Advanced Perspectives on the Water–Energy–Food Nexus
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water-Energy Nexus".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 76
Special Issue Editors
Interests: water–energy–food nexus; multi-objective modelling; water resource allocation; decision-making; uncertaintyrigation planning management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: water–energy–food nexus; virtual water; water management; climate change; water use efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: water efficiency assessment; water footprint; paddy field; non-point source pollution; water use efficiency
Interests: water footprint; agricultural water management; irrigation; virtual water; water use efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Water, energy, and food are foundational pillars of human survival, economic development, and ecological balance. The growing demand for natural resources caused by burgeoning population, progressive urbanization, and changing climate, security access to water, energy, and food, is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. Water–energy–food (WEF) nexus plays an important role in addressing such sustainability challenges. While the interdependencies among water, energy, and food systems are widely acknowledged, integrated management remains a formidable challenge. Traditional sectoral policies often exacerbate WEF trade-offs—for instance, bioenergy expansion may compromise water security or irrigation intensification may increase energy scarcity—while climate change amplifies these tensions through cascading risks across scales. Emerging technological and methodological advances offer transformative potential. Transdisciplinary approaches bridge the divide between technical solutions and socio-political realities. These developments demand frameworks that harmonize resource productivity with distributive justice—a gap this Topical Collection seeks to address.
In this Topical Collection, we welcome original research papers, critical reviews, and case studies that advance the WEF nexus. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Bridging policy silos: cross-sectoral governance for the WEF nexus management;
- Efficiency–equity synergies: metrics and governance pathways in WEF nexus systems;
- Climate-resilient WEF systems: adaptive strategies under uncertainty;
- Cascading risk in WEF networks: modeling interdependencies and mitigation strategies;
- AI-integrated decision support systems for WEF trade-offs;
- Circular bioeconomy innovations associated with wastewater and bioenergy.
We look forward to your contributions.
Dr. Qiong Yue
Dr. Guohua He
Dr. Mengyang Wu
Prof. Dr. Xinchun Cao
Collection Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- water–energy–food nexus
- integrated management
- cross-sectoral policy
- climate resilience
- cascading risk
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