Exploring agricultural stakeholders’ mental models of the water-energy-food-ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus: Insights from Mediterranean case studies

Environmental crises, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and food insecurity, pose global challenges that threaten ecosystems and human well-being. The water-energy-food-ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus concept advocates integrated resource management to optimize synergies, minimize trade-offs, and promote sustainability. Despite its prominence in policy and research, the WEFE Nexus often overlooks local socio-cultural contexts and stakeholder perspectives. This study addresses this gap by examining how stakeholders from the food sector conceptualize and value the WEFE Nexus across four Mediterranean case studies in Lebanon, Portugal, Spain, and Tunisia. Using a qualitative approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews alongside graphical visualization techniques, including hand-drawn illustrations and colored dot exercises, to explore agricultural stakeholders' mental models of the WEFE Nexus. The findings reveal significant variability in their perceptions of relationships among water, energy, food, and ecosystems, shaped by diverse socio-cultural, environmental, and economic contexts. Instrumental and relational values were most frequently identified, while intrinsic values were less commonly recognized. Agricultural stakeholders' interpretations ranged from a holistic framework of interconnected components to a narrower focus on specific elements like water or energy. Graphical representations generally aligned with oral descriptions, and four distinct patterns emerged between the identified relations among WEFE components: overlapping circular, overlapping linear, overlapping and separated, and ambiguous relations. This study underscores the importance of tailored, participatory approaches that incorporate stakeholders’ diverse perceptions into policy-making and resource management. By combining oral descriptions with visual representations, it provides an innovative framework for exploring the cognitive understandings and values that underpin the social-ecological dynamics shaping WEFE Nexus perspectives.