Review of Publications on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Climate Change Adaptation Using Bibliometric Analysis: A Case Study of Africa

Abstract

Access to clean water, reliable energy services and adequate food supply are basic needs for life and contribute to the reduction of national and global levels of human poverty and forced migration. This study concentrated on reviewing progress made in understanding the relationship between the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus and climate change adaptation, using Africa as a case study. The method used to achieve this objective was the bibliometric analysis, covering the period from 1980–2021. Data used for this study were acquired from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. Initially, 95 documents were retrieved from the WoS and Scopus core collection databases, but 30 duplicates were removed, and 65 documents were used. The outputs were further analysed using the bibliometric R package and VOS viewer. Analysis of the top 100 keywords in the 65 publications that link WEF nexus with climate change adaptation for Africa showed that 46 keywords fall under the application of WEF nexus, 31 keywords under the implementation of WEF nexus and 23 keywords under the implication of WEF nexus. Researchers from countries around the world have published the WEF nexus work undertaken on the African continent. Countries with the highest number of publications were South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Thematic analysis was used to explore the conceptual structure of WEF publications, and it produced four themes: (i) well-established concepts appropriate for structuring the conceptual framework of the field of WEF nexus in Africa; (ii) strongly developed concepts but still marginal for the field of WEF nexus in Africa; (iii) not fully developed or marginally interesting concepts for the field of WEF nexus in Africa, and (iv) significant cross-cutting concepts in the field of WEF nexus in Africa in relation to climate change adaptation. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the WEF nexus by pointing out dominant themes from those that are still emerging in the scholarly work done in Africa.

Review Analysis of Irrigation and Application of Remote Sensing in the Lower Mekong River Basin

“…In addition, flood disasters can also cause water source pollution and water quality degradation, which have adverse effects on crop yield and quality [69]. Excessive soil moisture and high groundwater table also harm crop growth and increase the occurrence of pests and diseases of crops [70]. In this situation, the construction of flood prevention and drainage measures are essential.…”

Exploring the Integration of the Land, Water, and Energy Nexus in Sustainable Food Systems Research through a Socio-Economic Lens: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Nevertheless, Botai et al [23] identified a gap in the WEF nexus output and environmental governance. Adeola et al's [24] attestation of a limitation of concepts addressed in WEF nexus research buttressed the limitations pointed out by Botai et al [23]. The WEF nexus review research mentioned above seemed to focus on the evolution of the nexus approach with an emphasis on resource management and the factors affecting food production in Africa.…”

“…The broader benefits of the systems approach for ensuring the sustainability of the ecosystems have thus prompted academics to encourage an extended, dynamic, and inclusive definition of the WEF concept. Although various forms of nexus concepts exist with great similarities, research identified the WEF nexus as the most predominant concept [24,26]. This research utilised both the LWE and WEF nexuses since most of the identified articles used the WEF approach.…”

Understanding the role of biodiversity in the climate, food, water, energy, transport and health nexus in Europe

“…However, the complexity and diversity of applications of the nexus approach has recently expanded (Estoque, 2023). These studies tend to expand upon the water-energy-food nexus by adding new elements, including climate change (Adeola et al, 2022;Hirwa et al, 2021;Ioannou & Laspidou, 2022), land use (Jaroenkietkajorn & Gheewala, 2021;Kati et al, 2021;Laspidou et al, 2019;Sietz & Neudert, 2022), and health Hirwa et al, 2021;Newell, 2023;OHHLEP et al, 2022). The inclusion of biodiversity and its interlinkages with other sectors (i.e., the biodiversity nexus) has also started to gain traction more recently in terms of studies focused on the waterenergy-food-ecosystem nexus (Carmona-Moreno et al, 2021;Cristiano et al, 2021;UNECE, 2015), the water-energy-food-biodiversity nexus (Moreno Vargas et al, 2023;Stoy et al, 2018;Subedi et al, 2020) or more broadly in terms of the water-energy-food-environment nexus (Hellegers et al, 2008).…”

“…These reviews show the new and emerging research on the biodiversity nexus, but also highlight that it is currently limited to a few regions, systems and topics, and highly focused on slight augmentations or interpretations of the water-food-energy nexus. In addition, other nexus studies have focused on negative sectoral impacts on biodiversity (Green et al, 2019;Sonter et al, 2020) and negative climate impacts on a range of sectors, including biodiversity (Adeola et al, 2022;Ioannou & Laspidou, 2022). However, few studies demonstrate the potential of the nexus approach for understanding the positive influence of biodiversity on other sectors, which will be vital for mainstreaming biodiversity considerations across sectors and providing evidence on how biodiversity can support transformative pathways towards sustainable futures.…”