The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Complex Global Challenges

Published in In: Kurian M., Ardakanian R. (eds) Governing the Nexus. Springer, Cham.
Authors

Scott, C.A., Kurian, M. and Wescoat, J.L.
Publication year 2015
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05747-7_2
Affiliations
  • Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, and School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
  • Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources, United Nations University, Dresden, Germany
  • School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA

 
IAI Program

CRN3
IAI Project CRN3056
Keywords
Adaptive management
Anthropocene
Groundwater
Nexus approach
Nexus
Peri-urban agriculture
Resilience
Resource recovery
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Wastewater reuse
Water-energy-food nexus
WEF nexus
World Commission on Dams

Abstract

Multiple intersecting factors place pressure on planetary systems on which society and ecosystems depend. Climate change and variability, resource use patterns, globalization viewed in terms of economic enterprise and environmental change, poverty and inequitable access to social services, as well as the international development enterprise itself, have led to a rethinking of development that solely addresses economic growth. Fulfilling the essential human aspirations for quality of life, meaningful education, productive and rewarding work, harmonious relations, and sustainable natural resource use requires ingenuity, foresight and adaptability.