Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The food-energy-water nexus and urban complexity

Nature Climate Change volume 7, pages 233–235 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

While tackling interdependencies among food, energy, and water security is promising, three fundamental challenges to effective operationalization need addressing: the feasibility of science-policy integration, cross-scale inequalities, and path-dependencies in infrastructure and socio-institutional practices.

In 2015, the US National Science Foundation issued a battle cry with a call to fund US$50 million for the advancement of research on the nexus (interactions) of food, energy, and water (FEW). This heightened level of research interest has now been matched by multiple international research calls, demonstrating that the nexus has become a powerful metaphor used to convey the interdependencies between society and the natural systems on which it depends. Key to nexus thinking are the interactions between FEW security1. From 2011 to 2015, 291 organizations from policy, business, and academic circles were involved in FEW nexus security activities2.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Hoff, H. Understanding the Nexus. Background Paper for the Bonn2011 Conference (Stockholm Energy Institute, 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Endo, A. et al. Water 7, 5806–5830 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bizikova, L., Roy, D., Swanson, D., Venema, H. D. & McCandless, M. The Water–Energy–Food Security Nexus: Towards A Practical Planning And Decision-support Framework For Landscape Investment And Risk Management (International Institute for Sustainable Development Winnipeg, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Romero-Lankao, P. & Gnatz, D. M. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 21, 45–51 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. McPhearson, T. et al. BioScience 66, 198–212 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Global Risks Report 2011 (World Economic Forum, 2011).

  7. Romero-Lankao, P. et al. Earth's Future 2, 515–532 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Parshall, L. et al. Energy Policy 38, 4765–4782 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Owen, T. Security Dialogue 35, 373–387 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Adger, W. N. et al. In Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability (eds Field, C. B. et al.) Ch. 2, 755–791 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Miller, C. A., Iles, A. & Jones, C. F. Sci. Cult. 22, 135–148 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gibson, C. C., Ostrom, E. & Ahn, T.-K. Ecol. Econ. 32, 217–239 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Mathevet, R., Thompson, J. D., Folke, C. & Chapin, F. S. Ecol. Appl. 26, 5–16 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Wachs, M. Transportation 20, 329–354 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Patricia Romero-Lankao is at the NCAR Research Application Laboratory, Urban Futures, 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA,

    Patricia Romero-Lankao

  2. Timon McPhearson is at The New School's Urban Ecology Lab, 79 Fifth Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, New York 10003, USA,

    Timon McPhearson

  3. Debra J. Davidson is at the Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology, 515 General Services Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H1, Canada,

    Debra J. Davidson

Authors
  1. Patricia Romero-Lankao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Timon McPhearson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Debra J. Davidson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricia Romero-Lankao.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Romero-Lankao, P., McPhearson, T. & Davidson, D. The food-energy-water nexus and urban complexity. Nature Clim Change 7, 233–235 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3260

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3260

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing