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GCRI · Global challenges

Water, energy, food, health and nature

Water, energy, food, health and nature keep people alive and economies running. Energy pumps and treats water. Water cools power plants and grows food. Healthy ecosystems regulate water and disease. Health systems need all of them. The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) studies the five together as the core of the integrated approach, each with an established platform. Part of global challenges.

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01Register

Water, energy, food, health and nature on the record.

The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation
  1. 01InstitutionThe Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
  2. 02The five systemsOne coupled core, five specialist communities
  3. 03CouplingsThe physical links between the five systems, with the quantities that carry them
  4. 04How the core failsFailure modes that only show when the five are read together
  5. 05Methods and dataHow nexus analysis is done, and what the data can carry
  6. 06GCRI’s partFive platforms, one evidence standard, and where findings are designed to go
  7. 07Why togetherSingle-sector plans can move risk instead of reducing it
02The five systems

One coupled core, five specialist communities.

SystemDepends onSpecialist platform
WaterRainfall and groundwater, ecosystems that regulate flow, energy for pumping and treatmentWater Nexus
EnergyWater for cooling and hydropower, fuels and minerals, digital controlEnergy Nexus
FoodWater, soils and pollinators, fertiliser and fuel, ports and cold chainsFood Nexus
HealthClean water and sanitation, reliable power, medical supply chains, a healthy environmentHealth Nexus
NatureLand-use choices, water flows, climate and pollution levelsBiodiversity Nexus

The five field platforms are established and published by GCRI at their current addresses.

03Geography

Water now worldwide.

Land cover, plant growth and population density across the world, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 3

Water now, for this page

About this layer
Evidence
Modelled (latest year GIBS publishes)
Source
MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1) (NASA LP DAAC)
Provider
NASA LP DAAC
Licence
NASA open data
Vintage
yearly; Satellite classification; latest year GIBS publishes
Newest at build
2024-01-01
Resolution
about 500 m grid
Uncertainty
Satellite land cover classes for the year shown, including croplands; a classification with known errors, not a farm register.
Reached through
gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
Evidence
Modelled (latest 8-day period GIBS publishes)
Source
MODIS Aqua GPP (MYD17) (NASA LP DAAC)
Provider
NASA LP DAAC
Licence
NASA open data
Vintage
8-day; Satellite-driven model; latest 8-day period GIBS publishes
Newest at build
2026-09-30
Resolution
about 500 m grid
Uncertainty
Model estimate of carbon taken up by plants over the 8-day period shown; an indicator of growth, not harvest or production.
Reached through
gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
Evidence
Estimated
Source
Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University))
Provider
NASA SEDAC (CIESIN, Columbia University)
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Vintage
null; Census-based estimate, static (2020)
Resolution
about 1 km grid
Uncertainty
Census-based estimate of people per square kilometre in 2020, shown as exposure context; not a count of people affected by any hazard.
Reached through
gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
Evidence
Observed (clouds leave gaps)
Source
VIIRS Global Flood Product (NASA LANCE)
Provider
NASA LANCE
Licence
NASA open data
Vintage
daily; Satellite detection; clouds leave gaps
Newest at build
2026-10-14
Resolution
about 250 m grid
Uncertainty
Satellite detection; clouds leave gaps. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
Reached through
gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
Evidence
Observed (clouds leave gaps)
Source
MODIS Terra NDVI (NASA LANCE)
Provider
NASA LANCE
Licence
NASA open data
Vintage
daily; Satellite index; clouds leave gaps
Newest at build
2026-10-13
Resolution
about 250 m grid
Uncertainty
Satellite greenness index over the 8 days to the date shown; an indicator of crop and pasture condition, not a yield estimate or a food security warning.
Reached through
gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
Evidence
Modelled
Source
SMAP Level 4 (NASA NSIDC DAAC)
Provider
NASA NSIDC DAAC
Licence
NASA open data
Vintage
daily; Model with satellite data assimilated
Newest at build
2026-10-11
Resolution
about 2 km grid
Uncertainty
Model with satellite data assimilated. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
Reached through
gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Water now, framed on the world.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERTSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • SMAP Level 4 soil moisture and snow mass, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • Observed (EO): NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
  • Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
  • Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (14 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
  • Gross primary production, 8-day total: MODIS Aqua GPP (MYD17), NASA LP DAAC · 30 Sep 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Vegetation greenness (NDVI), rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra NDVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Root-zone soil moisture, 0 to 100 cm: SMAP Level 4, NASA NSIDC DAAC · 11 Oct 2026

04Couplings

The physical links between the five systems, with the quantities that carry them.

The water-energy-food nexus entered policy through the Bonn 2011 conference and FAO’s 2014 framing; the IPBES Nexus Assessment of 2024 widened it to biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change. Each link below is a physical or biological flow that can be measured.

LinkHow it worksQuantity and unit
Water for energyThermal plants withdraw cooling water; hydropower depends on inflow and storageWithdrawal and consumption in cubic metres per megawatt-hour; reservoir storage in cubic hectometres
Energy for waterPumping, desalination, treatment and distribution draw electricityEnergy intensity in kilowatt-hours per cubic metre delivered
Water for foodIrrigation and livestock use most freshwater withdrawals in many basinsWithdrawal in cubic kilometres per year; crop water productivity in kilograms per cubic metre
Energy for foodFertiliser synthesis, mechanisation, processing and cold chainsEnergy per tonne of product; natural gas per tonne of ammonia
Nature for water and healthWetlands and forests regulate flow and quality; habitat change alters disease transmissionEcosystem extent and condition under the UN SEEA Ecosystem Accounting; zoonotic spillover events recorded
All five for healthSafe water, power for hospitals and cold chains, diets and a stable disease ecologyPopulation using safely managed water services; health facilities with reliable electricity
05Twin and cascade simulator

Model water, energy, food, health and nature as a system. Run the cascade.

Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Global and systemic risk: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.

Hazards

  • Dam failure
  • Financial contagion
  • River flood (set off downstream)
  • Flash flood (set off downstream)
  • Mass displacement (set off downstream)
  • Widespread power outage (set off downstream)
  • Water supply shortfall (set off downstream)
  • Sovereign debt crisis (set off downstream)
  • Currency crisis (set off downstream)

Controls

  • NS-0 Constitution and principles
  • NS-3 Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)
  • NS-9 Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)
  • NS-10 Policies and clauses (machine-readable obligations: definition, binding, evaluation and enforcement)
  • NS-11 Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)
  • NS-14 Conformance and crosswalk to external standards
  • NRS-H120 Hazard family: Structural fragility of interconnected systems (NHS-1 sys.fragility)
  • NRS-C6 Systemic and cascading risk
  • NRS-H61 Hazard family: Cascading failure (NHS-1 sys.cascade)
  • NRS-H62 Hazard family: Compound and multi-hazard events (NHS-1 sys.compound)
  • NRS-H94 Hazard family: Systemic cyber events (NHS-1 cyber.systemic-cyber)
  • NRS-H60 Hazard family: Supply-chain and flow disruption (NHS-1 sys.supply-chain)

Observation

  • INFORM Risk Index (listed for reference)
  • World Bank Open Data and World Development Indicators API (listed for reference)
  • IMF data services (WEO, IFS, FSI via SDMX) (listed for reference)
  • Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global GDP
  • Macroeconomic Dashboard

Example geography

  • Bangladesh: 134 hexagonal cells
  • Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
  • Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
  • Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
  • Surface soil moisture (SMAP), NASA GIBS
06How the core fails

Failure modes that only show when the five are read together.

  • Synchronous stress. A hot, dry season can lower river flows, warm cooling water, raise power demand and cut crop yields in the same weeks. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report treats such compound events as a growing share of climate risk.
  • Displaced risk. Groundwater pumping subsidised to secure harvests can deplete the aquifer a city depends on; a biofuel mandate can raise food prices; a dam built for power can reshape fisheries downstream.
  • Common inputs. Electricity and diesel sit underneath water treatment, irrigation, cold chains and clinics, so a fuel or grid shock reaches all five.
  • Slow erosion. Soil loss, aquifer decline and habitat loss reduce buffers for years before a shock exposes them. Richardson and colleagues reported in 2023 that six of nine planetary boundaries are transgressed, which is a statement about lost buffers, not a forecast of collapse.
07Risk and response

Coupled risk, applied response.

The sectors drought touches and how strongly they depend on each other: what a study has to observe and model together.

Choose a context

ACoupled risk across six sectors10 / 15 relations

Sectors · DroughtStress

Illustrative: a teaching cascade over teaching values, not measurements.
BApplied response across six pillars18 / 18 handoffs

Pillars · DroughtKPI

Illustrative applications; the values are published benchmarks, cited in the readout.

