IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agisys/v231y2026ics0308521x25002719.html

Deciphering water-energy-food synergies through a multi-level symbiosis framework: Insights from the Yellow River Basin

Author

Listed:
  • Han, Xinxueqi
  • Hua, En
  • Cao, Xinchun
  • Engel, Bernie A.
  • Sun, Shikun
  • Wang, Yubao

Abstract

Sustainable management of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus is challenged by resource scarcity, environmental pressures, and fragmented governance. Despite progress in understanding WEF, gaps remain in quantifying multi-dimensional synergies and trade-offs.

Suggested Citation

  • Han, Xinxueqi & Hua, En & Cao, Xinchun & Engel, Bernie A. & Sun, Shikun & Wang, Yubao, 2026. "Deciphering water-energy-food synergies through a multi-level symbiosis framework: Insights from the Yellow River Basin," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:231:y:2026:i:c:s0308521x25002719
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104531
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X25002719
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104531?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ingrid Boas & Frank Biermann & Norichika Kanie, 2016. "Cross-sectoral strategies in global sustainability governance: towards a nexus approach," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 449-464, June.
    2. Hua, En & Wang, Xinyu & Engel, Bernie A. & Qian, Haiyang & Sun, Shikun & Wang, Yubao, 2021. "Water competition mechanism of food and energy industries in WEF Nexus: A case study in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    3. Duan, Yiduo & Wang, Wei & Zhuo, La & Liu, Yilin & Wu, Pute, 2024. "Regional blue and green water-saving potential and regulation paths for crop production: A case study in the Yellow River Basin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    4. Molden, David & Oweis, Theib & Steduto, Pasquale & Bindraban, Prem & Hanjra, Munir A. & Kijne, Jacob, 2010. "Improving agricultural water productivity: Between optimism and caution," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 528-535, April.
    5. Hua, En & Han, Xinxueqi & Bai, Yawen & Engel, Bernard A. & Li, Xin & Sun, Shikun & Wang, Yubao, 2023. "Synergy of water use in water-energy-food nexus from a symbiosis perspective: A case study in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    6. Appelbaum, Elie, 2021. "Improving the efficacy of carbon tax policies," Journal of Government and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(C).
    7. Barker, Randolph & Dawe, D. & Inocencio, A., 2003. "Economics of water productivity in managing water for agriculture," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    8. Liu, Yating & Chen, Bin, 2020. "Water-energy scarcity nexus risk in the national trade system based on multiregional input-output and network environ analyses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    9. Zhai, Haibo & Rubin, Edward S. & Grol, Eric J. & O'Connell, Andrew C. & Wu, Zitao & Lewis, Eric G., 2022. "Dry cooling retrofits at existing fossil fuel-fired power plants in a water-stressed region: Tradeoffs in water savings, cost, and capacity shortfalls," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    10. Zisopoulou, Kalomoira & Karalis, Sofia & Koulouri, Maria-Eleni & Pouliasis, George & Korres, Euaggelos & Karousis, Antonios & Triantafilopoulou, Emmanuella & Panagoulia, Dionysia, 2018. "Recasting of the WEF Nexus as an actor with a new economic platform and management model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 123-139.
    11. Marian Chertow & John Ehrenfeld, 2012. "Organizing Self‐Organizing Systems," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 16(1), pages 13-27, February.
    12. Shen Yilin & Guo Ying & Guo Yuanyuan & Wu Lanzhen & Shen Yanjun, 2024. "Evaluating water resources sustainability of water-scarcity basin from a scope of WEF-Nexus decomposition: the case of Yellow River Basin," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 29583-29603, November.
    13. Tu, Yan & Zhou, Xiaoyang & Gang, Jun & Liechty, Merrill & Xu, Jiuping & Lev, Benjamin, 2015. "Administrative and market-based allocation mechanism for regional water resources planning," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 156-173.
