Chapter 18: An accounting framework recognising the complexity of the nexus

Chapter 18: An accounting framework recognising the complexity of the nexus - Cheltenham, UK Edward Elgar Publishing 2022 - 1 online resource

Open Access

This chapter presents a structured approach to quantitative analysis of the water-energy-food resource nexus based on the multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism (MuSIASEM) accounting framework. Concerning a social-ecological system of interest, the presented approach focuses on addressing: (i) system size and state; (ii) the environmental pressures associated with a particular size and state; (iii) the level of system openness, referring primarily to the role of externalization in the stabilization of both state and pressure; and (iv) the ecological impacts resulting from a localized contextualization of environmental pressures. An integrated toolkit consisting of four criteria of performance, four data matrices and four scopes/lenses is presented. The presented toolkit is proposed to be used by sustainability analysts. In illustrating the value-added of the toolkit, practical considerations and empirical results concerning agriculture in Europe are presented.


Creative Commons


English

/doi.org/10.4337/9781839100550.00026

https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839100550.00026 doi


RND

MuSIASEM, complex systems, relational analysis, scale, openness, nexus security

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