Collaborative Research:NSF-NSFC:Improving FEW system sustainability over the SEUS and NCP: A cross-regional synthesis considering uncertainties in climate and regional development

从全球的角度来看，食物-能源-水（FEW）关系可以被描述为食物、能源和水的相互关联的资源系统。随着世界人口到2050年预计将达到90亿，将需要平衡这三个系统之间的不同资源，以获得不同的用户目标，同时又不给提供这些资源的生态系统带来不必要的压力。来自北卡罗来纳州立大学、中佛罗里达大学和国际粮食政策研究所的研究小组，与北京大学和中国水利水电科学研究院的研究伙伴合作，计划为美国东南部（SEUS）和华北平原（NCP）地区开发一个区域FEW系统（ReFEWS）建模框架，并确定和量化这两个地区的FEW可持续性指标和指标。研究人员打算使用ReFEWS建模框架来帮助不同的FEW Nexus利益相关者和决策者在考虑未来10 - 30年气候不确定性的情况下，通过预测政策和发展情景来规划区域发展。这样的建模框架将有利于美国东南部地区的农业和能源部门，因为它提供了一种工具来帮助预测最佳的发展计划，以应对当前和未来的几个Nexus问题。来自美国和中国的跨学科研究小组将考虑两个研究区域，SEUS和NCP，它们在作物生产、用水和能源消耗方面具有相似的组合，但在水和能源的可用性、法规和管理实践方面存在差异。利用ReFEWS（一种连接水、电和作物生产模型的模拟优化建模框架），主要研究人员计划确定适应途径，以最大限度地发挥协同作用，并最大限度地减少两个地区FEW系统的影响。一个联合目标是进行跨区域综合，描述对ReFEWS系统的改变如何影响农业部门和特定粮食商品的价格。研究人员还将与几个少数系统机构和机构接触，以进行外联和政策调整。关于两个国家重要区域的跨学科综合将为制定白皮书提供信息，该白皮书将确定改善少数生态系统恢复能力的应对战略和适应途径。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus, from a global perspective, can be described as the interconnected resource systems of food, energy, and water. As the world's population expands to the expected 9 billion by 2050, there will be a need to balance difference resources across these three systems to obtain different user goals without putting undue strain on the ecosystems that provide these resources. The research groups from North Carolina State University, the University of Central Florida, and the International Food Policy Research Institute, in collaboration with research partners in China from Peking University and the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, plan to develop a Regional FEW system (ReFEWS) modeling framework for the Southeast US (SEUS) and North China Plain (NCP) Regions and identify and quantify FEW sustainability indicators and metrics for these two regions. The researchers intend to use the ReFEWS modeling framework to help various FEW Nexus stakeholders and decision-makers plan regional development with projected policy and development scenarios considering climate uncertainties over the next 10 - 30 years. Such a modeling framework would benefit US agricultural and energy sectors in the southeastern region of the country by providing a tool to help predict the best development plans to counter both current and future FEW Nexus issues. The interdisciplinary research groups from the US and China will consider two study regions, SEUS and NCP, which have similar portfolios of crop production, water usage, and energy consumption, but experience contrasting water and energy availability, regulations, and management practices. Using ReFEWS, a simulation-optimization modeling framework that links water, power, and crop production models, the principal investigators plan to identify adaptation pathways to maximize synergies and minimize impacts across FEW systems over the two regions. An allied goal is to perform a cross-regional synthesis that describes how changes to ReFEWS systems could impact both the agriculture sector and the prices of specific food commodities. The researchers will also engage with several FEW systems institutions and agencies for outreach and policy adaptations. The cross-disciplinary synthesis on two regions of national importance will provide information for the development of a white paper that will identify coping strategies and adaptation pathways for improving FEW system resilience.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.