    14. Abbas Afshar & Elham Soleimanian & Hossein Akbari Variani & Masoud Vahabzadeh & Amir Molajou, 2022. "The conceptual framework to determine interrelations and interactions for holistic Water, Energy, and Food Nexus," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(8), pages 10119-10140, August.
    15. Raphael Slade & Ausilio Bauen & Robert Gross, 2014. "Global bioenergy resources," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(2), pages 99-105, February.
    16. Naidoo, Dhesigen & Nhamo, Luxon & Mpandeli, Sylvester & Sobratee, Nafisa & Senzanje, Aidan & Liphadzi, Stanley & Slotow, Rob & Jacobson, Michael & Modi, Albert T. & Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe, 2021. "Operationalising the water-energy-food nexus through the theory of change," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    17. D'Odorico, Paolo & Dell'Angelo, Jampel & Cristina Rulli, Maria, 2024. "Appropriation pathways of water grabbing," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    18. Duan, Cuncun & Chen, Bin, 2020. "Driving factors of water-energy nexus in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    19. Liu, Haijun & Wang, Xuming & Zhang, Xian & Zhang, Liwei & Li, Yan & Huang, Guanhua, 2017. "Evaluation on the responses of maize (Zea mays L.) growth, yield and water use efficiency to drip irrigation water under mulch condition in the Hetao irrigation District of China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 144-157.
    20. Han, Xinxueqi & Hua, En & Engel, Bernie A. & Guan, Jiajie & Yin, Jieling & Wu, Nan & Sun, Shikun & Wang, Yubao, 2022. "Understanding implications of climate change and socio-economic development for the water-energy-food nexus: A meta-regression analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    21. Simpson, G. B. & Jewitt, G. P. W. & Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe & Taguta, C. & Badenhorst, J., 2023. "An African perspective on the water-energy-food nexus," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 1-13:16842..
    22. Liu, Gengyuan & Hu, Junmei & Chen, Caocao & Xu, Linyu & Wang, Ning & Meng, Fanxin & Giannetti, Biagio F. & Agostinho, Feni & Almeida, Cecília M.V. B. & Casazza, Marco, 2021. "LEAP-WEAP analysis of urban energy-water dynamic nexus in Beijing (China)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    23. Jiaxiang Wang & Fanqi Meng & Li Dong & Shiwei Yu & Yu Zhang, 2023. "A Comparative Study on the Identification Methods of Urban–Rural Integration Zones from the Perspective of Symbiosis Theory and Urban Expansion Theory," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, June.
    24. Mouratiadou, Ioanna & Biewald, Anne & Pehl, Michaja & Bonsch, Markus & Baumstark, Lavinia & Klein, David & Popp, Alexander & Luderer, Gunnar & Kriegler, Elmar, 2016. "The impact of climate change mitigation on water demand for energy and food: An integrated analysis based on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 48-58.
    25. Ackerman, Frank & Fisher, Jeremy, 2013. "Is there a water–energy nexus in electricity generation? Long-term scenarios for the western United States," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 235-241.
    26. Ren, Hourui & Liu, Bin & Zhang, Zirui & Li, Fuxin & Pan, Ke & Zhou, Zhongli & Xu, Xiaoshuang, 2022. "A water-energy-food-carbon nexus optimization model for sustainable agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin under uncertainty," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    27. Guerras, Lidia S. & Martín, Mariano, 2020. "On the water footprint in power production: Sustainable design of wet cooling towers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    28. Yue, Qiong & Guo, Ping, 2021. "Managing agricultural water-energy-food-environment nexus considering water footprint and carbon footprint under uncertainty," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    29. J. S. Famiglietti, 2014. "The global groundwater crisis," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(11), pages 945-948, November.
    30. Zhang, Chenjun & Zhao, Xiangyang & Shi, Changfeng, 2024. "Efficiency assessment and scenario simulation of the water-energy-food system in the Yellow river basin, China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    31. Ghosh, Bikramaditya & Gubareva, Mariya & Ghosh, Anandita & Paparas, Dimitrios & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2024. "Food, energy, and water nexus: A study on interconnectedness and trade-offs," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    32. Peterson, Caitlin A. & Eviner, Valerie T. & Gaudin, Amélie C.M., 2018. "Ways forward for resilience research in agroecosystems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 19-27.
