Toward understanding the convergence of researcher and stakeholder perspectives related to water-energy-food (WEF) challenges: The case of San Antonio, Texas
In the past decade, research on interconnected resource challenges has primarily focused on quantifying physical resource interconnections, and there is a growing focus on the social, economic, and policy dimensions of these interconnections. While the nature of the complexity of interconnected resource challenges resulted in emphasizing the need for inter- and trans-disciplinary research and in […]
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2020 : water and climate change
The 2020 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (UN WWDR 2020) entitled ‘Water and Climate Change’ aims at helping the water community to tackle the challenges of climate change and informing the climate change community about the opportunities that improved water management offers in terms of adaptation and mitigation. The scientific evidence […]
Toward creating an environment of cooperation between water, energy, and food stakeholders in San Antonio
The San Antonio Region is home to a rapidly growing population with developing energy and agricultural sectors competing for water, land, and financial resources. Despite the tight interconnectedness between water, energy, and food challenges, little is known about the levels of communication and coordination among the various officials responsible for making the decisions that affect […]
Complexity versus simplicity in water energy food nexus (WEF) assessment tools
Approaching water, energy, and food, as interconnected system of systems, as an alternative to traditional silo-based resources planning and management approaches continues to fall short of expectations of its research-backed benefits. The lack of nexus applications in policy and decision making can be related to numerous factors, with the main barrier being the complex nature […]
Economic, social, and environmental evaluation of energy development in the Eagle Ford shale play
This research investigates the relation between water, energy, and transportation systems, using the growing hydraulic fracturing activity in the Eagle Ford shale play region of southwest Texas in which the local water systems and road infrastructure were not designed for the frequent transport of water into the production site and of produced gas and oil […]
Multi-stakeholder Dialogue: Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus and Implementing the SDGs
Building on the strong policy messages and momentum established through a growing coalition of global partners at the Stockholm World Water Week (2016) and the XVI World Water Congress in Cancun (2017), the World Water Forum in Brasilia (2018) hosted a High Level Panel (HLP) linked to the theme of Development (Water for Sustainable Development), […]
Water–energy–food nexus: a platform for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals
This high- level panel was partially supported by the Texas A&M WEF Nexus Initiative, BMZ, European Union, and respective co-author institutions (American University of Beirut, OCP Policy Center, University of Zaragoza, Global Environmental Facility, Circle of Blue, Stockholm Environment Institute, National Scientific and Technical Research Council, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, World Bank, and […]
Developing Socio-Techno-Economic-Political (STEP) Solutions for Addressing Resource Nexus Hotspots
The challenge of meeting increasing water, energy, and food needs is linked not only to growing demands globally, but also to the growing interdependency between these interconnected resource systems. Pressures on these systems will emerge to become hotspots with different characteristics, and will require a fresh look at the challenges existing both within each of […]
Sustainability in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Bridging Science and Policy Making
Water, energy, and food security underpin nations’ well-being, and global sustainability. Awareness of the tight interconnections between these three resource systems is not new. Nevertheless, a combination of intensifying demands on resources, increasing uncertainty of external pressures, and resource scarcity have intensified the interlinkages and amplified the cost of inaction and mismanagement. Policy decisions made […]
Current Water for Food Situational Analysis in the Arab Region and Expected Changes Due to Dynamic Externalities
Uneven distribution of water, food, and energy (WEF) resources, together with demographic, geographic, political, and other natural constraints, burden WEF security plans in many regions of the world. Decision makers are under pressure to bridge the WEF supply-demand gap, and often propose reactive, rather than preventive, strategies that are associated with uncertainty, challenges of sustainability, […]