Collecting inputs for the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference preparatory process

The question of how to effectively use our water resources has been debated for decades, yet what we need more than ever is direct action at the field level.

A message from Felix Dodds, Executive Director of the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future and International Steering Committee (ISC) Member

The ‘nexus’ has become a popular buzz word to describe the complex linkages among water, energy and food security – sectors that have traditionally remained fairly separate. Talk of the water-energy-food nexus was a hot topic at last month’s Planet Under Pressure conference; it is also the focus of a significant German government-organised input to the UN Rio+20 Summit. What has brought nexus thinking to the fore, and what does this nexus look like? How does it relate to climate compatible development?

“The flapping of a butterfly’s wings may or may not have the capacity to trigger a tornado on another continent, but without a doubt, our food, water and energy systems have profound impacts upon each other (and us, and our planet). With that in mind, we’re excited to introduce our new GRACE website, which we built to reflect the interconnected nature of these three systems.”

There’s an old Western phrase, “Whiskey’s for drinking; water’s for war.” The quip captures the significance of water - water is essential to life. It is also fundamental to economic well-being - with a nexus to food, energy, industrial production, and a host of goods and services.

Do we really understand - or think sufficiently about - the “Energy-Water-Food Nexus”? That was the concern shared during a searching Singapore Energy Summit plenary session on Monday.

The world’s rapid transition to urbanization contributes greatly to the pressure on water, food security, and energy, as the World Water Week Workshop on Securing Water and Food in an Urbanising World explored. We cannot simply look at urbanization as an urban problem. As Pay Drechsel from the International Water Management Institute stressed in the seminar, urbanization has strong links to rural and peri-urban areas, as urban centers become sinks for both rural-borne water and nutrients. The informal sector around many rapidly developing cities, such as Chennai, has entered into a highly lucrative business pumping tanks and aquifers dry and selling the water to cities. The water is transported by trucks, adding energy costs to cities’ water supply. Through this system, informal water markets supply cities with every drop of water they can get, quickly drying up peri-urban areas. While it requires significant infrastructure costs to redirect water sources from increasing distances towards cities, peri-urban areas are suffering as cities squeeze them dry of water resources.