Publications

@article{Voelker2019,

title = {The role of metrics in the governance of the water-energy-food nexus within the European Commission},

author = {Thomas Voelker and Kirsty Blackstock and Zora Kovacic and Jan Sindt and Roger Strand and Kerry Waylen},

url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0743016718315110},

doi = {10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.08.001},

issn = {07430167},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-08-01},

journal = {Journal of Rural Studies},

publisher = {Elsevier Ltd},

abstract = {Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in both academia and policy. This concept draws attention to the link between different environmental and societal domains, and potentially entails substantive shifts in governance processes. As a consequence, policy-makers and scientists have started to develop metrics to make these interactions and ‘trade-offs' visible. However, it is unknown if current framings of the nexus and relevant quantified metrics either reinforce or challenge existing governance structures. This paper explores relationships between framings of the nexus, metrics and models of governance based on discussions with staff within the European Commission. Although narratives around the need for new metrics are situated in a conventional script about the use of evidence to change policy, our data indicate processes of co-production, by which the use (or non-use) of any new metrics is dependent on existing institutional practices; and will reflect dominant political orderings. In doing so we provide a critical analysis of the role of metrics in environmental governance, and direct attention to the discursive, institutional and political arrangements in which they are embedded and with which they are co-constitutive. Focusing on the cultural and institutional settings in which they are established and used, our study suggests that the question of metrics in the water-energy-food nexus needs to be explored as a problem of establishing a legitimate policy objective in the European Commission and EU policy-making more broadly.},

keywords = {Co-production, Environmental governance, Legitimacy, Narrative, Quantification, Water-energy-food nexus},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{DiFelice2019,

title = {An alternative to market-oriented energy models: Nexus patterns across hierarchical levels},

author = {Louisa Jane Di Felice and Maddalena Ripa and Mario Giampietro},

url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0301421518307250},

doi = {10.1016/j.enpol.2018.11.002},

issn = {03014215},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-03-01},

journal = {Energy Policy},

volume = {126},

pages = {431--443},

publisher = {Elsevier Ltd},

abstract = {From a biophysical perspective, energy is central to the behaviour of social-ecological systems. Its ubiquity means that energy is entangled with nexus elements, including water, land, emissions and labour. At the science-policy interface, large market-oriented energy models dominate as the tool to inform decision-making. The outputs of these models are used to shape policies, but strongly depend on sets of assumptions that are not available for deliberation and gloss over uncertainties. Taking an approach from complexity, we propose an alternative to market-oriented energy models, describing the behaviour of energy systems in relation to patterns of nexus elements across hierarchical levels. Three characteristics are central to the approach: (i) the distinction of the model's building blocks into functional and structural elements; (ii) their hierarchical organisation and (iii) the description of nexus patterns at each level, through the tool of the processor. To illustrate the model, it is applied to Catalonia's energy sector, linking production and consumption patterns. The framework may help inform stakeholder deliberation on pressing energy and nexus issues.},

keywords = {Complexity, Hierarchy Theory, MuSIASEM, Science-policy interface, Societal metabolism, Water-energy-food nexus},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Cabello2019,

title = {Relational analysis of the resource nexus in arid land crop production},

author = {Violeta Cabello and A. Renner and M. Giampietro},

doi = {10.1016/j.advwatres.2019.06.014},

issn = {03091708},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-01-01},

journal = {Advances in Water Resources},

volume = {130},

number = {January},

pages = {258--269},

publisher = {Elsevier Ltd},

abstract = {While a large number of descriptive studies have delineated the interlinkages between water, food and energy resources in the last decade, there is still need for systematic conceptualization of resource nexus interconnections. This paper proposes a theory of relational analysis of the nexus based on the analytical concept of nexus networks. A taxonomy of nexus interconnections, detailing sequential and hierarchical connections, is characterized between and amongst the technosphere and biosphere. We illustrate the use of a novel diagnostic tool with regard to its ability to integrate macro-, meso- and microscale drivers of nexus problems. We apply this framework to problems generated by intensive crop production for exportation in an arid landscape (driven by external markets) and sustainable management of water resources (driven by public policies) in a southern Spanish region. We elucidate interconnected causal mechanisms for groundwater overexploitation and profile different social-ecological patterns on a spatially-explicit basis. The proposed approach is capable of accounting for the water-energy-food resource nexus in an integrated and multi-level fashion, addressing the tensions generated by both multi-functionality and resource entanglement in complex social-ecological systems.},

keywords = {Metabolic processor, Multi-functionality, Nexus networks, Relational analysis, Water-energy-food nexus},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}