Developing a Copula-Based Input-Output Method for Analyzing Energy-Water Nexus of Tajikistan

Energy and water are closely related and mutually restricted, which hinder the socioeconomic sustainable development associated with resources pressure. In this study, a copula-based input-output analysis (CIOA) method is developed for analyzing energy-water nexus (EWN) through incorporating techniques of input-output analysis (IOA), ecological network analysis (ENA), and copula within a general framework. CIOA can not only identify the key consumption sectors and system characteristics, but also build a dual dependence structure of energy and water to quantitatively explore the response of sectoral resources consumption. CIOA is applied to Tajikistan (in Central Asia) to reflect the interaction between energy and water. Some major findings are: (i) household is the key final demand, in which manufacturing (MAN) is the main embodied energy consumer, and food crop planting (FCP) is the main embodied water consumer; (ii) for Tajikistan, the utilization efficiencies of energy and water are both low; however, the circulation and stability of water system are better than that of energy system; (iii) energy and water collaborative conservation can be realized in FCP, cash crop planting (CCP) and service (SER) sectors. The findings suggest that Tajikistan should improve the energy-water utilization efficiency in key sectors and establish a cross-sectoral cooperation management pattern.