Coupling dynamics model to explore the impacts of the water-energy-food nexus in China

As no systematic frameworks on the overall relationships in the water-energy-food nexus have yet been developed, in this paper we sought to quantify and capture the final key demand categories that impact China?s water-energy-food use. A co-operative and competitive coupling model was developed for the quantitative analysis of the water-energy-food system focused on sustainable water, energy and food production in the industrial, agricultural, and livestock sectors, which share economic activities. The results show that the consumption of energy and water has a certain correlation with grain production, which is negatively correlated and the correlation will be significantly reduced, while the amount of water is positively correlated.