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Understanding and modeling the trajectories of change in broad level interactions in food-energy-water systems is incomplete when it is undertaken by researchers in isolation from those who live and work in the systems. For models and outcomes to have validity they need to be subjected to sustained development and iteration with stakeholders. This requires a paradigm shift in our thinking of stakeholder engagement from viewing such engagement as an isolated activity or part of the data collection methods to thinking of engagement as a process of knowledge generation. That process hinges on building relationships and building trust, and also sustaining these as long-term relationships through multiple elements of research design and execution. Using the case-study of a mid-size river basin we demonstrate a co-production of knowledge process for food-energy-water systems. The findings highlight the multiple and different ways in which knowledge co-production can be transacted in food-energy-water systems while also generating solutions to the use and re-use of water, energy, and nutrients at the landscape level. 

Many of the population centres in southeast Australia were swathed in bushfire smoke during the 2019–2020 austral summer. Bushfires burning during what is now known as the Black Summer was historically large and severe, and the fire season historically long. The chemical composition in the gas and aerosol phase of aged plumes measured near Wollongong, NSW in early 2020 is reported in this work. Enhancement ratios to carbon monoxide are presented for thirteen species (acetaldehyde, acetone, acetonitrile, black carbon aerosol, benzene, methane, methacrolein + methyl vinyl ketone, methyl ethyl ketone, methanol, ammonium ion PM₁fraction, nitrate ion PM₁fraction, organic PM₁fraction and PM_2.5). Observed plume composition is comparable to that measured in fresh smoke from Australian fires reported in the literature. Enhancements of biogenic volatile organic compounds such as isoprene (smoke-effected period mean 1 ppb, maximum 6 ppb) were observed along with elevated concentrations of particulate variables. Enhancement ratios reported here can be used in plume modelling of landscape-scale fires and assist in concentration estimates of infrequently measured atmospheric pollutants. The relative toxicological contribution of species present in the plumes was determined for plume exposure at the measurement site and for concentrated plumes at a population centre case study. Similar results were apparent at both locations. Contributions to the toxicological loading were dominated by respirable particles (~ 52–63% total contribution), formaldehyde (~ 30–39% total contribution) and acrolein. This is a reminder to consider the toxicological contributions in the gas phase when considering health impacts of population exposure to bushfire smoke.

 

Community and stakeholder engagement is increasingly recognized as essential to science at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems (FEWS) to address complex issues surrounding food and energy production and water provision for society. Yet no comprehensive framework exists for supporting best practices in community and stakeholder engagement for FEWS. A review and meta-synthesis were undertaken of a broad range of existing models, frameworks, and toolkits for community and stakeholder engagement. A framework is proposed that comprises situational awareness of the FEWS place or problem, creation of a suitable culture for engagement, focus on power-sharing in the engagement process, co-ownership, co-generation of knowledge and outcomes, the technical process of integration, the monitoring processes of reflective and reflexive experiences, and formative evaluation. The framework is discussed as a scaffolding for supporting the development and application of best practices in community and stakeholder engagement in ways that are arguably essential for sound FEWS science and sustainable management. 

One of the factors for the success of simulation studies is close collaboration with stakeholders in developing a conceptual model. Conceptual models are a useful tool for communicating and understanding how real systems work. However, models or frameworks that are not aligned with the perceptions and understanding of local stakeholders can induce uncertainties in the model outcomes. We focus on two sources of epistemic uncertainty in building conceptual models of food-energy-water systems (FEWS): (1) context and framing; and (2) model structure uncertainty. To address these uncertainties, we co-produced a FEWS conceptual model with key stakeholders using the Actor-Resources-Dynamics-Interaction (ARDI) method. The method was adopted to specifically integrate public (and local) knowledge of stakeholders in the Magic Valley region of Southern Idaho into a FEWS model. We first used the ARDI method with scientists and modellers (from various disciplines) conducting research in the system, and then repeated the process with local stakeholders. We compared results from the two cohorts and refined the conceptual model to align with local stakeholders’ understanding of the FEWS. This co-development of a conceptual model with local stakeholders ensured the incorporation of different perspectives and types of knowledge of key actors within the socio-ecological systems models. 

Adaptive capacity is a topic at the forefront of environmental change research with roots in both social, ecological, and evolutionary science. It is closely related to the evolutionary biology concept of adaptive potential. In this systematic literature review, we: (1) summarize the history of these topics and related fields; (2) assess relationship(s) between the concepts among disciplines and the use of the terms in climate change research, and evaluate methodologies, metrics, taxa biases, and the geographic scale of studies; and (3) provide a synthetic conceptual framework to clarify concepts. Bibliometric analyses revealed the terms have been used most frequently in conservation and evolutionary biology journals, respectively. There has been a greater growth in studies of adaptive potential than adaptive capacity since 2001, but a greater geographical extent of adaptive capacity studies. Few studies include both, and use is often superficial. Our synthesis considers adaptive potential as one process contributing to adaptive capacity of complex systems, notes “sociological” adaptive capacity definitions include actions aimed at desired outcome (i.e., policies) as a system driver whereas “biological” definitions exclude such drivers, and suggests models of adaptive capacity require integration of evolutionary and social–ecological system components.