Water-Energy-Food Nexus Assessment in the Transboundary Harirud River Basin Using the MUSIASEM Framework
Publisher: Scientific Reports
Author(s): Ensie Talaei, Majid Delavar, Yeganeh S. Salehi, Mohammad R. Eini, and Roohollah Noori
Date: 2026
Topics: Basic Services, Governance, Public Health, Renewable Resources
Countries: Afghanistan, Iran
Water, food, and energy systems are highly interconnected, and changes in one can have a direct impact on the others. In transboundary basins, these interactions become more complex due to conflicting interests and uneven distribution of resources. In Harirud River Basin, Afghanistan, unsustainable upstream water development plans (e.g., dams and agricultural expansion) have increased water use, resulting in reduced flows downstream to eastern Iran. This reduction, combined with climate variability, has heightened pressure on groundwater and weakened the security of food and energy systems. Using the multi-scale MuSIASEM framework, this study assesses the structural and functional performance of water, food, and energy subsystems on both sides of the Iran–Afghanistan border from 2011 to 2021. Results show that Iran annually produced 2.88 million tons of agricultural outputs with 10,839 terajoules of energy inputs and 1,712 million cubic meter (MCM) of green/blue water, while Afghanistan produced 0.78 million tons with 2,694 terajoules and 692 MCM of water. In the energy sector, Iran generated 11,741 GWh of electricity mainly from fossil fuels, whereas Afghanistan produced only 44 GWh from hydropower. Water withdrawal in Iran reached 2320 MCM/yr, compared to 660 MCM/yr in Afghanistan. These findings highlight the vulnerability of downstream resources and underscore the need for cooperative transboundary basin-level management policies.