The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Sustainable Development
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water-Energy Nexus".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 40727
Special Issue Editor
Interests: water-food-energy nexus; water production; solar radiation assessment; artificial intelligence; renewable energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Water, food, and energy are extremely interlinked and are basic human needs as highlighted by the Sustainable Development Goals. Globally, food production is the largest user of water. At the same time, it consumes a significant percentage of the total global energy consumption. Water is required for the conversion of energy in most of the energy systems, and energy is required to extract, pump, transport, and treat water.
Global food production, energy consumption, and water withdrawals are projected to increase under the pressure of megatrends such as population growth, economic development, urbanisation, and cultural and technological changes. Moreover, climate change and weather phenomena such as drought are substantially threatening and exacerbating the already fragile water, food, and energy security in several regions of the globe. Future projections shows that food, energy, and water consumption will significantly increase by mid-century.
Understanding the complex interrelationships between water, food, and energy is of paramount importance for a sustainable development. The concept of a water-food-energy (WFE) nexus as a conceptual tool for achieving water, food, and energy security is relatively new. Since it has been introduced and promoted, several WFE nexus models have been developed. Nevertheless, the available WFE nexus tools show several limitations such as the lack of synergy between the nexus areas. Moreover, very few models are at the stage of implementing the WFE nexus approach. Tools and data can help to better understand the nexus interconnections and support integrated approaches and policy development.
The aim of this Special Issue is to create a platform to help scientists in sharing the latest development in water-food-energy nexus tools and policies. We particularly appreciate works on datasets and databases that support the WFE nexus approach. We invite original research articles and review papers in the following topics:
- WFE nexus databases and datasets
- WFE nexus tools for the agricultural, industrial, and energy sectors
- WFE nexus in urban areas
- WFE nexus policies
- Case studies that include the three aspects of the nexus
Dr. Pietro Elia Campana
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- Water-food-energy nexus
- Agriculture
- Industry
- Energy
- Urban nexus
- Urban farming
- Database
- Dataset
- Modelling
- Optimization
- Policy
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