Water-energy-food – do we need a nexus perspective?

30.12.2018
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By Dr. Ines Dombrowsky, German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) Bonn, 14 November 2011. Under the patronageof the Federal Chancellor, the German FederalGovernment is organising an international conference known as “Bonn2011: The Water, Energy andFood Security Nexus – Solutions for the Green Economy”, to be held from 16 to 18 November 2011. The aim is to develop new solutions to providingglobal water, energy and food security. This con-ference, to which 500 decision-makers and shap-ers from politics, science, international organisa-tions, civil society and the private sector have beeninvited, is a contribution from the German Government to the United Nations Conference onSustainable Development “Rio2012”.

Why a nexus perspective? Global population, economic growth and climate change will lead to a rising demand for energy,food and water. This brings with it the danger ofnatural resources being further overused, entailingpossible tipping points for the Earth’s climate, andof conflicts over their distribution being exacer-bated. At the same time, almost a billion peopleare currently undernourished, nearly a billion haveno access to safe drinking water, and a billion and a half have no electricity supply. Against this background, the nexus approach takes account of all three sectors, water, energyand agriculture simultaneously, because approaches adopted in just one sector often have negative effects on other sectors, and their objec-tives may be conflictive. A prime example of a technology which should be regarded critically from a nexus perspective arebiofuels: while biofuels contribute to low-carbon development and in some places strengthen theagricultural sector, they may also displace foodproduction (“fuel not food“) and are often accompanied by pollutant discharges into bodies ofwater and by high water consumption. Windpower, on the other hand, attracts little or nocriticism in these respects. An approach viewed positively from a nexus perspective is the reuse of treated waste water and treatement of swage sludge for water supply, food production and energy generation. To give another example: in arid regions fresh water is increasingly being produced through the desalination of sea water with the aid of fossil energy sources. As, however, many dry countries are rich in solar radiation, this negative example could be converted into a positive one if solar energy was used. Is the nexus approach new ? From a water perspectıve it might be argued that integrated approaches are not new. Various actors have, for example, been advocating Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) for some twenty years. This calls for the “coordinated management of water, land and related resources“, including the coordination of different water-using sectors. One lesson learnt from the IWRM approach is that coordination and balancing the interests of the various water-using sectors continue to be a major challenge. The researcher François Molle even speaks of a nirvana concept. One reason for this is that the energy and agricultural sectors, for instance, have little incentive to concerns themselves with the effect their decision have on water. The nexus approach can thus be understood – at least from a water perspective -as an attempt to involve the energy and agricultural sectors in the analysis of the problems from the outset and so to raise awareness of the interdependences of energy, food and water security. But it remains to be seen whether this will succeed. It will also be apparent from the numbers attending Bonn2011 from all three sectors.

Why do we need a nexus approach? Another lesson learnt from the IWRM concept that integrated approaches always entail higher transaction costs than purely sectoral approaches. Hence the importance of proceeding in a prag-matic and problem-oriented way. For the nexus approach this means having a clear understanding of when that approach is necessary and when good sectoral policies suffice. Most countries lacking access to safe water supply and sanitation, for example, are not necessarily short of water. But this means that any approaches adopted in such countries to improve food security and energy supplies are unlikely to have serious adverse effects on the availability of water and that thethree securities can thus be improved independently of one another (although growing biofuel crops may reduce food production). This situation is, however, fundamentally different in arid regions, where many emerging economies in particular are to be found: in such countries production decisions taken by the agricultural and energysectors are highly relevant to water security. What now? If we want water, energy and food security in the long term, a nexus perspective is crucial. Yet implementing the nexus approach continues to be politically challenging. If, for example, the decentralized treatment and reuse of wastewater is such a miracle weapon, why is it not a more common practice? The Bonn Nexus Conference and other nexus apologists should take very seriously not only the generation of good ideas for mobilising synergies and avoiding trade-offs but also the question of how institutional obstacles can be removed and how suitable incentives to take external effects into account can be created. For, As emphasised by the experience with IWRM, the implementation of good ideas and concepts stands or falls with the interests, acceptance and capacities of the actors involved and with the institutional framework conditions. Source : German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) The Current Column, 14 November 2011 www.die-gdi.de | www.facebook.com/DIE.Bonn