The population of the African continent is significantly increasing which has given rise to societal, economic and environmental changes. This will generate an increase in demand for food, water and energy. Thus, strategies for sustainable management of natural resources need to be adopted urgently in order to match the future needs and to ensure sustainable development on the continent. The Water Energy Food (WEF) nexus is one the avenues for studying the current and future interactions and interdependencies of the WEF sectors under different scenarios and challenges in the effort towards establishing sustainable use of natural resources. Policies around the nexus approach are few or absent at the continental and country levels. This paper is a first review on the adoption of the Nexus in two model African countries, Morocco and South Africa. The review compares the water, energy and food sectors and the related national policies, plans and frameworks. The data related to the WEF Nexus revealed key difficulties of availability in both countries. A comparative analysis of the situation in both countries demonstrated differences in policies relating to the WEF Nexus across the sectors: water, energy, and agriculture. Additionally, the paper explores the relevance of technology-assisted frameworks for the WEF nexus and also analyzed risks to agriculture and food security in the context of the reviewed countries.

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El Youssfi, L., Doorsamy, W., Aghzar, A., Cherkaoui, S. I., Elouadi, I., Faundez, A. G., & Salazar, D. R. (2020). Review of water energy food nexus in Africa: Morocco and South Africa as case studies. In E3S Web of Conferences (Vol. 183, p. 02002). EDP Sciences.

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In southern Africa, the connections between climate and the water–energy–food nexus are strong. Physical and socioeconomic exposure to climate is high in many areas and in crucial economic sectors. Spatial interdependence is also high, driven, for example, by the regional extent of many climate anomalies and river basins and aquifers that span national boundaries. There is now strong evidence of the effects of individual climate anomalies, but associations between national rainfall and gross domestic product and crop production remain relatively weak. The majority of climate models project decreases in annual precipitation for southern Africa, typically by as much as 20% by the 2080s. Impact models suggest these changes would propagate into reduced water availability and crop yields. Recognition of spatial and sectoral interdependencies should inform policies, institutions and investments for enhancing water, energy and food security. Three key political and economic instruments could be strengthened for this purpose: the Southern African Development Community, the Southern African Power Pool and trade of agricultural products amounting to significant transfers of embedded water.

Conway, D., Van Garderen, E. A., Deryng, D., Dorling, S., Krueger, T., Landman, W., … & Dalin, C. (2015). Climate and southern Africa’s water–energy–food nexus. Nature Climate Change, 5(9), 837-846.

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The interconnectedness of water, energy and food production cycles translates into the interdependence of water, energy and food pricing. This paper interrogates the level of interconnectedness between these systems in South Africa and discusses how energy and water costs influence food prices in the country and affect the country’s level of food security. The paper emphasizes that sustainable solutions to food security necessitate integrative thinking in the process of strategic planning for these resources.

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Gulati, M., Jacobs, I., Jooste, A., Naidoo, D., & Fakir, S. (2013). The water–energy–food security nexus: Challenges and opportunities for food security in South Africa. Aquatic Procedia, 1, 150-164.

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This course introduces the CLEWs approach and is designed to provide learners with a conceptual understanding of the tool. Subject matter is delivered in 11 lectures. These introduce first the key development challenges and policy issues associated with climate, food, energy, and water security. Then they describe how the CLEWs modelling tool can be used to represent these systems and assess related sustainable development strategies. The lectures are accompanied by a set of hands-on exercises that take the learner through the steps of building a CLEWs model from scratch: defining model components, linking them together in an integrated system representation, populating the model with data, running a model, and interpreting results.

This course will provide you with:

• A conceptual understanding of the CLEWs framework and the energy-food-water-climate nexus approach
• Familiarity with the OSeMOSYS tool and its most important parameters and variables
• Knowledge of the data requirements of CLEWs/OSeMOSYS
• Practical experience in data preparation, model building, data entry, and scenario design for CLEWs models

Click here to learn about course content and course reviews.

