Bridging Land, Water, Energy, and Climate: How Integrated “Nexus” Thinking Can Make Agriculture Greener and More Peaceful

Eared Pitta

10-05-2025

First come the ideas, then comes an action plan. Never mind the planning required, he excels at this—if a plan is incomplete or not assuring enough, he would correct it. Perfection naturally calls for dedication and diligence. No matter how many times it takes him to correct his plans, he does not mind, for he is immersed in these mathematical calculations.

In “The Perfect Plan”; Wild Wise Weird (2024)

© Steven Weeks

Agriculture sits at the intersection of multiple resource systems—land, water, and energy—all of which influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A new study by Xuan et al. [1] in Geography and Sustainability develops a land–water–energy–GHG (LWEG) nexus framework to help farmers, planners, and policymakers understand these interconnections and design strategies that mitigate climate change while sustaining food security in China’s North China Plain (NCP).

The researchers examined how irrigation, fertilizer use, and cropping patterns interact to influence emissions throughout the crop life cycle—from planting to harvest. In the NCP [2], which produces nearly a quarter of China’s grain, these factors are tightly interlinked: irrigation depends heavily on groundwater pumping, which consumes energy and increases CO₂ emissions; fertilizer application releases nitrous oxide; and rice paddies emit methane. The LWEG framework captures these interactions quantitatively, allowing for detailed simulations of different management strategies.

The study assessed six management scenarios, ranging from fertilizer reduction to comprehensive nexus management. Optimizing the cropping structure—for instance, reducing single-season rice areas and expanding double-season rice areas—cut GHG emissions by 6.34%, while integrated measures that jointly controlled groundwater, fertilizer, and energy use reduced emissions by 15.38%, equivalent to nearly 29 million tons of CO₂. Importantly, these strategies lowered not only total emissions but also their intensity per hectare, supporting China’s emerging “dual-control” policy on carbon volume and intensity.

The LWEG nexus offers more than a technical solution—it embodies high Nature Quotient (NQ) thinking, which recognizes the relational intelligence between natural systems and human decisions [5,6]. By aligning farming with ecological limits, the framework fosters individual and social peace through balance and sufficiency. Reducing competition over land and water, and promoting cooperative management of shared resources, can reduce socio-environmental tensions while enhancing community resilience. In this sense, cultivating NQ among farmers and policymakers transforms climate mitigation into an act of ecological harmony and moral clarity—what can be called “peace with nature.”

References

[1] Veeck G, Veeck A, Yu H. (2020). Challenges of agriculture and food systems issues in China and the United States. Geography and Sustainability, 1(2), 109-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geosus.2020.05.002 

[2] Post PM, Dou Y, Nelson A. (2024). Effect of food value-chain connections on land-use change. Geography and Sustainability, 6(1), 100247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geosus.2024.10.003 

[3] Xuan X, et al. (2025). A land–water–energy–greenhouse gas nexus framework informs climate change mitigation in agriculture: A case study in the North China Plain. Geography and Sustainability, 6(6), 100354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geosus.2025.100354 

[4] Jin G, et al. (2019). Trade-offs in land-use competition and sustainable land development in the North China Plain. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 141, 36-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2019.01.004

[5] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028

[6] Nguyen MH. (2024). How can satirical fables offer us a vision for sustainability? Visions for Sustainability, 23(11267), 323-328. https://doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/11267

[7] Nguyen MH, Ho MT, La VP. (2025). On “An” (安): Inner peace through uncertainty, nature quotient, and harmony with Dao. http://books.google.com/books/about?id=NIKMEQAAQBAJ