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Shifting from Production-Based to Consumption-Based Nexus Governance: Evidence from an Input–Output Analysis of the Local Water-Energy-Food Nexus

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Abstract

The nexus approach is a promising method used to address issues regarding environmental dilemmas. However, effective consumption-based and production-based nexus governance strategies are not well understood. Using data envelopment analysis and China’s provincial data for 2017, this study analysed the input–output efficiency of the water-energy-food nexus by considering production-based intensity, consumption-based intensity, and the quantity index system. The results show that policies involving consumption-based intensity metrics can be more efficient, and the efficiency of both production-based intensity (0.482) and consumption-based intensity (0.682) are much higher than the efficiency of the quantity (0.378) index system. The results also indicate that province-specific consumption-based governance strategies are crucial for 30 provinces in China. Finally, three policy directions for nexus governance in China are proposed, namely, shifting policy attention from production-based governance to consumption-based governance, focusing intensity metrics on scale efficiency and aiming quantity metrics on pure technical efficiency, and localizing province-specific management strategies. This paper compares consumption-based and production-based nexus approaches, and the results indicate that a call for consumption-based approaches in future nexus modelling and governance is appropriate. This paper also has implications for China’s nexus governance.

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Data Availability

The data used in this study are statistical data. The China Statistical Yearbook (2018), the China Energy Statistical Yearbook (2018), the China Rural Statistical Yearbook (2018), and the Ministry of Water Resources (2017) are publicly published.

Code availability

Win4deap 2.1 software, which is free software, was employed to conduct the DEA efficiency calculation. All figures in this paper were mapped with Microsoft office software.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51878026), the Key Scientific Research Projects of the Social Science Program of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (Grant Nos. SZ202010016008), the Beijing Social Science Foundation Project (Grant Nos. 19GLB080), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (Grant Nos. X20041).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Urban Economics and Management, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 100044, Beijing, China

    Daohan Huang, Zihao Shen & Chengshuang Sun

  2. School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, 100081, China

    Guijun Li

  3. Center for Global Economy and Sustainable Development, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, 100081, China

    Guijun Li

Authors
  1. Daohan Huang
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  2. Zihao Shen
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  3. Chengshuang Sun
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  4. Guijun Li
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Contributions

D.H. designed and wrote the manuscript, Z.S. collected the data and conducted the calculation, C.S. drafted the methodology section, and G.L. participated in the manuscript design and drafted the discussion section. C.S. and G.L. participated in the revision, D.H. wrote the responses to editor and reviewers.

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Correspondence to Zihao Shen or Chengshuang Sun.

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Huang, D., Shen, Z., Sun, C. et al. Shifting from Production-Based to Consumption-Based Nexus Governance: Evidence from an Input–Output Analysis of the Local Water-Energy-Food Nexus. Water Resour Manage 35, 1673–1688 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-021-02797-4

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