A comparison of riverine and coastal resilience at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems

Abstract:

Food, energy, and water systems are each essential for human wellbeing and they are at risk due a number of climate and socio-economic related hazards. To combat this risk, it is important to consider these systems, and their interconnections, in resilience planning. This study seeks to build upon prior research, which synthesized how the FEW nexus had been incorporated into coastal resilience academic research. Riverine communities face many of the same challenges as coastal communities(e.g., flood events, aging infrastructure), however, there is limited research that compares the application of the FEW nexus to different environments. Therefore, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted of peer-reviewed academic literature to see how the FEW nexus has been incorporated into resilience research of riverine communities. The results of this SLR were then compared with a prior SLR that used similar criteria with an emphasis on the resilience of coastal communities. Both studies each found a total of 14 articles. A comparison of the results reveal three main findings: 1. Many studies advocate for the FEW nexus approach when it comes to resilience in both coastal and riverine locations, 2. The riverine studies focused on more rural regions whereas the coastal studies focused on more urban areas, and 3. The riverine studies considered more chronic hazards (e.g., urbanization, population increase) whereas coastal studies tended to focus on more acute hazards (e.g. hurricanes, flood events). Results suggest that FEW nexus considerations should be purposely included in resilience planning, regardless of coastal or riverine location. Future research could focus on the FEW nexus in rural, coastal locations, and urban, riverine locations to further investigate our understanding of community resilience at the FEW nexus.