A new tool for identifying sustainable resource management strategies governed by the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus, especially tailored for Qatar

Investigating complex interdependencies between agriculture, energy, and water in the Ukraine - by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

A Preparation of China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection Co-Control Program - by Asian Development Bank (ADB)

by EDF Group, Thai and Lao Governments

by the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Laos), TheunHinboun Power Company, Statkraft Oslo, Electrcité du Laos, and GMS Lao Company Ltd.

As the international community observed the UN World Water Day, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were part of important talks at UN Headquarters in New York concerning water-sharing. These talks bring attention to a broader nexus of water, climate and energy security in Central Asia that is worth watching closely by both regional leaders and the international community.

“The Foreseer tool visualises linked energy, water and land resource futures by outputting a set of Sankey diagrams for energy, water and land, showing the flow from basic resource (e.g. coal, surface water, and forested land) through transformations (e.g. fuel refining and desalination) to final services (e.g. sustenance, hygiene and transportation).”

This motion infographic explains the importance of nexus thinking in our everyday lives and policy decisions. “Nexus thinking is a new way of thinking that recognises the crucial interdependence of water, energy and food - a relationship that forms the core of the Environment Nexus project. This new IIEA video explores the deep interconnections between the three essential resources and highlights the need for nexus thinking to help meet the world’s needs, as it grows from 7 to 9 billion by 2050.” The Environment Nexus project is co-financed by the European Parliament.

This publication by the World Bank is a timely source offering new ideas for integrating adaptation into policy making. The book’s recommendations, says the World Bank, will help ensure inclusive and sustainable climate mitigation actions throughout the MENA region, as promoted by a new World Bank special report on Adaptation to a Changing Climate in the Arab Countries launched in November 2012 at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP-18) in Doha, Qatar.

Filmed at the STEPS/Soas “Not another nexus” event, October 2012.

Conducted at the High-Level African Dialogue on the Water-Food-Energy Nexus in Nairobi, Kenya, experts interviewed stress the necessity of Water in a Post 2015 agenda and present their views on the importance of water Post 2015 and beyond.

The U.S. National Intelligence Council identifies the Water-Energy-Food Nexus as one of the mega trends for the coming decades. “The increasing nexus among food, water, and energy - in combination with climate change - will have far-reaching effects on global development over the next 15-20 years. In a tectonic shift, demand for these resources will grow substantially owing to an increase in the global population from 7.1 billion today to 8.3 billion by 2030.”

held by Jasper Oduor, Executive Secretary of the East African Power Pool, at the African Dialogue on the Water-Food-Energy Nexus in Nairobi.

The competition between water and energy needs represents a critical business, security, and environmental issue, but has not yet received the attention that it merits. Energy production consumes significant amounts of water; providing water, in turn, consumes energy. In a world where water scarcity is a major and growing challenge, meeting future energy needs depends on water availability - and meeting water needs depends on wise energy policy decisions.

State legislatures and natural resource managers have traditionally addressed water and energy as two separate issues. However, water and energy are deeply connected and sustainable management of either resource requires consideration of the other. Thus, resource managers and lawmakers across the country are beginning to take a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to the management of water and energy. This report provides overview information about the nexus between water and energy and provides a summary of state legislation addressing this issue.

Two of the key factors that drive agricultural growth and food production in India are access to arable land and utilizable water resources. These are examined with particular reference to their regional variation in order to make an assessment of the magnitude of the food security challenge they pose for the country. Recent official estimates of groundwater exploitation in India are compared with actual negative physical, social and economic consequences of over-exploitation, as are evident in different regions, and their implications for national food security discussed. The analyses show that the real food security and water management challenge lies in the mismatch between water availability and agricultural water demand: high demands occur in water scarce but agriculturally prosperous regions and low demands in naturally water-abundant but agriculturally backward regions. Serious groundwater depletion problems, which occur in the naturally water-scarce but surplus food-producing regions, magnify the challenge. The small area of arable land per capita is a major reason for low agricultural water demand in regions that have abundant water. Sustainability of well irrigation in the naturally water-scarce regions, which is the backbone of India’s food security, could be achieved through judicious investment in surface water projects which encourage direct irrigation and replenishment of over-exploited aquifers. Other strategies include: pro rata pricing of electricity in the farm sector; volumetric pricing of water from public irrigation systems; improving the efficiency of utilization of green water or the rainwater held in the soil profile; preventing depletion of the residual soil moisture in the field after crop harvest by reducing the fallow period; and reducing the use of water through a shift to low water consuming crops.

