ReviewTowards understanding the integrative approach of the water, energy and food nexus
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Evident in hundreds of reports and numerous proceedings of global and regional conferences and gatherings (e.g. World Forum gathering in 2011; Bonn WEF Conference in 2011; World Water Forum and the Rio Conference in 2012; the Stockholm Water Week 2014; many science-driven conferences in the same period in Bonn; Chapel Hill, etc.) that the water, energy and food nexus, often called WEF nexus, is currently quite popular in environmental management. Since its promotion, the ‘WEF nexus’ has related to hundreds of scientific publications. We counted more than 300 nexus-specific publications since 2009. It seems that this idea found a fertile ground in policy-making and science. This review paper found that using an integrated perspective on the management of the three resources is a new approach. At the same time, demands for such integration in the water-food, water-energy and food-energy sub-nexuses date back to programmes by the United Nations University (UNU) in the early 1980s, while explicit reference to three-way nexus appeared in the late 2000s (Scott et al., 2015). Yet, there is no consistent view on the meaning of integration within the nexus although this idea lies in the core of all nexus understandings. Further, the paper aims at outlining key understandings of the integrative approach of the WEF nexus using recent literature.
Section snippets
Drivers behind the nexus thinking
Literature on the WEF nexus reveals three lines of justification for the need for the WEF nexus debate: a) increasing resource interlinks due to growing scarcities, b) recent resource supply crises, and c) failures of sector-driven management strategies. These are also the drivers behind the emergence of the nexus thinking. The first justification is the most empirical and analytical one. The argument here is that internal drivers, such as economic and demographic changes, lead to growing
Nexus as an integration paradigm
The WEF nexus is well-received in scientific literature as a “promising approach” (Allan et al., 2015), an “innovation” (Struik et al., 2014) or a “new thinking” (Ringler et al., 2013). The innovative aspect of the nexus is that it shifts attention from the one-sector view to a more balanced view of issues linking the three resources. Yet, one should not expect that sector-specific expertise will be less in demand or a new management field will evolve. In fact, a theory on the grand WEF nexus
Understandings of integration in the nexus paradigm
The idea behind the nexus is to look at the interdependent resource issues of water, energy and food using an integrated framework in scientific analysis and policymaking. Yet, there is no uniform way to do this. Two questions are thus open: First, how should the ‘process of integration’ look like, i.e. which links should be examined and at which stage of the management value chain? and, second, how should the ‘state or view of integration’ look like, i.e. in which institutions and by which
Initial evaluation
An initial evaluation of the WEF nexus integrative debate can be carried out by analysing perceptions in key 34 nexus publications using four key criteria as follows.
Conclusions
The emergence of the nexus thinking is the most recent reminder of the undergoing transition of scientific thought and policies towards integrative thinking to address global change and challenges. In this sense, systems concepts that stress on foresight, adaptability, resilience and human manipulation of planetary processes (anthropocene) contributed to the development of global consensus and developmental goals, such as the SDGs or Green Economy. Ultimately, they also produced popular
Acknowledgements
This study has been supported by the Nexus Research Focus of the TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences – Germany, with support of Minister for Innovation, Science and Research of the State of North Rhine Westphalia, grant number 321-8.03.04.02-2012/07.
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Current author's affiliation: Center for Sustainable Development, Qatar University, Qatar.