The Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index: A Tool to Support Integrated Resource Planning, Management and Security

Abstract

The call for measuring synergies and trade-offs between water, energy, and food is increasing worldwide. This article presents the development and application of a country-level index that has been calculated for 181 nations using open databases. Following an assessment of 87 water-, energy-, and food-related indicators, 21 were selected to constitute the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Index. In this article, the WEF Nexus Index is utilized to assess the Southern African Development Community, where it demonstrates that food security is an area of concern, while the potential for beneficially exploiting water resources and energy projects exists in several countries. Water for agriculture could be achieved through the drought-proofing of rainfed agriculture and systematic irrigation development, with energy as the critical enabler. Neither the composite indicator nor the WEF nexus approach is the panacea that will solve all the significant development or environmental challenges facing humanity. However, they could contribute to integrated resource management and policy-making and are complementary to the Sustainable Development Goals. In this study, the methodology set out by the Joint Research Centre's Competence Center on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards has been followed. A set of visualizations associated with the WEF Nexus Index have been compiled in an interactive website, namely www.wefnexusindex.org.

Sustainable Water Infrastructure: Visions and Options for Sub-Saharan Africa

“…On a scale of 0-1, 87% of the countries reviewed scored below 0.5, with only Gabon, Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, and Eswatini scoring 0.5 or above. A similar tool has been recently developed: the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Index [182], which was created using open databases and based on 21 indicators. An assessment of SSA countries using this tool [177] saw similar results to Nkiaka, Okpara [181], with African countries performing sub-optimally.…”

A simultaneous equations approach to analyze the sustainable water–energy–food nexus in South Korea

“…Moreover, it has a considerably high water footprint (Hoekstra and Chapagain 2011), which, together with the deterioration of water infrastructure (Kang 2019), threatens water security. Therefore, the availability aspect of WEF resources is particularly vulnerable (Simpson et al 2022). Integrating the interaction between WEF security and the nexus approach can prove helpful in achieving sustainable resource management in society.…”

Sustainable Island (Sail): An Innovative Way for Reaching a Significant Rise in Indonesia Water, Energy, and Food Nexus Index

“…The WEF nexus index consists of a collection of 21 indicators. However, it is difficult to reduce the status of a nation's integrated resource management to a single number [33]. This article does not measure the index due to limited access to data, but it does highlight the possibility of improving the availability and accessibility of water, food, and energy through the implementation of SAIL, which is associated with an increase in the WEF nexus index.…”