Sustainable Environment

Fluxes in the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus

The extensive interactions among the water, energy, and food sectors have given rise to strategies for integrating the planning, and to some extent, the management of food, energy, and water resources. This integrated approach is often referred to as the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus, or is given an expanded name when other factors such as ecosystems, climate, land, and health, among others, are included. To date, this approach has had different applications in various contexts.

Interactions within the WEF Nexus are driven by physical, chemical, and biological fluxes and processes which, in turn, are modulated by fundamental climatological, geomorphological, environmental and genetic factors. At other levels, the Nexus is affected by government regulations, trade policies, and access to technological innovations. To optimize the WEF Nexus in ways that maximize the food and energy outputs, conserve water, and minimize environmental impacts, we need reliable information. In addition, these actions contribute to the achievement of the goals of Integrated Water Management and Sustainable Development.

The goal of this Article Collection is to improve our understanding of the range and relative importance of physical, chemical, and biological processes that drive the basic WEF Nexus interactions, and to better understand how they scale up to the cumulative fluxes of food and energy production, and water and energy usage at national or regional scales. A better knowledge of these fluxes and their variability could be the basis for discussions on national targets for the WEF Nexus.

Papers that explore fluxes between at least two of the WEF Nexus sectors (as well as other sectors where appropriate) are welcome to submit to this Collection. The interactions between WEF sectors are the result of fluxes that affect the major sectors in the Nexus. The magnitudes of these fluxes are affected by factors such as season, climate, spatial scale, etc. This Collection will assist in documenting how these processes are affected by external factors. Papers that explore WEF Nexus fluxes, how they are measured and modelled, and how they link to larger scale processes are welcome. Where appropriate, papers should offer some critique on the adequacy of the observations and models required to characterize these fluxes and provide suggestions on any gaps or problems and how these can be addressed.

Papers are invited for this collection that:

1. Explore, for different countries and climates, the magnitude and variability of annual fluxes of energy, food and water on a national or regional basis as well as characterizing trends in different regions
2. Show the role of fundamental water and energy fluxes and the consequences of their possible future changes in driving food production and the WEF Nexus in different geographical regions.
3. Assess the effects of changes in fluxes within the WEF Nexus for a specific domain that arise from atmospheric fluxes of precipitation, radiation, and thermal inputs. The significance of Variations in the state of the receiving environment characterized by factors such as soil fertility, vegetation cover, pests, built infrastructure for water, energy and transportation, etc. should be addressed.
4. Review our ability to measure and model the fundamental fluxes that drive the WEF Nexus and assess the adequacy of global and national monitoring networks to characterize these fluxes.
5. Identify important fluxes that need to be considered when land, health, forests, ecosystems and climate are added to the Nexus definition.
6. Describe and quantify to the extent possible, the fluxes within the WEF Nexus that can be modified by a) land management practices, b) energy policies, c) genetic modification, d) water management, e) technological innovations, and f) other policies/practices.
7. Provide examples of how a knowledge of interactions, processes and fluxes can strengthen the contributions of the WEF Nexus to sustainable development and integrated water management.
8. Explore the possible role of citizen science in providing data and insights into the relative importance of fluxes in the WEF Nexus.

Keywords:

1. Water-energy-food (WEF) nexus
2. Sustainable development
3. Integrated water management

­­All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is December 18, 2026.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system.

Please contact commissioning editor Kara Roberts at [email protected] with any queries for discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Richard (Rick) Lawford currently serves as an Associate at the University of North Dakota, a lead for the Group on Earth Observations’ pilot on Earth Observations for the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (GEO EO4WEF), a member of the Advisory Board for the Next Generation Global Collaboratory and a periodic consultant.  Previously he had served as a senior scientist at Morgan State University working for NASA and as the Director of the International Global Energy and Water Cycle (GEWEX) Project Office. Previously he worked as a program manager for UCAR as a NOAA program manager for GCIP and GAPP research projects and with JAXA and NASA as the lead for GEO water activities.

Prior to moving to the USA from Canada in the 1990s he worked with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and with the Ministry of State for Science and Technology in science policy, He began his career with ECCC as a weather forecaster/briefer and then worked as a research meteorologist and professional trainer.  He also had management amd policy positions for Scientific Services (Ontario region), Environment Canada Corporate Planning Group, the Inland Waters Directorate, the Ministry of State for Science and Technology, and he implemented a research division at the National Hydrology Research Centre in Saskatoon, He received his education at the Universities of Manitoba and Alberta and McGill University.

His interests in the Water, Energy Food Nexus  began in 2011 when he was collaborating with the Global Water System Project and the International Institute for Sustainable Development on the different characteristics of the WEF Nexus in different Basins and then together with several others undertook a global study supported by Future Earth on the role of science and governance in the development of the Water, Energy, Food Nexus in different regions of the world.  He has continued this interest and published reports and journal articles on the topic.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3917-7228

Guest Advisor does not declare any potential conflicts of interests in line with our Editorial Policies.