Sustainability assessment of the water-energy-food nexus in Jiangsu Province, China

The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has become a hotspot in the field of sustainability science, and researchers and policymakers are now considering the theoretical underpinnings of the concept and its implications for policy practice. This requires an integrated method for assessing the sustainability of a region's WEF nexus. Here we evaluate the sustainability trends of an important regional WEF nexus using Jiangsu Province, China, as a case study. Using statistical data from 2000 to 2016, we propose a step-by-step methodological approach to evaluate sustainability and carry out empirical research to examine it. The methodology constructs a composite index, combining single WEF sector indicators and WEF linkage indicators that reflect the characteristics of the nexus. This enables exploration of differences in assessment results based on the concept of strong and weak sustainability. Such differences are obvious in the evaluation results based on sustainability surplus compensation (SSC) and sine sustainability surplus compensation (SSSC) methods. The analysis confirms that Jiangsu Province is following a path of unsustainable development of the WEF nexus. This is mainly due to substandard indicators of the water and energy systems, some of which are declining. The general approach provides a timely and useful means for the sustainability assessment of the WEF nexus. It can be easily applied in practice and provides policy intervention signals to stakeholders and policymakers in resource and sustainable development management.