A systemic approach to sustainable resource management: The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus

The global population is projected to increase to 9.5bn by 2050. This in turn will increase water and energy demand and food requirements. At the same time, climate change further exacerbates water scarcity and desertification, leading to adverse implications for global food security. 

Resulting from this, a holistic approach is needed to address these closely linked challenges, respecting the interdependencies between the different types of natural resources. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus offers a comprehensive framework to assess these interlinkages. 

Understanding the WEF nexus

The WEF nexus first gained prominence in 2011 when the World Economic Forum examined the systemic consequences of worsening water scarcity in the light of continuously increasing resource demand[1].

It is an integrated resource management approach considering the interactions, synergies, and trade-offs of water, energy, and food demand and how to manage them. As such, it is a cross-sectoral approach, contrasting with traditional policy making taking a sectoral approach with only limited considerations of interlinkages and interdependences.

While several case studies have been conducted already applying the framework to regions experiencing water stress, resulting actions of such analyses are still limited. One important challenge is how to integrate resources that are measured in different units and time scale for decision-making. 

To address this challenge, the Nexus Resource Platform developed a composite indicator consisting of 21 indicators for the three pillars water, energy and food as shows in figure one below[2].

Figure 1: The WEF Nexus Index

Addressing the WEF nexus

The agricultural sector is not only responsible for 70% of global annual freshwater withdrawal, but also for around one third of global emissions stemming from the entire food value chain. 

Moreover, climate change already has and will increasingly have negative impacts on food production, access, use, and price stability. Despite these apparent challenges, the World Economic Forum estimates that the gap between global water supply and demand will reach 40% by 2030[3].

Nature-based solutions (NBS) play a key role in addressing the WEF nexus, since they can address multiple challenges. Among these NBS are water harvesting, carbon farming, agroforestry and other agroecological and ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation practices. 

Nevertheless, these actions require coordinated action across a broad range of actors including, business, consumers, landowners, local communities, and policymakers to overcome the various barriers to implementation across sectors and domains. 

[1] https://islandpress.org/books/water-security

[2] https://www.water-energy-food.org/resources/tool-wef-nexus-index

[3] https://www.weforum.org/our-impact/closing-the-water-gap/