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Nexus2020: FAQs

QUESTION SUBMISSION IS NOW CLOSED.

Nexus2020 is a project that brings together business, academics, policy makers and civil society to determine the most important questions that need to be answered around food, energy, water and the natural environment to inform business practice.

From March – July 2015 we asked people to submit questions. The next step will be in September 2015, when the Nexus2020 team will bring together 20 academics from a range of disciplines and 20 business leaders from numerous different sectors, to identify from all the submissions the top most important questions for research. The work will be published in an international research journal and will be presented at the Nexus Network annual conference in November 2015.

Tell me more about food – why is it important for businesses to consider it?
Food demand is projected to increase both because of increasing populations and trends of increasing consumption of meat and processed foods1. A major challenge exists to meet this demand (which competes with other uses of land, water and energy) without degrading the environment2. Should we intensify on existing agricultural land or should we expand our agricultural land into new areas? Will new innovation and technology help us to meet this challenge?
Tell me more about water – why is it important for businesses to consider it?
Water is a very tangible benefit provided by our environment and underpins the growing of crops for food and subsequent processing, the production of energy (both from manufacturing of hardware and for cooling power stations or directly driving turbines) and is a foundation for life in our natural environments. Water scarcity concerns are projected to increase as demand for it grows and as global climate change alters precipitation patterns and hydrological regimes3,4.  
Tell me more about energy – why is it important for businesses to consider it?
We are also expecting to increase our use of energy, particularly in non-OECD countries5. Energy production also competes with other demands such as, for example, water for cooling power stations or land for growing biofuels (instead of food crops or conserving the natural environment). Do we understand the trade-offs as we make decisions about which demand to prioritise?
Tell me more about the environment – why is it important for businesses to consider it?
The natural environment provides a wealth of benefits, many of which businesses use for free. These include the soil and biodiversity that we need to grow crops and the water that is fundamental to almost all forms of business6. There is a risk that in the short term demand for increased food and energy is provided through conversion of natural habitat without thought to the pollution or degradation of our natural resources. This is unsustainable in the long term.
Will the questions submitted be considered for funding? If so, will I be able to take part in the project?
This exercise is not a call for proposals and no funding will be awarded as a direct result of this exercise. However, we hope that it will inform the research agenda of the academic community, of research councils and of business innovation. By submitting your question you are allowing us to publish it into the public domain.
What about confidentiality and how will you use my personal data?
This is a research exercise that is designed to understand the gaps in knowledge and communication. We will, therefore, also need to collect some personal information when you submit your question(s). This information will be accessed solely by research staff working on the Nexus2020 project at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. We may need to contact you for clarification of your question(s), but contact information will not be used for marketing purposes and no information will be published that allows the identification of individuals who took part. By submitting your question(s) you are agreeing that we may freely use and publish them without attribution.

 

For more information please contact us at: nexus2020@cisl.cam.ac.uk


References:

  1. Godfray, H. C. J., Beddington, J. R., Crute, I. R., Haddad, L., Lawrence, D., Muir, J. F., & Toulmin, C. (2010). Food Security: The Challenge of Feeding 9 Billion People. Science, 327(5967), 812-818. doi: 10.1126/science.118538
  2. Smith, P. (2013). Delivering food security without increasing pressure on land. Global Food Security, 2(1), 18-23. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2012.11.008
  3. Hejazi, M., Edmonds, J., Clarke, L., Kyle, P., Davies, E., Chaturvedi, V., & Kim, S. (2014). Long-term global water projections using six socioeconomic scenarios in an integrated assessment modeling framework. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 81(0), 205-226. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2013.05.006
  4. Haddeland, I., Heinke, J., Biemans, H., Eisner, S., Flörke, M., Hanasaki, N., & Wisser, D. (2014). Global water resources affected by human interventions and climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(9), 3251-3256. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1222475110
  5. IEA. World Energy Outlook 2014: IEA.
  6. Cranston, G. R., Green, J.M.H., & Tranter, H.R. (2015). Doing business with nature: Opportunities from natural capital. Report by the Natural Capital Leaders Platform. Cambridge, UK: CISL.
Javier Delgado