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A team from Penn State and the University of Freiburg visited Namibia in early March to begin work with colleagues at Namibia University of Science and Technology and University of Namibia to address water-energy-food (WEF) security issues using a ‘Nexus’ approach and also to explore Universal Basic Income (UBI) as an optional way to meet the WEF securities program. Namibia was one of the first countries to pilot a “foreign-based” Basic Income Grant. In addition to meeting with university staff and donor agencies, the visit comprised a workshop on these topics in Windhoek followed by a field trip to the Northern region where the majority of the population reside. Visits included stops at a women’s cooperative making value-added products from indigenous fruit trees, regional development centers focused on smallholder agricultural and livestock production, and meetings with communities (e.g., San people) and town and regional councils. There are endless opportunities for engagement in collaboration. Activities are expected to commence on addressing projects on disaster risk and resilience, horticulture and agroforestry products value chains, bush encroachment, water conservation and harvesting, wastewater treatment and irrigation, and off grid solar energy. Penn State students (and faculty) will work with counterparts from Namibian universities to collect WEF data through these projects and use models to develop indicators to assess WEF Nexus tradeoffs and synergies. University of Freiburg students will conduct UBI social justice related experiments to assess how and what approaches make sense for the local people to receive such payments.

We envision that tying WEF Nexus and UBI together entails examining whether provision of WEF services and infrastructure is more sustainable than providing unconditional cash payments.

For more information and to participate in and learn more about these projects please contact Michael Jacobson at mgj2@psu.edu

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Chang, Y., Li, G., Yao, Y., Zhang, L., & Yu, C. (2016). Quantifying the water-energy-food nexus: Current status and trends. Energies, 9(2), 65.

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The interwoven relationship between food, energy, and water (FEW) is described as the FEW nexus. The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the FEW nexus and impeded the progress of FEW-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (SDG 2: Zero Hunger; 6: Clean Water and Sanitation; 7: Affordable and Clean Energy). We aim to find solutions to recover the FEW nexus from COVID-19. First, we discussed the challenges faced by FEW amid COVID-19. Second, we observed responses of the FEW nexus under COVID-19’s interference. Finally, we proposed the solutions that guide the FEW nexus in recovery from the pandemic by mining 164 FEW-related SDG Acceleration Actions. The key solutions include 1) building or upgrading FEW facilities and infrastructure, 2) improving nature’s contribution to the FEW nexus, 3) developing digital technologies, 4) innovating the source and production of FEW, and 5) promoting community production and transforming the lifestyle. Our work highlights the importance of feasible and accelerated actions that recover the FEW nexus in the post-pandemic era.

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Yin, C., Pereira, P., Hua, T., Liu, Y., Zhu, J., & Zhao, W. (2022). Recover the food-energy-water nexus from COVID-19 under SDG acceleration actions. Science of The Total Environment, 153013.

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This article summarizes some major factors that influence the Water–Energy–Food (W–E–F) Security Nexus and how they are perceived in different basins. These findings are based on a survey that was undertaken for the Global Catchment Initiative (GCI) within the Global Water System Project (GWSP) complemented by case studies for a transboundary basin (the Lake Winnipeg Basin), a national basin (Yellow Basin in China), and a number of the basins in a nation (India). The analysis also includes ranking of river basin issues related to the WEF Nexus based on the views of experts in nine basins. Based on this analysis, factors that have affected the evolution of the W–E–F Nexus, including the applications of Earth observations, are discussed. The study concludes that the W–E–F Nexus could be an effective vehicle for advancing water and sustainability issues and recommends research and demonstration projects to test the extent to which the WEF framework could be helpful in increasing understanding and collaborative governance approaches.

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Lawford, R., Bogardi, J., Marx, S., Jain, S., Wostl, C. P., Knüppe, K., … & Meza, F. (2013). Basin perspectives on the water–energy–food security nexus. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 5(6), 607-616.