In this contextDependence or handoff, heavier is strongerOutside this context

Context

Drought

Low river flows cut irrigation, cooling water and hydropower at once; food prices, nutrition and ecosystems follow.

W · E · I · F · H · B

Risk

Sectors
5 of 6
Relations
10 of 15
Coupling
0.68 share of total

Hover a corner, a line or a row to trace it across both sides.

Route

Applied to drought

L · F · U · S · R · A

Response

Pillars
6 of 6
Handoffs
18 of 18
Loops
17 closed

Expected value

What is at stake
–no published benchmark
Return on resilience
$7.1Tnet benefitsGlobal Commission on Adaptation, Adapt Now, 2019
Avoided loss
–no published benchmark

Hover a pillar, a line or a row to read how it is applied.

A: a teaching cascade (shock 0.6, gain 0.35, four rounds) over teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements. B: illustrative applications and the KPI each pillar answers for; values are published benchmarks, cited, not forecasts. Open events: NASA EONET, live.

08Methods and data

How nexus analysis is done, and what the data can carry.

ApproachUseLimit
Integrated assessment of basin systems (water allocation, power dispatch and crop models linked)Trade-offs between irrigation, hydropower, cooling and environmental flowsLinking models multiplies uncertainty; results are scenario evidence, not plans
Natural capital and ecosystem accounts (UN SEEA)Extent, condition and services of ecosystems in national accounts termsAccounts exist for a minority of countries; condition indicators differ
Material and energy flow accountingWhere water and energy are embodied in traded foodCoefficients are averages; local practice can differ widely
One Health surveillance integrationLinking human, animal and environmental signals of diseaseSurveillance systems are run separately and share data unevenly

Primary series come from the custodians. Water: UN-Water and FAO AQUASTAT. Energy access: the Tracking SDG 7 partners. Food: FAOSTAT and the annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. Health: WHO. Biodiversity: the CBD monitoring framework. Each is published with its own lag and gaps, and the domain pages say which.

09GCRI’s part

Five platforms, one evidence standard, and where findings are designed to go.

GCRI runs one established platform for each system: Water Nexus, Energy Nexus, Food Nexus, Health Nexus and Biodiversity Nexus. They share one rule for evidence labels and one place for methods, so a finding about a basin can be read by the energy and health teams without translation. National agendas, data and decisions stay national; GCRI helps a country see its couplings, and the country decides what to do.

Cross-system findings are designed for the Country Systems Risk and Resilience series and the Global Sector Risk and Resilience series. Contributions that help most are basin or district case material with sources, local measurements that fill a gap in the custodians’ series, and challenges to an assumed coupling.

10Why together

Single-sector plans can move risk instead of reducing it.

Trade-offs

One gain, another cost

Irrigation expansion can raise food output while drawing down aquifers that cities and power plants rely on.

Co-benefits

One action, several gains

Restoring a watershed can reduce flood peaks, protect water quality and support livelihoods at once.

Common failure

One shock, several systems

A heatwave can strain power, water, crops and hospitals in the same week.

11How the work connects

From the core to specialist fields and other sites.

Each field platform applies named methods, from hydrology to epidemiology and ecology. Field gateways bring the three institutions together, for example the water field gateway. Infrastructure that links the systems is covered under infrastructure dependencies, and the wider dynamics under systemic and cascading risks.

12Counterparts

Governance and finance views of the core.

The Global Risks Forum (GRF) examines shared governance, including its water and food security governance chapter. The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) examines protection gaps and finance readiness, for example under protection gaps.

13Sources

Where this page’s references lead.

The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.

14Questions

Questions and answers.

Why these five systems?
They sustain life and every economic activity, and they are tightly coupled. Studying them together reveals trade-offs, co-benefits and common points of failure that sector plans miss.
Where does critical infrastructure fit?
Infrastructure is the physical and digital fabric that links the five systems. GCRI examines it alongside them, and it has its own challenge page and a specialist platform.
How do I join a field community?
Start on the platform for your field or write to the expert application form. Joining a community does not confer membership of a national programme.
Do the platforms publish country data?
Platforms publish reviewed, rights-cleared work. Country views appear only where a programme exists and its data owners have agreed to publication.
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