> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/model/sectors/food.md). # Food Food in the Nexus model: production and distribution that depend on water, energy and ecosystems, the nutrition health depends on, and the teaching contexts in which food is reached. **Where this fits:** food (F) and the sectors it couples to · Labs, Foundry and Nexus Reports · GCRI (evidence and methods) · Planning and readiness preparation · model page. **In brief.** Food depends on more sectors than it supplies. It receives irrigation from water (0.8), pollination and soils from ecosystems (0.6), fertiliser, machinery and cold chains from energy (0.5) and transport to market from infrastructure (0.5). It gives nutrition to health (0.7) and drives land conversion that weighs on biodiversity (0.6). Food is never hit first in the teaching contexts; it is reached through the coupling, in drought, heatwave, grid blackout, pandemic and pollinator decline. All strengths on this page are **teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements for any place**. ## What the sector carries Food is where coupled risk reaches households most directly, through prices and diets. Because it sits downstream of water, energy and ecosystems, food security is a test of how well the other sectors are governed together. The water-energy-food nexus approach was developed for this reason (FAO, [2014](https://www.fao.org/4/bl496e/bl496e.pdf)), and the IPBES nexus assessment extends it to biodiversity and health (IPBES, [2024](https://www.ipbes.net/nexus-assessment)). ## What food gives Read from food to the sector it supports, strongest first. | To | Strength | Through | | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | ----------------------- | | [Health](/organization/model/sectors/health.md) | 0.7 | nutrition | | [Biodiversity](/organization/model/sectors/biodiversity.md) | 0.6 | land conversion | | [Water](/organization/model/sectors/water.md) | 0.3 | withdrawals and runoff | | [Energy](/organization/model/sectors/energy.md) | 0.2 | bioenergy feedstock | | [Infrastructure](/organization/model/sectors/infrastructure.md) | 0.1 | rural roads and storage | ## What food depends on Read from the sector it depends on, strongest first. | From | Strength | Through | | --------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------- | | [Water](/organization/model/sectors/water.md) | 0.8 | irrigation | | [Biodiversity](/organization/model/sectors/biodiversity.md) | 0.6 | pollination and soils | | [Energy](/organization/model/sectors/energy.md) | 0.5 | fertiliser, machinery and cold chains | | [Infrastructure](/organization/model/sectors/infrastructure.md) | 0.5 | transport to market | | [Health](/organization/model/sectors/health.md) | 0.3 | farm labour | ## Teaching contexts The contexts in which food is in play, whether hit first or reached through the coupling, with its stress after four rounds of the teaching cascade. | Context | Role of this sector | Stress after four rounds | How the sectors fail together | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Drought](/organization/model/scenarios/drought.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.30 | Low river flows cut irrigation, cooling water and hydropower at once; food prices, nutrition and ecosystems follow. | | [Heatwave](/organization/model/scenarios/heatwave.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.27 | Cooling demand peaks the grid while rivers warm; heat stress fills hospitals and wilts crops. | | [Grid blackout](/organization/model/scenarios/blackout.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.24 | Without power, water treatment, telecoms, cold chains and hospitals fall back on fuel that runs out. | | [Pandemic](/organization/model/scenarios/pandemic.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.09 | Workforce absence ripples from clinics into grid operations, logistics and farm labour. | | [Pollinator decline](/organization/model/scenarios/pollinator.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.15 | Fewer pollinators lower yields of fruit and vegetables, with a direct path to diet quality. | ## Observing the sector [**Nexus of Observatories**](/organization/systems.md)**.** Every Nexus platform and system includes its own observatory capability, covering remote sensing, in-situ instruments and edge deployments. Across every area where these observatories are implemented, they form the Nexus of Observatories, part of the not-for-profit programme architecture. The GCRI site describes the capability on its [Observatory](https://therisk.global/ecosystem/observatory/) page. What the observatories record about food, and under what terms, is set for each country in its National Model and its profile scope agreement. Records follow the [Nexus Standards](/organization/institutions/nexus-standards.md) published on [nexustandards.com](https://nexustandards.com/standards/), whose text and status govern. ## International frameworks | Framework | What it governs or shows | Source | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | FAO water-energy-food nexus | Food security through cross-sector governance of water, energy and food | [2014](https://www.fao.org/4/bl496e/bl496e.pdf) | | IPBES nexus assessment | Interlinkages of food with biodiversity, water and health | [2024](https://www.ipbes.net/nexus-assessment) | | IPBES pollinators assessment | Annual global crop output that depends on animal pollination; see the pollinator decline context | [2016](https://www.ipbes.net/assessment-reports/pollinators) | | 2030 Agenda (SDG 2) | End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition | [2015](https://undocs.org/A/RES/70/1) | ## Deeper reading in this documentation [Food systems (thesis)](/organization/organization/architecture/i.-thesis/viii.-food-systems.md) · [Future of Food (guild)](/organization/cooperation/nexus-guilds/future-of-food.md) ## Sources * FAO (2014). The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A new approach in support of food security and sustainable agriculture. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. * IPBES (2016). The Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production. Bonn: IPBES secretariat. * IPBES (2024). Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health (Nexus Assessment). IPBES/11/12/Add.1. Bonn: IPBES secretariat. doi:10.5281/zenodo.13850289. * UN General Assembly (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A/RES/70/1, 25 September 2015. * The model data: the "Coupled risk, applied response" section of the [GCRI home page](https://therisk.global/). --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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