Energising the WEF nexus to enhance sustainable development at local level

Terrapon-Pfaff, Julia C.; Ortíz, Willington; Dienst, Carmen; Gröne, Marie-Christine

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.06.037

Cited by 128 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The role of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus at local level, as recognised as a factor in implementing the sustainable development goals in small-scale energy projects in developing countries, is investigated by Pfaff et al [21]. The authors systematically analysed the relations between the food and water sectors, by quantifying and identifying the critical links.…”

Section: Topic Methodology Main Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward an Efficient and Sustainable Use of Energy in Industries and Cities

et al. 2019

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Several countries have recently realized that the present development paradigm is not sustainable from an environmental and energy point of view. The growing awareness of the population regarding environmental issues is pushing governments worldwide more and more to promote policies aiming at limiting harmful effects of human development. In particular, the rapid increase of the global temperature, especially in the polar regions, and the management of human wastes, mainly plastic in seas, are some of the main points to be addressed by these novel policies. Several actions must be implemented in order to limit such issues. Unfortunately, the recent COP 24 Conference was not successful, but hopefully an agreement will be established in 2020 at the COP 26 Conference. The effort performed by policymakers must be mandatorily supported by the scientific community. In this framework, this paper aims at showing that countries worldwide are trying to negotiate an agreement to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, in this paper all the researchers reported can provide quantitative measures of the actions to be implemented in order to address a sustainable and efficient use of energy. Here, innovations in terms of novel efficient and environmentally friendly technologies mainly based on renewable energy sources have been also investigated. The study also highlights different sectors that have been involved for this aim, such as energy conversion systems, urban areas, mobility, sustainability, water management, social aspects, etc. In this framework, specific conferences are periodically organized in order to provide a forum for discussion regarding these topics. In this area the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) conference is the most ordinary conference. The 13th Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems Conference was held in Palermo, Italy in 2018. The current Special Issue of Energies, precisely dedicated to the 13th SDEWES Conference, is based on three main topics: energy policy and energy efficiency in urban areas, energy efficiency in industry and biomass and other miscellaneous energy systems.

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Section: Topic Methodology Main Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward an Efficient and Sustainable Use of Energy in Industries and Cities

et al. 2019

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“…However, the complexity of the human–nature interaction has continually increased, resulting in the current global level of interconnectedness (Pahl‐Wostl, 2019; Rasul, 2014). Thus, the current and forecasted increase in global demand for and pressure on natural resources necessitates strong linkages between rural reality and local environmental knowledge to improve water, energy, and food security (Karlberg et al., 2015; Terrapon‐Pfaff, Ortiz, Dienst, & Gröne, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although interest in WEF nexus resource management has emerged in recent years, the focus remains sectorial. The role of the water, energy, and food nexus in the fulfillment of the competing demands of livelihoods has not yet been fully recognized (Terrapon‐Pfaff et al., 2018; Weitz et al., 2014). Understanding the linkages and interdependencies in the WEF nexus is necessary to identify risks and inform strategies for integrated nexus resource governance that supports community‐based resilience, security, and sustainability (Granit et al., 2012; Leck et al., 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The existing studies offer a promising outlook for the water, energy, and food nexus at different scales, which can be applied to explore trade‐offs and predict potential effects to reduce overlapping sectorial interest. However, to date, few local scale studies have been performed (Liu, 2016; Stein, Barron, & Moss, 2014; Terrapon‐Pfaff et al., 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Local community perceptions toward livelihood and water–energy–food nexus: A perspective on food security

