Assessment of the Water, Food, and Energy Efficiency Indicators with a Nexus Approach and Sustainable Agricultural Management

Sustainable management of water, food, and energy resources and increasing efficiency is one of the key challenges in the field of sustainable management and development. Given climate change, global population growth, and growing demands, sustainable utilization of these resources is essential to ensure the possibility of human survival and sustainable growth. Achieving sustainable development goals requires a comprehensive and interactive approach, and resource management with an integrative perspective is a necessary component of sustainable development, where all stakeholders participate in the decision-making process and implementation of actions.This study aims to enhance the efficiency of water, food, and energy in the Plusgan watershed and develop a validated tool for evaluating agricultural management strategies in relation to the nexus of water, food, and energy security. The study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, management scenarios were identified to increase efficiency, and in the second stage, the nexus-oriented management scenarios were evaluated and prioritized.In the second part of this research, among the ۳۰ introduced sub-scenarios for improving efficiency, the sub-scenarios that involved a ۲۰%, ۱۰%, and ۳۰% increase in the area of forage maize cultivation showed positive effects on water, food, and energy efficiency indicators. After prioritizing the influential sub-scenarios using the TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making model, the sub-scenario with a ۳۰% increase in the area of forage maize cultivation had the greatest positive impact on water, food, and energy efficiency. It was identified as the key scenario for evaluating efficiency in sustainable agricultural management.

Assessment of the Water, Food, and Energy Efficiency Indicators with a Nexus Approach and Sustainable Agricultural Management Keywords:

Climate change , Sustainable Management , Resources and Utilization , Nexus Approach , Efficiency