Determining the impact of economic indicators on water, energy and food nexus for sustainable resource security

Love Opeyemi David1, Omoseni Adepoju2, Nnamdi Nwulu3, Clinton Aigbavboa4
1Centre for Cyber-Physical Water, Energy and Food Systems (CCPFEWS); Sustainable Human Settlement and Construction Research Centre (SHSCRC), Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
2Centre for Cyber-Physical Food, Energy and Water Systems (CCPFEWS), Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa; Department of Management and Accounting, School of Social Sciences and Management, Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria
3Centre for Cyber-Physical Food, Energy and Water System (CCPFEWS), Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
4Sustainable Human Settlement and Construction Research Centre (SHSCRC), Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

Tóm tắt

Water, energy, and food are economic resources whose security and sustainability affect human livelihood. This paper is dedicated to exploring the influence of economic indicators on the security and sustainability of these resources within the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus. The research employed a quantitative approach, gathering data through a structured questionnaire from 282 WEF management professionals in South Africa. The collected data were subjected to statistical analyses, including mean score ranking, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM) using EQS and SPSS software. The results of this study highlight the significant impact of economic indicators on the sustainable security of WEF resources. The mean ranking revealed that there is a need to understand people’s economic power for resource sustainability. The CFA and SEM analyses identify four key economic indicators that influence resource security: WEF resource pricing mechanisms, employment rates in the WEF sectors, WEF resource importation, and WEF resource exportation. In conclusion, managing economic indicators within the WEF nexus calls for strategic investment based on comparative advantage. The study provides valuable policy recommendations to support this approach.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Aaker A, Kumar V, George S (2009) Marketing research, 10th edn. Wiley, New York Abulibdeh A, Zaiden E (2020) Managing the water–energy–food nexus on an integrated geographical scale. Environ Dev 33(2020):1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2020.100498 Agumba JN (2013). A construction health and safety performance improvement model for South African small and medium enterprises. PhD Thesis, University of Johannesburg. Aigbavboa CO (2014) An integrated beneficiary centred satisfaction model for publicly funded housing schemes in South Africa. Doctorate Thesis, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Al-Riffai P, Breisinger C, Mondal AH, Ringler C, Wiebelt M, Zhu T (2017) Linking the economics of water, energy, and food: a nexus modeling approach. MENA RP Working Paper 4. Washington, DC and Cairo, Egypt: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131154 Amadeo K, Rasure E (2022) Economic power: who has it and how to get it. The balance. Retrieved from: https://www.thebalancemoney.com/the-power-of-the-u-s-economy-3306226 Accessed 14/10/2022. ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) (1999) Task committee on sustainability citeria, UNESCO-IHP IV Project M-4.3. Sustainability Criteria for Water Resource Systems. Reston, Va., ASCE Publications. Asghar Z (2008) Energy-GDP relationship: a causal analysis for the five countries of South Asia. Appl Econ Int Dev 8(1):167–180 Australian Development Cooperation, ADC (2015) Focus: water–energy–food security nexus from nexus thinking to nexus action, pp 1–13. https://www.entwicklung.at/fileadmin/user_upload/Dokumente/Publikationen/Fokuspapiere/Englisch/Focus_Nexus.pdf Bazilian M, Rogner H, Howells M, Hermann S, Arent D, Gielon D, Steduto P, Mueller A, Komer P, Toi RSJ, Yumkella KK (2011) Considering the energy, water and food nexus: towards an integrated modelling approach. Energy Policy 39(12):7896–7906 Bentler PM (2006) EQS 6, Structural Equations Program Manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software Inc. http://www.econ.upf.edu/~satorra/CourseSEMVienna2010/EQSManual.pdf Berry J (2008) Sub-regional economic development—consolidation and culture. Local Econ 23(2):184–189 Bhaduri A, Ringler C, Dombrowski I, Mohtar R, Scheumann W (2015) Sustainability in the water–energy–food nexus. Water Int 40(5–6):723–732. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2015.1096110 Bhuiyan MA, Zhang Q, Khare V, Mikhaylov A, Pinter G, Huang X (2022) Renewable energy consumption and economic growth Nexus—A systematic literature review. Front Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.878394 Blandford D (1990) Japanese agriculture under siege. Agric Econ 4(1):103–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0862.1990.tb00110.x Bloomenthal A (2022) Macroeconomic factor definition. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/macroeconomic-factor.asp Bowley’s AL (1962) Measurement of the precision attained in sampling. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Byrne B (2006) Structural equation modelling with EQS-basic concepts, applications and programming. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah Cansino-Loeza B, Ponce-Ortega J (2021) Sustainable assessment of water-energy-food nexus at regional level through a multi-stakeholder optimization approach. J Clean Prod, 290 Conway D, Van Garderen EA, Deryng D, Dorling S, Krueger T, Landman W, et al (2015) Climate and southern Africa's water–energy–food nexus. Nat Clim Change 5(9):837–846. ISSN 1758-678X Da Silva (2012). Feed the world sustainably. United Nations Chronicles. Retrieved from: https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/feeding-world-sustainably David L, Adepoju O (2021) Assessing theoretical frameworks, human resources management implications and emerging technologies on the water, energy and food (WEF) Nexus. J Digital Food Energy Water Syst 2(2). https://doi.org/10.36615/digitalfoodenergywatersystems.v2i2.1025 David LO, Nwulu NI, Aigbavboa CO, Adepoju OO (2022) Integrating fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies into the water, energy & food nexus for sustainable security: a bibliometric analysis. J Clean Prod 363:132522 Department for International Development, DFID (2007) Growth: Building Jobs and Prosperity in Developing Countries. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/derec/unitedkingdom/40700982.pdf Ding KJ, Gilligan JM, Yang YCE, Wolski P, Hornberger GM (2021) Assessing food–energy–water resources management strategies at city scale: An agent-based modeling approach for Cape Town, South Africa. Resources Conse Recycling, 170 Endo A, Burnett K, Orencio PM, Kumazawa T, Wada CA, Ishii A, Tsurita I, Taniguchi M (2015) Methods of the water-energy-food nexus.Water (Switzerland) 7(10):5806–5830 EU (European Commission) (2018) Directive EU 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the European Council of 11 December 2018. J Euro Union. FAO (2014) The water-energy-food nexus a new approach in support of food security and sustainable agriculture. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome FAO (2015) Climate Change and Food Security: Risks and Responses. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/3/i5188e/I5188E.pdf Field A (2005) Discovering statistics using SPSS, 2nd edn. Sage publications Ltd., London Hair J, Anderson RE, Tatham RL et al (1998) Multivariate data analysis. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River Haller AP (2012) Concepts of economic growth and development. Challenges of crisis and of knowledge. Econ Transdisciplinarity Cogn 15:66–71 Helland J, Sörbö GM (2014) Food security and social conflict. CMI Report 2014:1. Christian Michelssen Institute, Bergen. Hoff H (2011) Understanding the Nexus. In: Background paper for the Bonn 2011 Nexus Conference: the water, energy and food security nexus; Stockholm Environment Institute: Stockholm, Sweden. IEA, International Energy Agency (2014) Energy Security. IEA Energy Technology Systems Analysis Programme. Paris. http://www.iea.org/topics/energysecurity/. IEA. (2017) Energy access outlook 2017. From poverty to prosperity. Retrieved from https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/WEO2017SpecialReport_EnergyAccessOutlook.pdf Jacobsen M, Webster M, Vairavamoorthy K (2013) The future of water in African Cities: Why Waste Water? Directions in development; environment and sustainable development. World Bank. © World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11964 Jiyeong G (2022) Energy transition in South Africa to demand $250bn by 2050. FD Intelligence. Retrieved from: https://www.fdiintelligence.com/content/news/energy-transition-in-south-africa-to-demand-250bn-by-2050-81049. Access on 20/09/2022. Joreskog KG, Sorbom D (1988) PRELIS: A program for multivariate data screening and data summarization. A preprocessor for LISREL, 2nd edn. Scientific Software, Mooresville Kline RB (1998) Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Khan MA (1995) Sustainable development: The key concepts, issues and implications. Keynote paper given at the international sustainable development research conference, 27–29 march 1995, Manchester, UK. Sustain Dev 3(2):63–69. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3460030203 Kline R (2005) Principles and practice of structural equation modelling, 2nd edn. Guilford Press, New York Lupak R, Boiko R, Kunytska-Iliash M, Vasyltsiv T (2021) State management of import dependency and state’s economic security ensuring: new analysis to evaluating and strategizing. Accounting 7(4):855–864 Manoko T (2022) R42-billion investment: Agri gets a piece of the piece. Food For Mzansi. Retrieved from: https://www.foodformzansi.co.za/r42-billion-investment-agri-gets-a-piece-of-the-pie/. Accessed on 24/09/2022 Markantonis V, Reynaud A, Karabulut A, El-Hajj R, Altinbilek D, Awad IB, Bruggeman A, Constantianos V, Mysiak J, Lamaddalena N, Matoussi MS, Monteiro H, Pistocchi A, Pretato U, Tahboub N, Tuncok IK, Unver O, Van Ek R, Willaarts B, Bulent S, Zakir T, Bidoglio G (2019) Can the implementation of the water-energy-food nexus support economic growth in the Mediterranean Region? The current status and the way forward. Front Environ Sci, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00084 Mensah J (2019) Sustainable development: meaning, history, principles, pillars, and implications for human action: literature review. Cogent Social Sci 5, Article ID: 1653531. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2019.1653531 Mejia A, Hubner MN, Sanchez ER, Doria M (2012) Water and sustainability. A Review of targets, tools, and Regional Cases. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000217180 Mohtar RH, Daher B (2016) Water-energy-food nexus framework for facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue. Water Int 41:655–661 Mpundu M, Bopape O (2022) Analysis of farming contribution to economic growth and poverty alleviation in the South African economy: a sustainable development goal approach. Int J Econ Financial Issues 12(5):151–159. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.13429 Mukherjee S (2016) Role of water resources management in economic development. Financial Implications, Yojana, 60. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309488435_Role_of_Water_Resources_Management_in_Economic_Development Musonda I (2012) Construction Health and Safety (H&S) Performance Improvement-a Client Cantered Model. University of Johannesburg. National Business Initiative (2021) Unlocking water Investment in South Africa. Retrieved from: https://www.nbi.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/NBI_KYM-Report-1_Unlocking-Water-Investment.pdf Accessed on 15/09/2022 Nunnally JC, Bernstein IH (1994) PDQ Statistics, 3rd edn. McGrawHill, New York Ogbolumani OA, Nwulu NI (2021) Multi-objective optimisation of constrained food-energy-water-nexus systems for sustainable resource allocation. Sustain Energy Technol Assessments, 44 Ogunbayo TF (2021) An integrated model for maintenance of construction buildings. PhD Thesis, University of Johannesburg. One Planet (2019) Economic growth and Natural Resource use. Breaking-up with 'Business as Usual'. Retrieved from: https://www.oneplanetnetwork.org/sites/default/files/one_planet_network_decoupling_economic_growth_from_environmental_degradation.pdf. Accessed on 22/09/2022 Petrariu R, Constantin M, Dinu M, Pătărlăgeanu SR, Deaconu Mă E (2021) Water, energy, food, waste nexus: Between synergy and trade-offs in romania based on entrepreneurship and economic performance. Energies 14(16) Prasad S, Sheetal KR, Venkatramanan V, Kumar S, Kannojia S (2019) Sustainable energy: challenges and perspectives. Sustainable green technologies for environmental management. Springer, Singapore, pp. 175–197. Pueppke SG (2021) Ancient WEF: water–energy–food nexus in the distant past. Water 13(925). https://doi.org/10.3390/w13070925. Qi X, Li J, Yuan W, Wang RY (2021) Coordinating the food-energy-water nexus in grain production in the context of rural livelihood transitions and farmland resource constraints. Resources Conserv Recycling, 164 Rakitskaya K (2021) Water-energy-food nexus in India: a review of interlinkages and challenges for a sustainable development. Master Thesis in Sustainable Development. Uppsala Universitet. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1594579/FULLTEXT01.pdf Rehbinder E (2011) Do personal networks affect the success of foreign venture performance? An empirical analysis of Nordic firms in Poland. Copenhagen Business School. Copenhagen Business School. Sarel M (1997) How macroeconomic factors affect income distribution: the cross-country evidence. International Monetary Fund, IMF Working Paper. Retrieved from: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/wp97152.pdf. Accessed 22/09/2022 Sekaran U (2003) Research method for business: a skill building approach, 4th edn. Wiley, New York Shannak S, Mabrey D, Vittorio M (2018) Moving from theory to practice in the water-energy-food nexus: an evaluation of existing models and frameworks. Water-Energy Nexus 2018(1):17–25 Skare M, Rabar D (2017) Measuring sources of economic growth in OECD countries. En Econ 28(4):386–400. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.28.4.18502 Somiah MK (2019) An integrated competitive advantage model for indigenous construction firms in the ghanaian construction industry. PhD Thesis. University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Strange S (1975) What is economic power and who has it?’, Int J 30(2):207–224. Stoddart H (2011) A Pocket guide to sustainable development governance. Stakeholder Forum. https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/PocketGuidetoSDGEdition2webfinal%E2%80%93Stakeholder-Forum.pdf Sun L, Niu D, Wang K, Xu X (2021) Sustainable development pathways of hydropower in china: Interdisciplinary qualitative analysis and scenario-based system dynamics quantitative modeling. J Clean Prod, 287 Thow A, Greenberg S, Hara M, Friel S, Du Toit A, Sanders D (2017) Food, trade and investment in South Africa: Improving coherence between economic policy, nutrition and food security’, Working Paper 50. PLAAS, UWC: Cape Town. United Nations (2013) Ensuring food and nutrition security. Chapter IV. World Economic and Social Survey,pp 86–119. Retrieved from: https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/Chapter4.pdf Water UN (2013) Water Security and the Global Water Agenda. United Nations University, Hamilton, Canada, UN-Water Analytical Brief UNECE (2021) Solutions and investment in the water–food–energy–ecosystems nexus: a synthesis of experiences in transboundary basins. In: 16th meeting working group on integrated water resources management. Retrieved from: https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/INF%204%20Nexus%20Solutions%20and%20Investments.pdf UNECE (2021b) Circular economy and the sustainable use of natural resources: Trends and opportunities in the region of the Economic Commission for Europe—E/ECE/1495. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Geneva UNESCO (2019) Leveraging intersectorality for sustainable water security and peace. UNESCO International Water Conference, 9th January, 2019. https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/item_4.4_ihp_tech_bur_19_unesco_waterconference_conceptnote_extrashort_9jan2019_en.pdf United States National Intelligence Council, USNIC (2012) Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds. NIC, New York. Vagsholm I, Arzoomand NS, Boqvist S (2020) Food security, safety, and sustainability - getting the trade-offs right. Front Sustain Food Syst 21. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.00016 Walker S (2020) Tripple threat: water, energy and food insecurity. World Resources Institute. Retrieved from: https://www.wri.org/insights/triple-threat-water-energy-and-food-insecurity#:~:text=Around%20the%20world%2C%20water%2C%20energy,tackled%20together%2C%20not%20in%20isolation. Weitz N, Huber-Lee A, Nilsson M, Davis M, Hoff H (2014) Cross-sectoral integration in the sustainable development goals: a nexus approach; Stockholm Environment Institute: Stockholm, Sweden, 2014. World Economic Forum (2011) Water Security. The Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus. World Economic Forum. Retrieved from: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_WI_WaterSecurity_WaterFoodEnergyClimateNexus_2011.pdf Yamane T (1967) Statistics an introductory analysis, 2nd edn. Harper and Row, New York Zarei S, Bozorg-Haddad O, Kheirinejad S, Loaiciga HA (2021) Environmental sustainability: a review of the water–energy–food nexus. J Water Supply Res Technol. https://doi.org/10.2166/aqua.2020.058