Wolde

Wei

Wang

et al. 2020

Food and Energy Security

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While water–energy–food (WEF) nexus is a major livelihood sources for local community, its security issues grow continually and there is limited information on how nexus resource management is effective at delivering livelihoods and food security. These difficulties are related to the lack of local community knowledge of the use and exploitation of water, energy, and food resources; this limited awareness leads to trade‐offs, especially in local and marginalized areas. On the basis of data collected from a local community through a survey‐based approach, this study examines local community perception of nexus resources and their contribution to livelihoods. The results indicate that community perceptions of nexus resources can be understood through social, natural, economic, human, physical, and environmental livelihood indicators. According to our findings, the perception of nexus resources is based on the benefits of individual resources rather than their interlinkages. This could be the result of community perceptions of a particular nexus resource from three nexus sector, that is, food. Food is the center of nexus resources for the community in the study area. This indicates, that there is a missing link between cross‐sectorial resource utilization and management, and full‐scale adoption of the WEF nexus to enhance living conditions. Our findings suggest that there is a low understanding of WEF nexus resource use and management, and the livelihood benefit of individual nexus resources is the primary focus in the studied community. From these results, we recommend more action to be taken by the government and other stakeholders to improve the local community perception of nexus resources for their livelihoods.

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“…For this reason, the concept has been criticised for lack of clarity and practical applicability [14] and some have even branded it as repackaging of the IWRM [15]. The criticisms have been aided by the substantial amount of literature that has been published recently highlighting the importance of the WEF nexus as a conceptual framework and as a discourse, but evidently lacking on analytical tools that can be used to provide real world solutions [9,[16][17][18]. Therefore, what remains with the WEF nexus are methods to evaluate synergies and trade-offs in an integrated way and decision support tools that can be used to prevent conflicts, reduce investment risks and maximise on economic returns [17,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Indicators and Indices for the Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Performance Assessment: WEF Nexus in Practice – South Africa Case Study

Nhamo¹,

Mabhaudhi²,

Mpandeli³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The missing link between cross-sectoral resource utilisation and management, and full-scale adoption of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has been lack of analytical tools to support policy and decision-making. This paper defined WEF nexus sustainability indicators and developed a methodology to calculate composite indices to facilitate WEF nexus performance, monitoring and evaluation. WEF nexus indicators were integrated through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). Data were normalised to determine composite indices. The method established quantitative relationships among WEF nexus sectors to indicate resource utilisation and performance over time, using South Africa as a case study. A spider graph of normalised indices was used to illustrate WEF nexus indicator performance and inter-relationships, providing a synopsis of the level of interactions and inter-connectedness of WEF nexus sectors. The shape of the spider graph is determined by the level of the interdependencies and interactions among the WEF nexus sectors, whose management is viewed either as sustainable or unsustainable depending on the classification of the developed integrated index. The spider graph produced for South Africa shows an over emphasis on food self-sufficiency and water productivity at the expense of other sectors, which results from the sectoral approach in resource management. Although the calculated integrated index of 0.203 for South Africa is classified as lowly sustainable, the emphasis is on the quantitative relationships among the indicators and on how to improve them to achieve sustainability. The developed method provides evidence to decision makers, indicating priority areas for intervention. The analytical model is another niche area for the WEF nexus, as it is now capable to evaluate synergies and trade-offs in a holistic way to improve efficiency and productivity in resource use and management for sustainable development.

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Energising the WEF nexus to enhance sustainable development at local level

Cited by 128 publications

References 7 publications

Toward an Efficient and Sustainable Use of Energy in Industries and Cities

Toward an Efficient and Sustainable Use of Energy in Industries and Cities

Local community perceptions toward livelihood and water–energy–food nexus: A perspective on food security

Sustainability Indicators and Indices for the Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Performance Assessment: WEF Nexus in Practice – South Africa Case Study

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Energising the WEF nexus to enhance sustainable development at local level

Cited by 128 publications

References 7 publications

Toward an Efficient and Sustainable Use of Energy in Industries and Cities

Toward an Efficient and Sustainable Use of Energy in Industries and Cities

Local community perceptions toward livelihood and water–energy–food nexus: A perspective on food security

Sustainability Indicators and Indices for the Water-Energy-Food Nexus for&nbsp;Performance Assessment: WEF Nexus in Practice &ndash; South Africa Case Study

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Sustainability Indicators and Indices for the Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Performance Assessment: WEF Nexus in Practice – South Africa Case Study