Water-Food-Energy Nexus under Climate Change in Sardinia

Abstract

Land, food, energy, water and climate are linked and interconnected into a Nexus, characterized by complexity and feedbacks. An integrated management of the Nexus is critical to understand conflicts/synergies and secure efficient and sustainable use of resources, especially under climate change. The Nexus perspective is applied to Sardinia, as regional case study, to better understand and improve integrated resource management and relevant policy initiatives. Vulnerability of Sardinia Nexus is assessed under several climate projections by articulated balances of resources (water, energy) availability and sustainable development goals, at regional and subregional scales, accounting for demands and conflicts among key economic sectors (agriculture, hydro-power, tourism).

Sustainable design of water–energy–food nexus: a literature review

“…Furthermore, Trabucco et al 57 explored the concept of the water-energy-food nexus in a case of study focused on Sardinia, an Italian region which was facing several challenges such as water scarcity, food security, energy management, and climate change impacts. The study identied interactions with other Nexus sectors, including feedback processes, and used stakeholder involvement to inform the development of policies, goals, and tools for the Sardinian case study.…”

“…The study identied interactions with other Nexus sectors, including feedback processes, and used stakeholder involvement to inform the development of policies, goals, and tools for the Sardinian case study. According to Trabucco et al 57 , Sardinia has a population of 1.6 million and economy primarily based on tourism (17% of GDP) and agriculture (4% of GDP). The available water resources can only satisfy 53% of the regional demand, with agriculture consuming most of the water (69.4%) and urban (25.4%) and industry (5.2%) using the rest.…”

“…The model for Sardinia runs simulations from 2010 up to 2050 under different climate scenarios with a total of 73 variables accounting for each nexus sector and the interlinkages between them. According to Trabucco et al 57 , this model provides a reasonably accurate representation of the nexus in Sardinia, offering useful insights for policy decision-making in light of climate change. The results obtained by Trabucco et al 57 indicated that the energy generation is predicted to decrease by about 20% in 2030, primarily due to a reduction in fossil-based energy generation that is not entirely offset by greener energy sources.…”

“…According to Trabucco et al 57 , this model provides a reasonably accurate representation of the nexus in Sardinia, offering useful insights for policy decision-making in light of climate change. The results obtained by Trabucco et al 57 indicated that the energy generation is predicted to decrease by about 20% in 2030, primarily due to a reduction in fossil-based energy generation that is not entirely offset by greener energy sources. Despite the decrease, the generation is expected to match consumption every month.…”

The Nexus Concept Integrating Energy and Resource Efficiency for Policy Assessments: A Comparative Approach from Three Cases

“…In a way, this is similar to the conceptual thinking of non-programmers, as reflected by conceptual models. Each SDM model consists of (i) stocks/compartments (levels-state variables), (ii) connectors (arrows), (iii) flows or influences (rates), (iv) converters (auxiliaries/parameters), and (v) decision processes (priorities, allocation and relations) [10,11].…”