Water strategies, water–food Nexus, and sustainability: challenges in various regions of the World

What is it about?

ABSTRACT: The twenty-first century is witnessing an explosion in global population, environmental changes, agricultural land disintegration, hunger, and geopolitical instabilities. It is difficult to manage these conditions or standardize improvement systems without thinking of the three main elements or subsystems that are necessary for any meaningful development—namely water (W), energy (E), and food (F). These key elements form what is globally agreed upon as the “WEF Nexus.” While considering them, one should think about the other key factors that influence WEF Nexus, including population’s growth, impacts of environmental changes (including climate change), moderation and adaptation regimes to climate change and climate resilience, loss of biodiversity, and sustainable nature. Together, the WEF Nexus subsystems represent a framework to ensure environmental protection that should be seen as an ethical and socioeconomic obligation. Issues, such as protection of water resources, and strategies and management tools or mechanisms for the use of water assets and agricultural innovations under the obligations of sustainable use, are investigated in this paper. Attention is paid to the relationship between water and food (WF Nexus) or water for food security in various world regions, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Central Asia countries and the Caucasus, China, Africa, and Canada. This paper also presents analyses of a great number of up-to-date publications regarding the “Nexus” perspective and its applications and limitations. This paper suggests that the Nexus’ approach, in its different concepts (WEF, WE, WF and EF), can promote sustainable development and improve the quality of life of communities, while preserving natural, human, and social capital, addressing sustainability challenges, and protecting natural resources and the environment for long-term use. KEYWORDS: Water, water efficiency, water strategies, water security, and water infrastructure · Water as a human right · Agriculture and food · Climate change · Water–food Nexus (WF Nexus). FOR CITATIONS: Salem, H.S, Pudza, M.Y., and Yihdego, Y. (2022). Water strategies and water–food Nexus: Challenges and opportunities towards sustainable development in various regions of the world. Sustainable Water Resources Management, 8:114, 54p. (Published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-022-00676-3 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361972621_Water_strategies_and_water-food_Nexus_challenges_and_opportunities_towards_sustainable_development_in_various_regions_of_the_World

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Photo by Thomas Martinsen on Unsplash

Photo by Thomas Martinsen on Unsplash

Why is it important?

While there are clear indications that water and food emergencies are approaching worldwide, as confirmed by more current events and challenges, including dry seasons and resulting droughts, long-term pollution of water resources, and the impacts of climate change, as well as geopolitical instabilities and military conformations, it is noteworthy to mention that strategy- and policy-makers have not made enough efforts to deal with such events and challenges and the consequences resulting from. With the focus on changes and advances in water and food resources’ strategies and management, in the presence of these extraordinary challenges and frequently happening events, it is needed to surmount these events and challenges—one of the mechanisms to deal with them in implementing the Nexus’ approach or framework. Demands on water (W), energy (E), and food (F) are growing worldwide, driven by a growing global population, rapid urbanization, changing diets, and economic growth. Agriculture is the world’s largest consumer of freshwater resources, and more than a quarter of the energy used globally is consumed during food production and supply. Accordingly, this paper can help managers effectively manage water resources and conceptualize a comprehensive WEF Nexus’ policy or just a WF Nexus’ policy, considering that the energy subsystem is not investigated in this work.

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