“The water, food and energy nexus is an idea which is starting to gain traction and this is encouraging. But to really make a change, all of us who care about the future of the planet and its passengers must commit to promote, advance and give meaning to the water, food and energy nexus.” Speech by the Prince of Orange during the High-Level African Dialogue on the Water-Food-Energy Nexus in Nairobi

This discussion brief, based on new SEI research in the MENA region, explains how a science-based “nexus” approach to adaptation and mitigation – specifically, to water and energy planning - could lead to smarter, more resilient development solutions.

held at the 10th European Conference: The Implementation of the Water Framework Directive Europe‐INBO, by Caner Aktaş, Boğaziçi University

A tremendous amount of valuable water and sanitation related information is generated every year by different agencies, programmes and initiatives of the United Nations system. Unfortunately this information is scattered, making it difficult for stakeholders to access relevant information on time in order to make informed decisions. Often, stakeholders are not familiar with the mandate of each agency, its main areas of competence and specific focus. Developed by the UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC) with the support of the Municipality of Zaragoza, Spain, the UN Documentation Centre on Water and Sanitation (UNDCWS) acts as a clearinghouse on water and sanitation-related information materials produced by the United Nations system (programmes, agencies, etc.).

This report, building on the work of various new initiatives including UNEP’s International Resource Panel, provides recommendations and outlines options in respect to bioenergy in support of a Green Economy. The report primarily addresses the following two questions: 1) how are the production and use of bioenergy products likely to influence the future state of water resources? 2) how can society mitigate impacts and guide development towards sustainable use of these resources, including groundwater, rivers, and riparian and wetland systems? In considering the ways in which bioenergy can impact water resources, the report identifies appropriate tools for assessing effects at different spatial and temporal scales. A number of indicators and assessment tools have been developed to include the water perspective in analyses and to assist strategy development and land use planning.

Water-related risks continue to place stress on economies and communities at both local and global scales. The financial impacts of floods, droughts, and overall water quantity and quality are rippling across the world as industries cope with the impacts of the massive floods in Thailand, the most severe US drought in 50 years, and the rising demand for water in developing economies. Swiss Re estimates that flooding impacts 500 million people every year and now rivals earthquake losses at $15B annually. High impact events like these and smaller, more acute local impacts contribute to the increase in reported water-related risk exposure from Global 500 respondents. In 2012, water-related impacts are being felt more broadly and more businesses have recognized these growing waterrelated risks than before. Across the board, respondents report more water-related risks and opportunities. More respondents are assessing water-related risks in their direct operations and supply chains and are also evaluating water-related opportunities. In addition, respondents report taking more tangible action to manage these issues and seize opportunities. However, despite increased awareness and activity among some respondents, the Global 500 response rate is static at 60% (191 companies); disappointing given the weight of investor interest in this issue and the increasing proportion of companies reporting water-related impacts, risks and opportunities. The Health Care sector has the highest response rate (77%) while Energy lags for the 2nd year running at just 44%; surprising considering this sector reports the highest exposure to risk. This report is based on analysis of 185 responses received by August 6, 2012 and investigates how companies are using collaborative approaches to solving some of the most complex water-related problems.

