators to build a WLF nexus evaluation index system. We used the coupling coordination model to measure the coupling coordination degree of the WLF nexus in 15 prefecture-level cities and 151 counties under the jurisdiction of Hebei Province in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. Then, the spatial correlation was analyzed using the global and local Moran’s I. Finally, the regional differences and spatiotemporal patterns were analyzed using a spatial gravity center model and kernel density estimation. The results are as follows: (1) In 11 cities, the comprehensive evaluation index of the WLF and of each subsystem shows a fluctuating upward trend. More than 95% of the counties’ comprehensive evaluation indices improved, and the difference between counties in the north and south narrowed after 2010. (2) The spatial pattern of the WLF in counties has evolved from a pattern of “high in the south and low in the north” to “high in the north and low in the south”, with the development speed of the north being higher than that of the south. (3) The coupling coordination degree of the WLF has a positive spatial autocorrelation relationship in different counties; however, the spatial connection eventually deteriorates, and the geographic pattern exhibits “agglomeration decrease” characteristics. In Hebei Province, the WLF coupling coordination rate slowly improves, and there is a significant development gap between counties. Therefore, local conditions should be taken into consideration when implementing measures to reduce the conflict between water, land, and food in actual regional conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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18 pages, 2098 KiB  
Article
WEF Nexus Policy Review of Four Mediterranean Countries
by Davide Bazzana, Nicola Comincioli, Cristina El Khoury, Fernando Nardi and Sergio Vergalli
Land 2023, 12(2), 473; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020473 - 14 Feb 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2816
Abstract
The Water–Energy–Food (WEF) nexus describes natural resource use in the context of social needs and economic development, addressing food, water, and energy security. Population growth and rising economic prosperity will increase the demand for energy, food, and water in the Mediterranean region, compromising [...] Read more.
The Water–Energy–Food (WEF) nexus describes natural resource use in the context of social needs and economic development, addressing food, water, and energy security. Population growth and rising economic prosperity will increase the demand for energy, food, and water in the Mediterranean region, compromising the sustainable use of resources. As governments are required to make decisions in order to cope with increasing demands for resources, this paper performs a review of the legislation and WEF policies, identifying the main political and institutional actors involved and the possible policy (in)coherence in four MED countries located on two continents: Egypt, Italy, Spain, and Tunisia. This choice will allow the identification of the barriers and catalysts influencing the implementation of WEF policies and will improve our understanding of the WEF trade-offs and synergies by exploring them on national, regional, and local scales. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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19 pages, 4727 KiB  
Article
Threats in Water–Energy–Food–Land Nexus by the 2022 Military and Economic Conflict
by G.-Fivos Sargentis, Nikos D. Lagaros, Giuseppe Leonardo Cascella and Demetris Koutsoyiannis
Land 2022, 11(9), 1569; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091569 - 14 Sep 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5103
Abstract
The formation of societies is based on the dynamics of spatial clustering, which optimizes economies of scale in the management of the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus. Energy and food are determinant measures of prosperity. Using the WEF nexus as an indicator, we evaluate the [...] Read more.
The formation of societies is based on the dynamics of spatial clustering, which optimizes economies of scale in the management of the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus. Energy and food are determinant measures of prosperity. Using the WEF nexus as an indicator, we evaluate the social impacts of the current (2022) conflict and in particular the economic sanctions on Russia. As Russia and Ukraine are major global suppliers of energy sources, food, and fertilizers, new threats arise by their limitations and the rally of prices. By analyzing related data, we show the dramatic effects on society, and we note that cities, which depend on a wider area for energy and food supplies, are extremely vulnerable. This problem was substantially worsened due to the large-scale urbanization in recent decades, which increased the distance from food sources. We conjecture that the Western elites’ decision to sanction Russia dramatically transformed the global WEF equilibrium, which could probably lead to the collapse of social cohesion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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28 pages, 2306 KiB  
Article
Distribution Characteristics, Regional Differences and Spatial Convergence of the Water-Energy-Land-Food Nexus: A Case Study of China
by Qiangyi Li, Lan Yang, Fangxin Jiang, Yangqing Liu, Chenyang Guo and Shuya Han
Land 2022, 11(9), 1543; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091543 - 12 Sep 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2782
Abstract
Land use change affects the supply and demand of water, energy and food and the integration of land elements into the common water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, which is an effective way to strictly adhere to the bottom line of natural resources. First, this study [...] Read more.
