Many studies examine the correlation between the use of resources such as water, energy and land, and the production of food. These nexus studies focus predominantly on large scale systems, often considering the social dimensions only in terms of access to resources and participation in the decision-making process, rather than individual attitudes and behaviours with respect to resource use. Such a concept of the nexus is relevant to urban agriculture (UA), but it requires customisation to the particular characteristics of growing food in cities, which is practiced mainly at a small scale and produces not only food but also considerable social, economic, and environmental co-benefits. To this end, this paper proposes a new conceptual basis for a UA Nexus, together with an assessment methodology that explicitly includes social dimensions in addition to food, energy and water. The conceptual basis introduces People, together with Food, Energy and Water, as a fundamental factor of the UA Nexus. On this basis, a methodology is developed measuring not only resource efficiency and food production but also motivations and health benefits. It comprises a combination of methods such as diaries of everyday UA practices, a database of UA activities, life cycle assessment (LCA), and material flow analysis to connect investigations developed at a garden scale to the city scale. A case study shows an application of the methodology.

Working paper | Rosegrant Mark W., 'Modeling water availability and food security -- a global perspective the IMPACT-Water model', , IFPRI, 2000

The increasing demand for water, energy and food, and the interdependence of these systems could lead to potential human conflict in the future. This was seen in the food crisis of 2008, which stirred a renewed interest in taking a "systems" approach to managing resources. The initial flurry of activities led to many nexus frameworks, but there remains a gap between theory and its implementation. This paper tries to look at various frameworks and unpacks the concept of nexus in order to develop matrices to help quantify and understand the interlinkages between the nexus systems. It suggests multi-level and multi-system indices to measure the health of nexus systems and to identify the weak links. It is hoped that such frameworks can be used at country level, and eventually be used to measure and rank countries on the health of their systems. The paper suggests a questionnaire that can be used (after modifying for local conditions) to collect country-level institutional and political-economy data (which is difficult to get from online resources) to be used in the framework | A. Sood, A. Nicol, I. Arulingam, 'Unpacking the water-energy-environment-food nexus: working across systems', pp.43p, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 2019

Food, energy and water are important basic resources that affect the sustainable development of a region. The influence of food–energy–water (FEW) nexus on sustainable development has quickly become a frontier topic since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were put forward. However, the overall context and core issues of the FEW nexus contributions to SDGs are still unclear. Using co-citation analysis, this paper aims to map the knowledge domains of FEW nexus research, disentangles its evolutionary context, and analyzes the core issues in its research, especially the progress of using quantitative simulation models to study the FEW nexus. We found that (1) studies within the FEW nexus focused on these following topics: correlation mechanisms, influencing factors, resource footprints, and sustainability management policies; (2) frontier of FEW studies have evolved from silo-oriented perspective on single resource system to nexus-oriented perspective on multiple systems; (3) quantitative research on the FEW nexus was primarily based on spatiotemporal evolution analysis, input–output analysis and scenario analysis; (4) the resource relationship among different sectors was synergies and tradeoffs within a region. In general, current research still focuses on empirical data, mostly qualitative and semiquantitative analyses, and there is a lack of research that can systematically reflect the temporal and spatial contribution of the FEW nexus to multiple SDGs. We believe that future research should focus more on how FEW nexus can provide mechanistic tools for achieving sustainable development.

Sustainability scholars increasingly recognise that environmental and security challenges that societies face today cannot be understood in isolation from one another. The rising popularity of a nexus approach to water–energy–food–environmental security analysis reflects this trend. Yet, little is known about exactly how previously disconnected scholarship on water security, energy security, food security and environmental security have converged in this way—and how this convergence can become more holistic and analytically meaningful. This paper outlines major conceptual turns within the literature on these four concepts and reflects on the use of nexus analysis in sustainability science as well as ways forward from where we currently stand. A salient finding is that while a nexus approach suggests more integrated analyses, there is still a tendency for siloed approaches focussed on how, for example, water security connects to energy and food security rather than truly integrated approaches.

Conference Paper | Rosegrant Mark W. et al., 'Water and food in the bioeconomy Challenges and opportunities for development', Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the International Association of Agricultural Economists , IFPRI, 2012

Asia accounts for 70% of the world's irrigated area and is home to some of the oldest and largest irrigation schemes. While these irrigation schemes played an important role in ensuring food security for billions of people in the past, their current state of affairs leaves much to be desired. This paper takes forward the IWMI-FAO-ADB (Asian Development Bank) recommendation of a five pronged approach for revitalizing Asia's irrigation and provides a region specific road map for doing this. The underlying principle of these multiple strategies is the belief that the public institutions at the heart of irrigation management in Asia need to give up comfortable rigidity and engage with individual users' needs and the demands placed by larger societal chang | Aditi Mukherji et al., 'Growing more food with less water: how can revitalizing Asia's irrigation help?', 2014

Use of non-degradable plastics in food packaging is alarming for the environment as they are often thrown away after short consumption. Though papers are replacing plastics in different sectors, their low water resistance limits their use in food packaging. in the past, water-resistant papers have been fabricated, but the natural degradability of the paper has been compensated. This study proposes water-resistant yet biodegradable papers from naturally abundant wastes, such as banana plant (BP) and water hyacinth (WH) and validates their properties for practical packaging uses. The resources were completely used, avoiding generation of any in-process biomass residue. This study for the first time reports the impact of ethyl cellulose (EC) coating (∼10 μm) on paper surfaces. The morphology and chemical analysis of the coated papers confirmed the consistent formation of EC layer on paper surfaces. The presence of EC significantly reduced the vapour transmission (22–30%) and moisture content (6–11%) of the papers. Water drops were stable on the coated surfaces at least for 20 min and then were wiped off leaving a dry surface. EC coating considerably increased the tensile index, i.e., 13–17% for BP and 20–35% for WH, though elongation and modulus properties remained almost unchanged. All the papers showed ultraviolet (UV)-resistance, while the coated papers were more transparent in the visible light region. Overall results confirmed the potential of the proposed EC-coated papers as a promising alternative to single-use plastics in food packaging.

Simon E. Cook et al., 'Multiple use of upper catchments: toward a research agenda for Subtheme Two of the Challenge Program on water and food. Challenge Program on Water and Food background paper 2', 2014

Aditi Mukherji, T. Facon, S David, Colin J. Chartres, 'Growing more food with less water: how can revitalizing Asia?s irrigation help?', 2014 | Irrigation has always played a central role in the agrarian economy of Asia, from supporting famed hydraulic civilizations in the ancient past to spearheading Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s,. Asia accounts for 70% of the world?s irrigated area and is home to some of the oldest and largest irrigation schemes. While these irrigation schemes played an important role in ensuring food security for billions of people in the past, their current state of affairs leaves much to be desired. The purpose of this paper is analyze the current trends in irrigation in Asia and suggest ways and means for revitalizing irrigation for meeting our future food needs and fuelling agricultural growth. The paper recommends a five pronged approach for revitalizing Asia?s irrigation and provides region specific strategies for the same. The underlying principal of these multiple strategies is the belief that the public institutions at the heart of irrigation management in Asia need to give up comfortable rigidity and engage with individual users? needs and the demands placed by larger societal changes