Comprehensive evaluation and obstacle factors of coordinated development of regional water–ecology–energy–food nexus

• Published in: Environment, development and sustainability development and sustainability, 2024-08, Vol.26 (8), p.20001-20025
• Main Authors: Lv, Cuimei, Hu, Yuguang, Ling, Minhua, Luo, Aojie, Yan, Denghua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Annual rainfall; Barriers; Coordination; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Economic Geology; Economic Growth; Energy; Environment; Environmental Economics; Environmental Management; Food; Food consumption; Growth rate; Rainfall; Regional development; Regional planning; Self sufficiency; Social progress; Stability criteria; Subsystems; Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Water consumption
• ISSN: 1573-2975; 1387-585X; 1573-2975
• DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-03450-3

Water, ecology, energy and food are indispensable resources for human survival and social progress, as well as the core of the regional sustainable development. They are interdependent and closely related. The importance of ecology support and feedback capability has been overlooked in traditional studies of the water–energy–food nexus. In this paper, the concept of water–ecology–energy–food (WEEF) nexus was proposed. Then, a comprehensive evaluation indicator system of WEEF nexus was established from three criteria of stability, coordination and sustainability based on synergy theory. A comprehensive variable fuzzy evaluation model was constructed to evaluate the coordinated development level of WEEF nexus in Tianjin, China. And the main obstacle factors that constrained the coordinated development of WEEF nexus were analyzed through the obstacle degree model. The results showed that: from 2010 to 2021, the comprehensive coordinated development level of the WEEF nexus showed an upward trend, with an average growth rate of 4.0%. The stability, coordination and sustainability all significantly affected the comprehensive coordinated development of regional WEEF nexus. The coordination of water–ecology, energy–ecology and food–ecology subsystems was relatively low. Food self-sufficiency rate, average water consumption for energy production, annual rainfall and ecological environment index were the main obstacle factors of WEEF nexus. In summary, the nexus framework and evaluation method proposed in this paper can provide a new perspective on the basic theory and application of regional WEEF nexus.