A Comprehensive Review of the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems: What the Models Tell Us

Abstract

The world faces mounting challenges related to food, energy, and water security. Modeling approaches have emerged in the last decade to address this problem with mixed outcomes across a range of boundaries, including local, regional, national, and by research agendas. This paper delves into a comprehensive meta-analysis of the literature to identify the prevalence and strengths of these emergent approaches on the agendas they were applied to, the boundary levels, nexus dimensions, and the perspectives of the social and political dynamics. The research highlights the critical gaps that remain in the intersection of the different nexus agendas. A crucial observation was the scarcity of food, energy, and water models that incorporate technology adoption and economic implementation of nexus projects. On the core dimensions of the nexus, there is an important opportunity to include ecosystems, soil health, human health, and waste as key nexus dimensions. Although it is difficult to include social and political dynamics in nexus studies, this research identified proxies including (1) stakeholder interactions; (2) the intersection of access, security, and education; and (3) trade patterns and measures of prosperity.