The tourism industry contributes significantly to the growth of the global economy and is considered to be strongly associated with a large amounts of water and energy consumption. In this study, the tourism water footprint (TWF) and the tourism energy footprint (TEF) of 138 sectors were investigated to examine the water-energy-food (W-E-F) nexus in the Chinese tourism industry from 2012 to 2017 by developing the water- and energy-based environmentally extended input-output analysis with the tourism satellite account. This study revealed that the W-E-F supply groups consumed total 15,556 million m³ of water and 4,964 million tce of energy to support the Chinese tourism industry. The largest contributor to the total TWF is the indirect water use from the food supply group (65%), while the largest proportion of total TEF is contributed by the direct energy use from 11 tourism direct sectors (63%), most especially the air transport sector. A much larger growth of the tourism industry was observed in 2017 compared to that of 2012. The structure decomposition analysis revealed that the growth of the overall water and energy consumption of China tourism is mainly driven by the growth of the total tourism expenditure, i.e. the scale effect. It is the same case for the food supply group associated with the Chinese tourism industry. In contrast, the contribution of the changes to the tourism expenditure composition is relatively low. Furthermore, the growth in water and energy consumption can be offset effectively by reducing the water and energy use coefficient and adjusting the economic production structure of tourism and its associated food supply group. In sum, the food supply and air transport sectors play a crucial role in the water-energy-food nexus of the tourism industry. Therefore, in the future, focus should be placed on improving the water and energy use efficiency of these sectors as well as enhancing their production structures.

This paper is a perspective paper, which investigates whether the water footprint (WF) concept addresses the water–food–energy–ecosystem nexus. First, the nexus links between (1) the planetary boundary freshwater resources (green and blue water resources) and (2) food security, energy security, blue water supply security and water for environmental flows/water for other ecosystem services (ES) are analysed and graphically presented. Second, the WF concept is concisely discussed. Third, with respect to the nexus, global water resources (green and blue) availability and use are discussed and graphically presented with an indication of quantities obtained from the literature. It is shown which of these water uses are represented in WF accounting. This evaluation shows that general water management and WF studies only account for the water uses agriculture, industry and domestic water. Important water uses are however generally not identified as separate entities or even included, i.e. green and blue water resources for aquaculture, wild foods, biofuels, hydroelectric cooling, hydropower, recreation/tourism, forestry (for energy and other biomass uses) and navigation. Fourth, therefore a list of essential separate components to be included within WF accounting is presented. The latter would be more coherent with the water–food–energy–ecosystem nexus and provide valuable extra information and statistics.

Majority of landlocked mountainous countries are poorly ranked in Human Development Index (HDI), mostly due to poor per capita agriculture production, increasing population, unemployment, expensive and delayed transportation including several other factors. Generally, economy of such countries substantially relies on subsistence agriculture, tourism, hydropower and largely on remittance etc. Recently, it has been argued that to utilize scarce suitable land efficiently for food production, poor inland transport, hydropower, irrigation, drinking water in integration with other developmental infrastructures, an overarching policy linking water - energy – food nexus within a country for combating water, energy and food security would be most relevant. Thus, in present paper it has been opined that promotion of such linkage via nexus approach is the key to sustainable development of landlocked mountainous countries. Major land mass in mountainous countries like Nepal remains unsuitable for agriculture, road and other infrastructure profoundly imposing food, nutrition and energy security. However, large pristine snowy mountains function as wildlife sanctuaries, pastures, watershed, recharge areas for regional and global water, food and energy security. In return, landlocked mountainous countries are offered certain international leverages. For more judicious trade off, it is recommended that specific countries aerial coverage of mountains would be more appropriate basis for such leverages. Moreover, for sustainability of mountainous countries an integrated approach enabling water - energy – food nexus via watershed-hydropower-irrigation-aquaculture-agriculture-integrated linking policy model is proposed. This model would enable protection of watershed for pico, micro, and mega hydro power plants and tail waters to be used for aquaculture or irrigation or drinking water purposes for food and nutrition security.

The Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) covers 1.1 million km², involves six legislative jurisdictions, a myriad of different agencies and illustrates the many complexities of managing fishes, people and water. Its rivers provide water for agriculture, are highly regulated and generally in poor health. Water allocation reform is underway to improve ecological condition but provision of water for environmental outcomes competes with agricultural requirements. Murray–Darling Basin rivers and fishes are important culturally and contribute substantially to tourism and recreational fishing. The MDB has a low number of fish species, now estimated to be at 10% of their pre‐European abundance, and all subject to a range of threats, many related to water use and associated infrastructure. The MDB Native Fish Strategy takes a coordinated, long‐term, whole‐of‐fish‐community approach to address priority threats and rehabilitate populations. This strategy provides a holistic approach with many actions that complement the potential benefits of water reform.

A case study in the Solukhumbu region in northern Nepal reveals that the high number of seasonal tourists—which has doubled in 20 years—has led to growing water, food, and energy demands that have modified agropastoral practices and the use of local resources. This has induced new patterns in the movement of goods, people, and animals in the Everest region and the reconfiguration of the water–energy–food nexus. We use this concept of nexus to analyze ongoing interactions and transformations. Key changes involve (1) massive imports of consumer goods; (2) use of local resources with new techniques (hydropower plants, improved mills, greenhouses, and pipes for domestic networks) that depend on imported materials, which are newly accessible to Sherpas as a result of economic benefits generated by tourism; (3) commodification of local resources (water, hydropower, vegetables, fodder, and flour); (4) an increasing number of electrical appliances; and (5) new uses of water, especially for tourist-related services, including hot showers, watering of greenhouses, bottling of water, and production of electricity for cell phones, rice cookers, and other electric appliances. These new uses, on top of traditional ones such as mill operation, compete in some places during spring when water supplies are low and the tourist demand is high. A transfer of pressure from one resource (the forest) to another (water) has also resulted from the government ban on woodcutting, incentives to develop hydropower, and the competition between lodges to upgrade their amenities by offering better services (such as hot showers, plugs to recharge batteries, internet connections, and local vegetables). Our research finds that water is now central to the proper running of the tourist industry and the region's economy but is under seasonal pressure.