Dynamics of water-energy-food nexus interactions with climate change and policy options

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dc.contributor.authorWu, Lina
dc.contributor.authorElshorbagy, Amin
dc.contributor.authorAlam, M. Shahabul
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-10T20:27:26Z
dc.date.available2025-04-10T20:27:26Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractUnderstanding the dynamics of water-energy-food (WEF) nexus interactions with climate change and human intervention helps inform policymaking. This study demonstrates the WEF nexus behavior under ensembles of climate change, transboundary inflows, and policy options, and evaluates the overall nexus performance using a previously developed system dynamics-based WEF nexus model—WEF-Sask. The climate scenarios include a baseline (1986–2014) and near-future climate projections (2021–2050). The approach is demonstrated through the case study of Saskatchewan, Canada. Results show that rising temperature with increased rainfall likely maintains reliable food and feed production. The climate scenarios characterized by a combination of moderate temperature increase and slightly less rainfall or higher temperature increase with slightly higher rainfall are easier to adapt to by irrigation expansion. However, such expansion uses a large amount of water resulting in reduced hydropower production. In contrast, higher temperature, combined with less rainfall, such as SSP370 (+2.4 °C, −6 mm), is difficult to adapt to by irrigation expansion. Renewable energy expansion, the most effective climate change mitigation option in Saskatchewan, leads to the best nexus performance during 2021–2050, reducing total water demand, groundwater demand, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and potentially increasing water available for food&feed production. In this study, we recommend and use food&feed and power production targets and provide an approach to assessing the impacts of hydroclimate and policy options on the WEF nexus, along with suggestions for adapting the agriculture and energy sectors to climate change.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.description.sponsorshipScholarships to Lina Wu from the China Scholarship Council (CSC; No. 201706300139) and the University of Saskatchewan are appreciated. The NSERC-Discovery Grant # RGPIN-2019-04590 to Amin Elshorbagy is acknowledged.
dc.identifier.citationWu, L., Elshorbagy, A., & Alam, M. S. (2022). Dynamics of water-energy-food nexus interactions with climate change and policy options. Environmental Research Communications, 4(1), 015009. https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ac4bab
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ac4bab
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/21792
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherEnvironmental Research Communications
dc.rightsCC BY 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectclimate change impacts
dc.subjectirrigation expansion
dc.subjectpolicy intervention
dc.subjectrenewable energy expansion
dc.subjectSaskatchewan
dc.subjectUN SDG 13: Climate Action
dc.subjectwater-energy-food nexus
dc.subject#journal article
dc.subjectPacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC)
dc.titleDynamics of water-energy-food nexus interactions with climate change and policy options
dc.typeArticle

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