Land use change affects the supply and demand of water, energy and food and the integration of land elements into the common water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, which is an effective way to strictly adhere to the bottom line of natural resources. First, this study used the entropy method and coupling coordination model to measure the coupling coordination degree of the water-energy-land-food (WELF) nexus in 30 provinces in China during the period of 2006–2019. Then, the regional differences and distribution dynamics were examined with the Dagum Gini coefficient and Kernel density estimation, respectively. Finally, the spatial correlation was analyzed using the global Moran’s I, and a spatial β convergence model was constructed to empirically test its spatial β convergence characteristics. The results show that the coupling coordination degree of the WELF nexus in most of the provinces was at the stage of barely coordinated, with a decreasing trend; the intensity of transvariation was the main source of regional differences in the coupling coordination degree of the WELF nexus, followed by intra-regional differences, while inter-regional differences were small. The national, eastern and central regions had a slight gradient effect, showing regional dispersion characteristics, albeit less obvious; there was a spatial absolute-β convergence and spatial conditional-β convergence nationally and in the three regions. On this basis, policy recommendations were made to realize the synergistic development of land planning, water resources allocation, energy utilization, and food production and to balance regional differences in resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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17 pages, 5246 KiB  
Article
Impact of Long-Term Nutrient Supply Options on Soil Aggregate Stability after Nineteen Years of Rice–Wheat Cropping System
by Sunita Kumari Meena, Brahma Swaroop Dwivedi, Mahesh Chand Meena, Saba Prasad Datta, Vinod Kumar Singh, Rajendra Prasad Mishra, Debashish Chakraborty, Abir Dey and Vijay Singh Meena
Land 2022, 11(9), 1465; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091465 - 2 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2326
Abstract
Continuing soil degradation remains a serious threat to future food security. Soil aggregation can help protect soil organic matter from biodegradation; it affects soil physical (aeration), chemical (water infiltration), and biological (microbial) activities. The integrated plant nutrition system (IPNS) and organic farming (OF) [...] Read more.
Continuing soil degradation remains a serious threat to future food security. Soil aggregation can help protect soil organic matter from biodegradation; it affects soil physical (aeration), chemical (water infiltration), and biological (microbial) activities. The integrated plant nutrition system (IPNS) and organic farming (OF) options have been contemplated as a sustainable strategy to sustain soil aggregate stability under adverse climatic conditions and a possible tool to restore degraded soil systems. Results suggested that the application of plant nutrients based on IPNS and soil test crop response (STCR) including mineral fertilizers and organic manure (farmyard manure: FYM) improved soil aggregate stability and mean weight diameter (MWD) under rice–wheat cropping systems. A long-term (19 year) cropping system (rice–wheat) experiment was examined to identify best nutrient management practices. Seven nutrient supply options were applied: organic, mineral fertilizer in combination with IPNS, IPNS + B/IPNS + C to improve soil aggregate stability and MWD after completing 19 cropping cycles of rice–wheat cropping systems. Results showed that significantly higher (+31%) macroaggregates were dominant in the surface soil layer than in the subsurface soil. The significantly highest macroaggregates were observed under OF (60.12 g 100 g−1 dry soil) management practices followed by IPNS options. The MWD was significantly increased (+17%) between surface and subsurface soil. Maximum MWD was reported with OF (0.93 mm) management practices followed by the IPNS + C (0.78 mm), IPNS + B (0.77 mm), IPNS (0.70 mm), STCR (0.69 mm), NPK (0.67 mm), and unfertilized control (0.66 mm) plots. Overall, results suggest that the adoption of IPNS options, such as organic farming (OF), RDF, STCR, and inclusion of pulses (berseem and cowpea), significantly improved all soil aggregation fractions in the soil system and also offered an additional benefit in terms of soil sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Sustainable Land Management)
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