Stakeholder-supported Research on the Food-Water-Energy Nexus with three International Case Studies

The projected increasing population in cities and metropolitan regions results in higher demands of resources, i.e., food, water, and energy (FAO 2018), that are essential for human well-being, poverty reduction, and sustainable development(Hülsmann and Ardakanian 2018).There are clear interactions between water, food, and energy that may result in synergies or trade-offs between different sectors or interest groups. To address the issue, the international project IN-SOURCE models and analyses the Food- Water-Energy Nexus (FWE Nexus) in three case study regions of Germany, Austria and the United States of America. Due to the complexity of the nexus issue, stakeholders have been involved actively in the research process, whose valuable output would strongly support the decision-making processes. This paper gives an overview of the methods, case studies, and stakeholder involvement of the whole project. With the novel methods, stakeholder-oriented process, and case studies' representativity, IN-SOURCE serves as a benchmark for future FWE research.