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Water, energy, food, forests, and biodiversity systems are strongly interconnected and are critical to rural livelihoods and food and nutrition security. These systems are under extreme stress from climate change and other human-induced pressures.

This stress is particularly pronounced in South Asia’s breadbasket basins, where groundwater abstraction, climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and poor policies put 8% of the world’s food production at risk, with potentially devastating impacts for more than 2 billion people. Similarly, glacial retreat, changing hydrological and ecological regimes, unsustainable water withdrawals, and fossil fuel reliance profoundly impact Central Asia’s future. East Africa’s rapidly growing population faces increasing food insecurity due to climate change and low yields, lack of irrigation, and limited energy access.

National and regional institutions fail to account for the integrated nature of water, energy, food, forests, and biodiversity systems, and cross-sectoral feedbacks, including tradeoffs and synergies. Women, girls, and other vulnerable groups face the greatest adverse consequences from this degradation.

Objective

This Initiative aims to realize gains across water, energy, food, forests, and biodiversity systems in three selected regions by co-generating a series of outputs via four work packages and a cross-cutting capacity development program.

This will be achieved by:

• Co-developing and scaling at least six water-energy-food-forest-biodiversity nexus innovations focused on increased resource use efficiency and strengthened ecosystem functions.
• Developing evidence and approaches for improved water productivity using a systems approach that considers all water users in two focal basins.
• Energizing food systems equitably and sustainably with at least four innovations in close collaboration with private energy and other water-energy-food-forest-biodiversity actors.
• Strengthening governance across water, energy, food, forests and biodiversity systems, including at least five social learning, citizen-science, or multi-stakeholder platform mechanisms.
• Supporting a capacity development program and building on partnerships that will unlock cross-sectoral gains in these interconnected systems and directly support investments.

Outcomes

Proposed 3-year outcomes include:

1. Actors increase water, energy, and food and nutrition security and environmental sustainability through scaling prioritized innovations in focal regions based on nexus gains data, tools, institutions, and innovations.
2. Actors in focal basins are enabled to significantly improve water productivity across scales.
3. Actors use scalable business models to accelerate rural energy access for more sustainable and equitable food systems in at least three target basins.
4. Policymakers and communities are enabled to develop more inclusive nexus institutions through knowledge products, practical learning tools and guidelines, and science-policy dialogues.
5. Actors have increased capacity to identify, assess, and act on nexus tradeoffs and synergies and to lead implementation.

For more information, click here!

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Developing countries face a difficult challenge in meeting the growing demands for food, water, and energy, which is further compounded by climate change. Effective adaptation to change requires the efficient use of land, water, energy, and other vital resources, and coordinated efforts to minimize trade-offs and maximize synergies. However, as in many developing countries, the policy process in South Asia generally follows a sectoral approach that does not take into account the interconnections and interdependence among the three sectors. Although the concept of a water–energy–food nexus is gaining currency, and adaptation to climate change has become an urgent need, little effort has been made so far to understand the linkages between the nexus perspective and adaptation to climate change. Using the Hindu Kush Himalayan region as an example, this article seeks to increase understanding of the interlinkages in the water, energy, and food nexus, explains why it is important to consider this nexus in the context of adaptation responses, and argues that focusing on trade-offs and synergies using a nexus approach could facilitate greater climate change adaptation and help ensure food, water, and energy security by enhancing resource use efficiency and encouraging greater policy coherence. It concludes that a nexus-based adaption approach – which integrates a nexus perspective into climate change adaptation plans and an adaptation perspective into development plans – is crucial for effective adaptation. The article provides a conceptual framework for considering the nexus approach in relation to climate change adaptation, discusses the potential synergies, trade-offs, and offers a broader framework for making adaptation responses more effective.

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Rasul, G., & Sharma, B. (2016). The nexus approach to water–energy–food security: an option for adaptation to climate change. Climate Policy, 16(6), 682-702.

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