Operationalizing water-energy-food nexus research for sustainable development in social-ecological systems: an interdisciplinary learning case in Central Asia

Abstract

In social-ecological systems, natural resource management can be characterized by trade-offs across sectors and sustainability targets. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus concept makes explicit various trade-offs in order to maximize synergies of interventions. However, there are few successful examples of its operationalization in research settings. Here, we explore in a learning setting if sustainability impact assessment (SIA) protocols can be a useful process to be used to adopt a systemic, interdisciplinary perspective to operationalize WEF nexus in research for sustainable development. The process and method adopted of SIA protocol, evaluated for five exemplary WEF nexus cases in Central Asia during a week-long international workshop, adequately addressed the complexity of WEF interrelationships and associated sustainability issues, and facilitated a comparative case study analysis across scales. Results within this process highlight that water governance was critical for large-scale transboundary WEF nexus management, while land and soil management were decisive for minimizing trade-offs at local levels. Issues of interdisciplinarity, complexity, uncertainty, and reflection on impacts were adequately addressed, but challenges remain in the consideration of ethics and the design of transparent, multi-actor cooperation. Most importantly, this exercise showed that employment of the process of SIA protocol supported disciplinary experts to work across disciplines and take a systemic approach for analyzing WEF nexus.

Research and innovation in agricultural water management for a water‐secure world

“…Ecosystems, land and the environment, underpin the provision, production and security of nexus resources (Carmona‐Moreno et al, 2021). Agriculture, for example, irrigated, typifies the complexity of the WEF nexus, which requires a better understanding of the risks, trade‐offs and synergies for designing effective and harmonized natural resources policies (Cremades et al, 2016; Hamidov, Daedlow, et al, 2022).…”

Micro‐irrigation technologies as management tool to support the ‘water–energy–food’ nexus

“…The WEF nexus framework allows us to emphasize and consider both the environmental and societal dimensions, as they interact (Hamidov et al, 2022). Considering micro-irrigation technologies as a tool to achieve integrated management for the WEF nexus, a new framework is developed.…”

UNESCO biosphere reserves show demand for multifunctional agriculture

“…To elaborate and assess current and future development options for the five BR, we made use of the Framework for Participatory Impact Assessment (FoPIA) (Morris et al, 2011;König et al, 2013König et al, , 2017König et al, , 2021. The FoPIA is a structured set of research steps (see Table 2) that can be used to guide the discussion of diverse stakeholders in the development and evaluation of alternative land management scenarios while following five typical steps of sustainability impact assessment: identify the problem, define objectives, develop scenarios, assess impacts, and compare scenarios (Hamidov et al, 2022). The major outcomes of the FoPIA are a set of alternative land use scenarios including a trend continuation and their assessed impacts on regional economic, social and environmental sustainability criteria.…”