As three resources that are necessary for human survival and production, water, energy and food are increasingly closely linked. In recent years, the water-energy-food nexus has attracted special attention from international organizations and academic circles. However, due to the lack of research on its internal mechanisms, there is still controversy on whether the water-energy-food nexus can be used as a new policy basis. The internal mechanisms of the water-energy-food nexus were analysed from the perspective of industrial linkages in this paper and empirically verified by constructing an SVAR (structuralvectorautoregression) model using China’s data. The results showed that there were two forms of conduction in China’s water-energy-food nexus: the water-energy-food nexus with nuclear power participation and that with natural gas participation. The characteristics of China’s water-energy-food nexus were derived. For the interactions of the water-energy segment in China’s water-energy-food nexus, the conduction from energy to water was consistent for different types of energy, while that from water to energy varied depending on the type of energy. Food production always had a negative impact on energy production, while the conduction from energy to food varied for different types of energy. The conduction between food and the water supply was not as significant as was generally considered. Especially, the impact of the water supply on food production was weak. The order of strength intensity and the duration were also available for reference. Accordingly, a new policy basis was presented under the framework of China’s water-energy-food nexus. Both our research design and research findings are significant in contributing to understanding the internal mechanisms of the water-energy-food nexus, and the policy implications are also helpful for achieving better policy effects.

Australia is a major food exporting country. Recent droughts reduced dryland farming production and the volume of water allocated to irrigated agriculture, with a resulting decline in aggregate agricultural production and exports. This paper analyses the possible impact of increased water scarcity on Australian agricultural production and the magnitude of subsequent impacts on global food security. Using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data on land and water use coupled with a hydro-economic stochastic modelling approach, the impacts of reduced agricultural production in the southern Murray–Darling Basin, and more generally for Australia, are analysed. Changes in agricultural activity, reduction in agricultural exports and altered composition of products exported attributed to the severe 2000–2009 drought are also analysed to highlight the implications for global food security. The impact of climate change on food production is examined. The analysis shows that climate change, when modelled as the extreme case, along with other factors such as land use, will impact Australian food exports. Despite its relatively small contribution to total global food supply, Australia’s contribution to international trade in wheat, meat and dairy products is substantial and could affect global food prices. Furthermore, Australia’s agricultural exports are of disproportionate importance within the South- and South–East Asian and Oceania region, both in terms of volume and for strategic reasons. Adaptation along with investment in agriculture production is needed to maintain Australian agricultural production and enhance global food security.

The interactive water-energy relationship is a major restriction on food production in agricultural irrigation systems. Applying water-saving irrigation systems can further intensify the interrelationship between water and electricity and trigger a water-energy joint risk. Currently, there are no approaches capable of effectively assessing the various uncertainties and water-energy joint risks in irrigation districts. In this study, a novel mathematical programming method termed copula-based interval two-stage stochastic mixed-integer programming (CITSMIP) is proposed. CITSMIP quantifies water-energy joint risks in food production and provides an optimal resource allocation plan and water-saving irrigation application schemes under different joint risk levels. CITSMIP was applied to solve an irrigation resource management problem in northwest China. The results show that under a certain water-energy joint risk, planting sunflowers would be the first choice for water-saving irrigation applications. As water-saving applications have become increasingly common over time, the water-saving volume is expected to increase to [74.65, 84.46] × 10⁷ m³ by 2035. Moreover, under a certain joint risk, compared with the water risk, fluctuations in energy risk would have a greater impact on the total benefit of the system and the total consumption of resources. Compared with single water risk or energy risk management, the joint risk management results would have a lower degree of uncertainty and higher lower-bound benefits. Establishing CITSMIP can provide valuable insights into informing stakeholders to allocate resources and maximize benefits under water-energy joint risk.

Climate change may be a factor leading to increased risks of food- and waterborne illnesses from consumption of existing and emerging biological hazards. It is beneficial to develop integrated approaches to evaluate, and provide scientific assessments of, potential climate change adaptation measures to inform risk management related to climate and weather events. To this end, a risk modeling framework was created to facilitate estimations of the impact of weather and climate change on public health risks from biological hazards in food and water and to compare potential adaptation and risk mitigation strategies. The framework integrates knowledge synthesis methods, data storage and maintenance, and stochastic modeling. Risk assessment models were developed for food and water safety case studies for demonstrative purposes. Scenario analyses indicated that implementing intervention measures to adapt to changing climate impacts might mitigate future public health risks from pathogens to varying degrees. The framework brings a generic approach to allow for comparison of relative public health risks and potential adaptation strategies across hazards, exposure pathways, and regions to assist with preventive efforts and decision-making.