    33. Niu, Niu & Ma, Junhua & Zhang, Bin & Xu, Changqing & Wang, Zhaohua, 2024. "Ripple effects of coal phaseout on employment in China: From mining to coal consumption sectors," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    34. Hasanzadeh Saray, Marzieh & Baubekova, Aziza & Gohari, Alireza & Eslamian, Seyed Saeid & Klove, Bjorn & Torabi Haghighi, Ali, 2022. "Optimization of Water-Energy-Food Nexus considering CO2 emissions from cropland: A case study in northwest Iran," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    35. Patrick Arthur Driscoll, 2014. "Breaking Carbon Lock-In: Path Dependencies in Large-Scale Transportation Infrastructure Projects," Planning Practice & Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 317-330, June.
    36. Amir Molajou & Parsa Pouladi & Abbas Afshar, 2021. "Incorporating Social System into Water-Food-Energy Nexus," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(13), pages 4561-4580, October.
    37. Gordon, Line J. & Finlayson, C. Max & Falkenmark, Malin, 2010. "Managing water in agriculture for food production and other ecosystem services," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 512-519, April.
    38. Guo, Daxin & Olesen, Jørgen Eivind & Manevski, Kiril & Ma, Xiaoyi, 2021. "Optimizing irrigation schedule in a large agricultural region under different hydrologic scenarios," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    39. Hanjra, Munir A. & Qureshi, M. Ejaz, 2010. "Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 365-377, October.
    40. Davide Danilo Chiarelli & Paolo D’Odorico & Marc F. Müller & Nathaniel D. Mueller & Kyle Frankel Davis & Jampel Dell’Angelo & Gopal Penny & Maria Cristina Rulli, 2022. "Competition for water induced by transnational land acquisitions for agriculture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    41. Rabi H. Mohtar & Bassel Daher, 2016. "Water-Energy-Food Nexus Framework for facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 655-661, July.
    42. Wei Zhang & Jasmine Siu Lee Lam, 2013. "Maritime cluster evolution based on symbiosis theory and Lotka--Volterra model," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 161-176, March.
    43. Fabiana Liar Agudo & Barbara Stolte Bezerra & José Alcides Gobbo & Luis Alberto Bertolucci Paes, 2022. "Unfolding research themes for industrial symbiosis and underlying theories," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1682-1702, December.
    44. Zhang, Yun-Long & Kang, Jia-Ning & Liu, Lan-Cui & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2024. "Unveiling the evolution and future prospects: A comprehensive review of low-carbon transition in the coal power industry," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 371(C).
    45. Jianguo Liu & Vanessa Hull & H. Charles J. Godfray & David Tilman & Peter Gleick & Holger Hoff & Claudia Pahl-Wostl & Zhenci Xu & Min Gon Chung & Jing Sun & Shuxin Li, 2018. "Nexus approaches to global sustainable development," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(9), pages 466-476, September.
    46. Yuan, Mei-Hua & Lo, Shang-Lien, 2020. "Developing indicators for the monitoring of the sustainability of food, energy, and water," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hua, En & Han, Xinxueqi & Engel, Bernard A. & Guan, Jiajie & Sun, Shikun & Wu, Pute & Wang, Bing & Wang, Yubao, 2024. "Developing a sustainable assessment framework for identifying industrial water suitability: Perspective on the water-energy-food nexus," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    2. Lankford, B. & Makin, Ian & Matthews, N. & McCornick, Peter G. & Noble, A. & Shah, Tushaar, "undated". "A compact to revitalise large-scale irrigation systems using a leadership-partnership-ownership 'Theory of Change'," Papers published in Journals (Open Access) H047459, International Water Management Institute.
