Description
Climate change and population growth dramatically increase the risk of water, energy and food crises, in particular in the global south. Since its introduction to the wider scientific community at the ‘Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus – Solutions for the Green Economy conference’ held in Bonn in 2011, the WEF nexus has developed as a framework for integrated resource management. The WEF-framework acknowledges the interdependencies between the water, energy and food sectors, the need to make use of potential synergies and the necessity of managing trade offs. Expectations are that nexus approaches contribute to closing cycles of urban resources, maximizing returns on investment, and to delivering a more citizen-focused service provision.Material flow analysis has brought insight into the resource streams in cities and larger systems and the subtle interconnections between water, energy and food streams, providing necessary knowledge for implementing nexusing approaches. Nexusing has also gained traction in governance literature and in economics. To date, however, the practical adoption of nexus approaches into governance practices and policies has lagged behind policy ambitions. The contention of this proposal is that to increase the scientific and societal value of nexus approaches, an expanded view on nexusing processes is required.
How to best manage water, energy and food resources is a highly complex real-world problem. Decision on how to manage these resources are embedded in intertwined networks of systems, both human and non-humane (or physical), which interact across different scales. The governance of WEF resources, decision on the individual household level, the intricacies of the legal system, and resource constraints all impact the WEF nexus.
We aim to develop a model for understanding and assessing the complexity of WEF interactions, based on an interdisiclinary review of literature from i.a. the fields of material-flow analysis, law, household economics, governance and transition management.
We will identify the different understandings of the WEF-nexus within these fields, by mapping a) how different disciplines define the WEF-nexus and ‘nexusing approaches’; b) what phenomena that impact the WEF nexus are studied within the different fields; and c) their underlying normative assumptions.
This will allow us to draft a model for understanding WEF-nexus complexities, so that we can understand how the implementation of nexusing approaches can be improved and, more specifically, how law can contribute to the successful implementation of WEF-nexusing in a way that will allow society to better handle WEF-crises, both in terms of prevention and minimizing their consequences.
Research on the role of law in implementing the WEF-nexus points out a pathway to i.a. address environmental breakdown, better water resource management, and a smoother energy transition.
| Period | 10 Sept 2021 |
|---|---|
| Event title | EELF (European Environmental Law Forum) 2021: Social and Scientific Uncertainties in Environmental Law |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Bournemouth, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |