Studying the water-emissions-food nexus (WEF Nexus) is crucial for the sustainability of agricultural economic systems. The multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model provides insights for water-emissions-food integrated collaborative management. This study develops a detailed agriculture-oriented MRIO model based on the RAS method, which disaggregates the agricultural sector into 12 sub-sectors. The water consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are allocated to the entire supply chain to identify the key regions and routes of the WEF Nexus in China for 2017. Then the environmental output level of the agricultural sector and its sub-sectors is analyzed using productivity indicators. Results demonstrate that the agricultural sector exhibits a strongly connected WEF Nexus (coefficient of 0.87), particularly in Coastal and Southwest regions. The synergistic relationship between water and emissions suggests significant opportunities for implementing integrated management strategies. 73.3% of virtual water and 71.7% of embodied emissions are concentrated in downstream non-agricultural sectors of supply chains, highlighting the substantial impact of trade transmission on the environment. The water and emissions productivity in the agricultural sector are spatially aligned except in the Central and Southwest regions. As significant agricultural output regions, Northeast and Central regions have lower water or emissions productivity, making sustainable agricultural development more challenging. Therefore, practical measures should focus on promoting technological innovation and its adoption to enhance water use efficiency and reduce GHG emissions in agricultural production.

Abstract Efficient use of water and energy is crucial in food processing. One of the major problems in the food processing is the creation of food waste. Reducing food waste is essential to fill the global food gap and help reduce water and energy gaps around the world. Also, efficient use of water and energy in food processing is crucial. Examining scientific sources, it seems that Nexus thinking can be considered as the key to reducing food waste. Proper planning and management of limited water, energy, and food resources to meet society's economic and social needs for sustainable development is always a challenging issue. In this paper, considering the two thermal power plants with coal fuel and natural gas fuel in Baghdad, the relationship between food production, water consumption, energy production, and CO2 emissions has been investigated. Considering three periods (5 years) and estimating demand and forecasting energy and food production, Nexus has been studied between water, food, and energy parameters. During these three periods, the amount of natural gas consumption has increased by 13.13%, 25.7%, and 28.79% compared to the total energy. Also, in the optimal case, the cost of the system is $ 5.65 billion.

Accessibility to clean and sufficient water resources for agriculture is key in feeding the steadily increasing world population in a sustainable manner. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) offer a promising contribution to enhance availability and quality of water for productive purposes and human consumption, while simultaneously striving to preserve the integrity and intrinsic value of the ecosystems. Implementing successful NBS for water management, however, is not an easy task since many ecosystems are already severely degraded, and exploited beyond their regenerative capacity. Furthermore, ecosystems are large and complex and the many stakeholders involved might have conflicting interests. Hence, implementation of NBS requires a structured and comprehensive approach that starts with the valuation of the services provided by the ecosystem. The whole set of use and non-use values, in monetary terms, provides a factual basis to guide the implementation of NBS, which ideally is done according to transdisciplinary principles, i.e. complemented with scientific and case-specific knowledge of the eco-system in an adaptive decision-making process that involves the relevant stakeholders. This discussion paper evaluated twenty-one NBS case studies using a non-representative sample, to learn from successful and failed experiences and to identify possible causalities among factors that characterize the implementation of NBS. The case studies give a minor role to valuation of ecosystem services, an area for which the literature is still developing guidance. Less successful water management projects tend to suffer from inadequate factual and scientific basis and uncoordinated or insufficient stakeholder involvement and lack of long term planning. Successful case studies point to satisfactory understanding of the functioning of ecosystems and importance of multi-stakeholder platforms, well-identified funding schemes, realistic monitoring and evaluation systems and endurance of its promoters.

The global research consortium CGIAR is restructuring itself to build a more integrated global organization that fully leverages its strengths and refocuses its research strategy through 2030 in service of a renewed mission: End hunger—through science to transform food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. The CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture led strategic research in support of this effort, looking into digital trends that have the potential to transform global agriculture in the coming years, the roles public-interest organizations should play in the digital agriculture landscape, and the capabilities CGIAR must have if it is to use data and digital technology to their full potential in the service of its mission. The team conducted 165 surveys with researchers and an array of stakeholders in the agricultural research-for-development ecosystem; 80 semi-structured interviews with experts in agribusiness, food companies, development funding and finance organizations, large information technology firms, consultancies, life sciences organizations and start-up firms; and 10 internal CGIAR focus group workshops. These were complemented with literature research. There is unprecedented innovation at the intersection of digital technologies and life sciences that—if harnessed and applied—can provide the tools humanity needs to adapt to or mitigate some of its most pressing food security challenges. The research points to four broad intervention areas where CGIAR can play a key role in achieving this: advancing responsible data sharing, standards, and intermediation; applying artificial intelligence responsibly; partnering to expand digital services to reach the most vulnerable populations; and developing digital trust and digitally-enabled collective action. An action plan is suggested for building a more unified, digitally-enabled CGIAR that will be able to fully develop this role in the sector, noting key capabilities in digital leadership and governance, data management and use, digital skills, engagement with a wider digital ecosystem, unified information infrastructure, and digital innovation strategy and management in support of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. | 109 pages

The global research consortium CGIAR is restructuring itself to build a more integrated global organization (“One CGIAR”) that fully leverages its strengths and refocuses its research strategy through 2030 in service of a renewed mission: End hunger—through science to transform food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. The CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture led strategic research in support of this effort, looking into digital trends that have the potential to transform global agriculture in the coming years, the roles public-interest organizations should play in the digital agriculture landscape, and the capabilities CGIAR must have if it is to use data and digital technology to their full potential in the service of its mission.