The food‐energy‐water nexus: Transforming science for society

Scanlon, Bridget R.; Ruddell, Benjamin L.; Reed, Patrick M.; Hook, Ruth I.; Chen, Kewei; Tidwell, V. C.; Siebert, Stefan

doi:10.1002/2017wr020889

Cited by 210 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…An often overlooked aspect of the water crisis is the emergent competition for water resources between the food and energy industries, which is expected to dominate the water security debate in the next few decades (Rosa et al, , ; Scanlon et al, ). Until recently, most of the energy needs of industrial societies have been met with the use of conventional fossil fuels that require relatively low water costs for their extraction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

D’Odorico

Davis

Rosa

et al. 2018

Reviews of Geophysics

559

248

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Water availability is a major factor constraining humanity's ability to meet the future food and energy needs of a growing and increasingly affluent human population. Water plays an important role in the production of energy, including renewable energy sources and the extraction of unconventional fossil fuels that are expected to become important players in future energy security. The emergent competition for water between the food and energy systems is increasingly recognized in the concept of the “food‐energy‐water nexus.” The nexus between food and water is made even more complex by the globalization of agriculture and rapid growth in food trade, which results in a massive virtual transfer of water among regions and plays an important role in the food and water security of some regions. This review explores multiple components of the food‐energy‐water nexus and highlights possible approaches that could be used to meet food and energy security with the limited renewable water resources of the planet. Despite clear tensions inherent in meeting the growing and changing demand for food and energy in the 21st century, the inherent linkages among food, water, and energy systems can offer an opportunity for synergistic strategies aimed at resilient food, water, and energy security, such as the circular economy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

D’Odorico

Davis

Rosa

et al. 2018

Reviews of Geophysics

559

248

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Understanding, governing, and managing water resources at the watershed scale, and response to drought in particular, requires a synthetic inquiry incorporating both social and physical science approaches and analysis, which will inform solutions more relevant to real-world complexities (Ostrom 2009, Simelton et al 2009, Sivapalan et al 2012, Kiem 2013, Norton 2016, Scanlon et al 2017, Seidl and Barthel 2017. Specifically, there is a need to understand how existing social and governance systems are equipped to deal with future droughts, and how human activities, such as abstraction, irrigation, and urbanization, impact the socio-environmental response to drought in human-dominated landscapes (Van Loon et al 2016a,b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA

Zipper¹,

Smith²,

Breyer³

et al. 2017

E&S

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“…Arguably, the geosciences are lagging behind ecological databases with respect to both easy access to internationally standardized data and databases of change. For example, conflicting international data classifications for water resources (Scanlon et al, ) and soils (Oudwater & Martin, ), as well as widespread inaccessibility of country‐level high‐resolution geology data, make international comparative studies extremely difficult. Remote sensing can alleviate some of these issues (Hjort & Luoto, ), especially with respect to topographic variables (Amatulli et al, ).…”

Section: Extensions Of Humboldtian Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and opportunities for biogeography—What can we still learn from von Humboldt?

Schrodt

Santos

Bailey

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

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Alexander von Humboldt was arguably the most influential scientist of his day. Although his fame has since lessened relative to some of his contemporaries, we argue that his influence remains strong—mainly because his approach to science inspired others and was instrumental in furthering other scientific disciplines (such as evolution, through Darwin, and conservation science, through Muir)—and that he changed the way that large areas of science are done and communicated. Indeed, he has been called the father of a range of fields, including environmental science, earth system science, plant geography, ecology and conservation. His approach was characterized by making connections between non‐living and living nature (including humans), based on interdisciplinary thinking and informed by large amounts of data from systematic, accurate measurements in a geographical framework. Although his approach largely lacked an evolutionary perspective, he was fundamental to creating the circumstances for Darwin and Wallace to advance evolutionary science. He devoted considerable effort illustrating, communicating and popularizing science, centred on the excitement of pure science. In biogeography, his influence remains strong, including in relating climate to species distributions (e.g. biomes and latitudinal and elevational gradients) and in the use of remote sensing and species distribution modelling in macroecology. However, some key aspects of his approach have faded, particularly as science fragmented into specific disciplines and became more reductionist. We argue that asking questions in a more Humboldtian way is important for addressing current global challenges. This is well‐exemplified by researching links between geodiversity and biodiversity. Progress on this can be made by (a) systematic data collection to improve our knowledge of biodiversity and geodiversity around the world; (b) improving our understanding of the linkages between biodiversity and geodiversity; and (c) developing our understanding of the interactions of geological, biological, ecological, environmental and evolutionary processes in biogeography.

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The food‐energy‐water nexus: Transforming science for society

Cited by 210 publications

References 54 publications

The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

Socio-environmental drought response in a mixed urban-agricultural setting: synthesizing biophysical and governance responses in the Platte River Watershed, Nebraska, USA

Challenges and opportunities for biogeography—What can we still learn from von Humboldt?

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