    3. Feng, Meiqing & Chen, Yaning & Duan, Weili & Fang, Gonghuan & li, Zhi & Jiao, Li & Sun, Fan & Li, Yupeng & Hou, Yifeng, 2022. "Comprehensive evaluation of the water-energy-food nexus in the agricultural management of the Tarim River Basin, Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    4. Kumari, Ankita & Pathania, Tinesh, 2026. "Comprehensive review of optimization and surrogate models for agricultural water resources and reservoir water management," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    5. Ren, Dongyang & Xu, Xu & Engel, Bernard & Huang, Quanzhong & Xiong, Yunwu & Huo, Zailin & Huang, Guanhua, 2021. "A comprehensive analysis of water productivity in natural vegetation and various crops coexistent agro-ecosystems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    6. Guan, Guanghua & Zhu, Zheli & Mao, Zhonghao & Feng, Tianquan & Hu, Xiaomei, 2025. "Hierarchical distributed model predictive control for large-scale irrigation canal network under water scarcity condition: A case study of the Zhanghe Irrigation District, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 319(C).
    7. Liu, Jing & Hertel, Thomas & Lammers, Richard & Prusevich, Alexander & Baldos, Uris Lantz & Grogan, Danielle & Frolking, Steve, 2016. "Achieving Sustainable Irrigation Water Withdrawals: Global Impacts on Food Production and Land Use," Conference papers 332691, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    8. Hanjra, Munir A. & Qureshi, M. Ejaz, 2010. "Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 365-377, October.
    9. Ana Luiza Fontenelle & Erik Nilsson & Ieda Geriberto Hidalgo & Cintia B. Uvo & Drielli Peyerl, 2022. "Temporal Understanding of the Water–Energy Nexus: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-21, April.
    10. Sandra Ricart & Anna Ribas & David Pavón, 2016. "Qualifying irrigation system sustainability by means of stakeholder perceptions and concerns: lessons from the Segarra‐Garrigues Canal, Spain," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1-2), pages 77-90, February.
    11. Lee, Seung Oh & Jung, Younghun, 2018. "Efficiency of water use and its implications for a water-food nexus in the Aral Sea Basin," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 80-90.
    12. Eric Njuki & Boris E. Bravo-Ureta, 2019. "Examining irrigation productivity in U.S. agriculture using a single-factor approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 125-136, June.
    13. Andrew J. Wiltshire & Gillian Kay & Jemma L. Gornall & Richard A. Betts, 2013. "The Impact of Climate, CO 2 and Population on Regional Food and Water Resources in the 2050s," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-23, May.
    14. Gertrud Buchenrieder & Wubneshe D. Biru & Vito Aurelio Cerasola & Francesco Orsini & Michael Reuter & Eleni Bolieraki & Osnat Gillor & Luna Al-Hadidi & Amer Sweity & Abdallah Oukarroum & Bouchra Darka, 2026. "Bridging policy silos: governance challenges and opportunities in the WEFE nexus of non-EU PRIMA partner countries – a systematic literature review," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 1-21, December.
    15. Kuan Liu & Lichuan Wang & Jiaqi Zhai & Yong Zhao & Haodong Deng & Xing Li, 2025. "Impact of Urbanization on Water Resource Competition Between Energy and Food: A Case Study of Jing-Jin-Ji," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-20, January.
    16. Yuan, Mei-Hua & Lo, Shang-Lien, 2022. "Principles of food-energy-water nexus governance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    17. Mohammed H. Alshareef & Ayman F. Alghanmi, 2024. "Optimizing Maritime Energy Efficiency: A Machine Learning Approach Using Deep Reinforcement Learning for EEXI and CII Compliance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-28, November.
    18. Oriza Candra & Abdeljelil Chammam & José Ricardo Nuñez Alvarez & Iskandar Muda & Hikmet Ş. Aybar, 2023. "The Impact of Renewable Energy Sources on the Sustainable Development of the Economy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-11, January.
    19. Jha, Priyanka & Schmidt, Stefan, 2021. "State of biofuel development in sub-Saharan Africa: How far sustainable?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    20. Fernández, J.E. & Alcon, F. & Diaz-Espejo, A. & Hernandez-Santana, V. & Cuevas, M.V., 2020. "Water use indicators and economic analysis for on-farm irrigation decision: A case study of a super high density olive tree orchard," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:231:y:2026:i:c:s0308521x25002719. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.