One possible new impetus for development is the idea of so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which has emerged in the run-up to the Rio+20 Summit. It is still unclear if these goals will find sufficient backing, what they would include and when they would be implemented. Yet, some important aspects have to be considered in order to avoid mentioned past shortcomings of both UN processes. A balance and interconnectedness of issues is essential both to emphasize the interlinkages and to address the criticism of an environmental bias in the Rio Process. Importantly, central issues like poverty eradication must not be neglected. Additionally, measuring success is of importance. Here, measuring techniques as well as the quality of data collection have to be taken seriously. Institutional backing is equally important. This is relevant for the structures of international governance of development which have to be embedded in competent institutions and for implementation on national and local level where often-praised “ownership” has to be realized. Content: From MDGs to SDGs? - Balancing issues - Interconnecting issues - Measuring success - Institutional backing - Strong signal for post 2015 - by Stine Klapper and Nicole Kranz

Industrial processes rely on water for cooling, chemical solvents, cleaning, just to name a few. Forty percent of the worlds’ food is produced from irrigated lands. However, much of this would not be possible without energy; which is a critical input to pump, move, and treat the water required by municipalities, industries and agriculture. Ironically, however, much of this energy would not be available without water to turn turbines, wash inputs, or cool equipment. Thus in many cases use of one resource is inextricably linked to use of the other - hence, the energy-water nexus.

Held at the Second Annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa Addis Ababa, 19-20 October 2012, by Gisela Prasad, Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town

Hydrological change is a central part of global change. Its drivers in the past need to be understood and quantified for accurate projection of disruptive future changes. Here we analyse past hydro-climatic, agricultural and hydropower changes from twentieth century data for nine major Swedish drainage basins, and synthesize and compare these results with other regional and global assessments of hydrological change by irrigation and deforestation. Cross-regional comparison shows similar increases of evapotranspiration by non-irrigated agriculture and hydropower as for irrigated agriculture. In the Swedish basins, non-irrigated agriculture has also increased, whereas hydropower has decreased temporal runoff variability. A global indication of the regional results is a net total increase of evapotranspiration that is larger than a proposed associated planetary boundary. This emphasizes the need for climate and Earth system models to account for different human uses of water as anthropogenic drivers of hydro-climatic change. The present study shows how these drivers and their effects can be distinguished and quantified for hydrological basins on different scales and in different world regions. This should encourage further exploration of greater basin variety for better understanding of anthropogenic hydro-climatic change.

by Dr Larry C.Y. Wong, Program Director, TIES, held at the National Convention on Food Security in Malaysia, 15-16 Oct 2012, Putrajaya, Malaysia

Award-winning research by Edward Spang, The Center for Water-Energy Efficiency (CWEE), University of California, Davis - Water and energy resource systems are fundamentally interrelated. Secure and reliable access to both resources is critical to basic survival, as well as ongoing economic development, at all scales and in every region of the world. At the most basic level, water is required in the production of energy, and energy is required in the treatment and transport of water – a linked relationship known as the water-energy nexus. While both sides of the water-energy nexus merit attention for improving resource use, this research effort focuses on the water requirements of energy systems and the associated implications for national water security.

The UN-Water Activity Information System (UNW-AIS) is an online platform to present and share information on water-related projects and learning initiatives from UN-Water and its members, partners and programmes. UNW-AIS is a platform for UN-Water members, partners and programmes as well as a broader audience including policy makers, water professionals, researchers and those from higher education for sharing information and knowledge from global to local level.

This website is a resource for decision makers, researchers, and civil society at large to learn about the JMP’s activities, the status of water supply and sanitation coverage and its importance for our health and well-being, and to obtain detailed statistics about the use of water and sanitation facilities at different scales (global, regional and country-level). The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation is the official United Nations mechanism tasked with monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) relating to drinking-water and sanitation (MDG 7, Target 7c), which is to: “Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation”.

This policy brief examines local impacts of oil palm cultivation in Indonesia, drawing on a participatory action research pilot study in one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia. Palm oil is a major source of biodiesel, the most common biofuel used in the European Union. It is also used in food, cosmetics and other products. Indonesia and Malaysia together are the world’s top producers of palm oil, accounting for nearly 90% of global production. The sector plays a pivotal role in Indonesia’s national economy, but although it has been shown to ease poverty for some, it has also had major negative impacts. This policy brief, based on a forthcoming SEI working paper, gauges the impacts of palm oil plantations from the perspective of local communities and identifies governance issues. It finds that local communities in Central Kalimantan Province have severe grievances, reporting that plantations pollute local rivers, lakes and aquifers, harming their drinking water and killing fish, and also dry up community wells.

