Understanding Water-Energy-Food Nexus Hotspots: Holistic Multi-faceted Assessments with Localized Solutions

The challenge of meeting increasing water, energy, and food needs is linked not only to growing demands globally, but also to the tight interdependence of these interconnected resource systems. Proposed interventions to address these challenges must be multi-faceted and need to acknowledge the multiple dimensions of the biophysical water, energy, and food systems, as well as the multi-sectoral actors connected with them. Whether policy, technological, or social interventions are considered, these need to be localized and contextualized. In addition to the diversity of resource constraints and interlinkages across cases, the nature of stakeholders, the difference in their goals, value systems, decision making powers, and the way in which they interact, changes from one hotspot to another. This talk will (1) explore the multiple dimensions of water, energy, and food systems, as these relate to government, business, and society; (2) identify contemporary critical questions and interlinkages across resource systems; (3) highlight the role of analytics and interdisciplinary research in addressing these questions, with sample case studies from different regions of the world. The FEW Nexus Seminar Series is supported through a Strategic Networks and Initiatives Program (SNIP) Level I Grant, provided by the College of Agricultural Sciences Office for Research and Graduate Education to advance faculty-driven research initiatives.