IW:LEARN, the International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network, aims to strengthen transboundary waters management by facilitating global portfolio experience sharing and learning, dialogue facilitation, targeted knowledge sharing, and replication in order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Global Environment Facility’s international water projects.

The IWA WaterWiki aims to provide a platform for the global water community to interact and share knowledge online. The site will be a reference for all areas of water, waste water and environmental science and management. This is the place for water professionals worldwide to interact, share knowledge and increase understanding.

The Global Water Partnership Toolbox is a free and open database with a library of background papers, policy briefs, technical briefs, perspective papers, case studies, and references aimed at helping water practitioners and professionals implement better approaches to managing water and learn more about improving water management at a local, national, regional or global level. The ToolBox also serves as a venue for engaging the broader water sector community through shared knowledge and network building.

The Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) promotes women’s and men’s equitable access to and management of safe and adequate water, for domestic supply, sanitation, food security and environmental sustainability. GWA offers a number of resources on its website, notably its resource guide on gender and IWRM, aimed at assisting water and gender practitioners and professionals as well as persons responsible for gender mainstreaming.

EMWIS is an initiative of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. It provides a strategic tool for exchanging information and knowledge in the water sector between and within the Euro Mediterranean partnership countries. All the countries involved in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership are concerned: The 27 EU member states and 10 Mediterranean Partner Countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). At the conference of the Euro-Med Water Directors (Rome, Nov. 2005), it was decided to open EMWIS to the Mediterranean countries not signatories of the Barcelona Declaration, i.e. Balkan countries and Libya.

Cap-Net is an international network for capacity building in sustainable water management. It is made up of a partnership of autonomous international, regional and national institutions and networks committed to capacity building in the water sector. Networks have proven to be effective at promoting the understanding of integrated water resources management and play a key role in supporting the development of IWRM and the achievement of the MDGs.

The UN-Water/Africa (formerly IGWA) comprises many UN agencies, including the Economic Commission for Africa, United Nations Environmental Program, World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,The United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Water and Sustainable Development Programme in Africa, The New Partnership for Africa’s Development, African Development Bank Group. The collaboration began in 1992 as the Interagency Group for Water in Africa (IGWA) which was formed as African regional counterpart at the initiative of ECA of in response to a request by the UNACC Subcommittee on Water Resources, to coordinate and harmonize water activities in Africa by various UN and other subregional IGOs. The other objective of IGWA was to promote joint collaborative activities in water sector in Africa by these agencies. The UNECA was the Secretariat of IGWA s and continues to serve as the Secretariat of UN-Water/Africa. Members of UN-Water/Africa meet routinely to review progress, to exchange information and to plan follow-up-activities.

Water and energy are inextricably linked and mutually dependent, with each affecting the other’s availability. Since 2009, GAO has issued five reports on the interdependencies between energy and water. These reports have shown that a considerable amount of water is used to cool thermoelectric power plants, grow feedstocks and produce biofuels, and extract oil and natural gas. Some of these sources of energy may also negatively affect water quality. In addition, developing oil and gas resources can produce wastewater— known as “produced water”—that must be managed or treated. Conversely, significant amounts of energy are needed to extract, transport, treat, and use water in urban areas. GAO was asked to identify key energy-water nexus issues that Congress and federal agencies need to consider when developing and implementing national policies for energy and water resources. To conduct this work, GAO systematically reviewed its five reports to identify key nexus issues. GAO also used a content analysis of related literature and interviews with specialists to validate these themes - by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Report to the Ranking Member, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives

This book examines recent developments in river (flood) management from the viewpoint of Making Space for the River and the resulting challenges for water governance. Different examples from Europe and the United States of America are discussed that aim to ‘green’ rivers, including increasing river discharge for flood management, enhancing natural and landscape values, promoting local or regional economic development, and urban regeneration. Making Space for the River presents not only opportunities and synergies but also risks as it crosses established institutional boundaries and touches on multiple stakeholder interests, which can easily clash. Making Space for the River helps the reader to understand the policy and governance dynamics that lead to these tensions and pays attention to a variety of attempts to organize effective and legitimate governance approaches. The book helps to realize connections between policy domains, problem frames, and goals of different actors at different levels that contribute to decisive and legitimate action. Making Space for the River has an international comparative character that sheds light upon both the country-specific governance dilemmas which relate to specific state traditions and institutional characteristics of national water management, but also uncovers interesting similarities which provide us with building blocks to formulate more generic lessons about the governance of Making Space for the River in different institutional and social contexts.

This book creates an awareness of the important couplings between water and energy. It shows how energy is used in all the various water cycle operations and demonstrates how water is used – and misused – in all kinds of energy production and generation. Population increase, climate change and an increasing competition between food and fuel production create enormous pressures on both water and energy availability. Since there is no replacement for water, water security looks more crucial than energy security. This is true not only in developing countries but also in the most advanced countries. The western parts of the USA suffer from water scarcity that provides a real security threat. The book does not aim to show “how to design” or to solve some of the very intricate conflicts between water and energy. Instead it systematically lists ideas, possibilities and a number of results. There are a few more technical chapters that act as entry points to more detailed technical literature - by Gustaf Olsson

“Just how important is the nexus between water and the economy?” What was most inspiring about it was not so much that the event nailed the connection between water and the economy, but that the organisation is bringing together an interesting coalition of people who care about the environment with those who care about the economics of water - by Christopher Gasson, GWI

By Arthur Jackson - Why does our society or any society function as it does? Many of the activities were established by social systems created in the past and are currently being maintained by the larger society. Other organized patterns of behavior seemed to have occurred spontaneously, without any specific organizing effort, but continue to control and govern behavior for very long periods of time.? Why are certain animals used for domestic stock and not others? Why is the method of farming in China and India so different from farming in America and Europe? Why are there so many more people in Asia and India than in the rest of the world? Was there some guiding principle that determined which patterns of behavior would dominate? To understand these process one must first understand the layers of systems controlling our world.

This paper provides an initial, formal analysis for the design of an Indian food procurement system that considers climate driven variations in renewable water supply, the needs for groundwater pumping, varying regional productivity of crops and farm level economics, assuming that the food security goals are to be met while keeping current procurement prices fixed for each crop, and maximizing net aggregate farm income from the procurement system. The results suggest that net farm revenue could be doubled while eliminating the need for irrigation to meet the food requirements.

“The nexus approach embeds the opinion water, energy and food security cannot be achieved in single sector methodology. Considering the interlinkages between water, energy and land is crucial for achieving sustainable development objectives.” - Agriwaterpedia is an initiative to foster the provision of approaches and good practices, and to draw data from experiences and lessons learnt from a variety of development countries. The platform is also an instrument to trigger communication and actively promote knowledge exchange.

Recent events—drought, scrambles to invest in farmland around the world, shifts in energy prices, and shocks in energy supplies—underline the scarcity of resources we depend on to produce the world’s food supply. It is increasingly clear that sustainably feeding 9 billion people—the projected world population in 2050—who will consume at the rate of 12 billion people, if they follow the current consumption pattern of industrialized countries, will require a much more careful and integrated approach to the use of land, water, and energy than we currently apply.

The corporate world is waking to the realisation that improved water management is fundamental for future prosperity and human well-being. This special issue explores aspects of its response: from the application of an array of analytical tools such as water footprint accounting, risk filters and standards; water use efficiencies; derivatives and insurance mechanisms; to collaborative infrastructure and watershed projects; stakeholder engagement and attempts to influence water governance at all scales. Drawing on the papers in this issue the motivations for this new agenda are traced and its potential in helping to unlock some of our most intractable water challenges, or to open a Pandora’s box of controversies are considered. Key concerns include the potential for diverging corporate and public interests; policy and regulatory capture; privileging of economic over social perspectives; process inequities; displacement of existing water management priorities, and the risks of misguided interventions which undermine institutional and hydrological sustainability - with the financial support of Water Witness International, WWF, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and German Technical Cooperation (GIZ)

Food, water, energy and metals are the drivers of industrial, economic and social growth. As the world’s population rises and the clamor for higher living standards gets louder, so too the struggle for resource access intensifies. This crisis for mankind and our planet is simultaneously our greatest challenge, as well as a once in a lifetime investment opportunity for visionary investors. Institutional investors are now eager for solutions - by Global Fund Exchange LLC

The Water Security Research Centre of the University of East Anglia (UK) applies natural and social science to address important theoretical, practical and policy challenges of managing water sustainably in a rapidly changing world. The Centre draws upon the unique skills and experience of internationally-renowned researchers in the UEA School of International Development and the UEA School of Environmental Sciences to address key water security and related issues from the individual to the global level through inter-disciplinary research, teaching and capacity-building.

Water resources vital to human well being and human activities are a product of nature. Through services that ecosystems perform, water flows are regulated and water quality is improved. These are just two of the valuable functions by ecosystems that benefit human populations. To be viable in the long run, any measures to achieve water security must include the conservation of upstream ecosystems such as forests. It is not only an environmental necessity but an economic one as well. Watershed protection is a low cost option that to be pursued prior to other more costly infrastructure alternatives. - by Jeffrey Cowan M. The film “Nature in Water Security” is the centerpiece of Jeffrey’s Master of Environmental Studies thesis at The University of Pennsylvania.

According to estimates by the International Land Coalition based at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 57 million hectares of land have been leased to foreign investors since 2007. Current research has focused on human rights issues related to inward investment in land but has been ignorant of water resource issues and the challenges of managing scarce water. This handbook will be the first to address inward investment in land and its impact on water resources in Africa. The geographical scope of this book will be the African continent, where land has attracted the attention of risk-taking investors because much land is under-utilised marginalized land, with associated water resources and rapidly growing domestic food markets. The successful implementation of investment strategies in African agriculture could determine the future of more than one billion people. An important factor to note is that sub-Saharan Africa will, of all the continents, be hit hardest by climate change, population growth and food insecurity. Sensible investment in agriculture is therefore needed, however, at what costs and at whose expense? The book will also address the livelihoods theme and provide a holistic analysis of land and water grabbing in sub-Saharan Africa. Four other themes will addressed: politics, economics, the environment and the history of land investments in sub-Saharan Africa.

In a poll taken last year, The Nature Conservancy found that 77% of Americans have absolutely no idea where their water comes from. This lack of understanding about how water is delivered to our homes is symptomatic of broader water illiteracy - too few understand the basic workings of global or local water cycles, how much water we use in our homes, factories, or farm fields, how water shortages develop, or how our use of water might affect the health of natural ecosystems. If we don’t understand these basic characteristics of water and its use, we likely won’t understand how we can use water more sustainably, or what we should expect of other water users or managers. In the past few months Brian Richter has been working with Jason Pearson of TRUTHstudio to develop some graphical illustrations of our water sources and uses.

Animation on virtual water: “Eating water might sound strange, but you are about to discover that actually you eat loads of it, you are addicted to it, and you don’t know it. An understanding of our water consumption can help us provide a solution to one of our most pressing problems: making sure there is enough water for everybody on the planet.”

Hillary Clinton speaking to the UN Roundtable on Water Security: “Water scarcity could have profound implications for security... I think water should be a priority in every nation’s foreign policy and domestic agenda, and we need to work together to advance cooperation on shared waters.”

World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2012 - Andy Wales (SABMiller) reports from the session on food security: The water-food-energy nexus is at the core of this discussion, and people are now embracing the complexity, rather than fearing it. There are lots of synergies in seeking solutions that tackle each aspect of the nexus, and this bodes well for acceptance and scaling of solutions.

This site is meant to serve as a resource for credible, accurate information on water. It is also aimed at increasing global awareness of our water challenges and the need for thoughtful solutions. In that regard, we hope Growing Blue is a catalyst and platform for dialogue on this important topic. Water is one of the most critical factors in determining how and at what pace our world can support humanity’s continued growth. That story needs to be told with a greater voice and to a broader audience, now and in the future. In consultation with industry colleagues, scientists, academia and environmental professionals at leading NGOs, Growing Blue was created by Veolia Water in consultation with The Nature Conservancy, the Clean Water America Alliance, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Global Compact CEO Water Mandate, The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Global Water Intelligence and Cardno ENTRIX.

This paper highlights how corruption issues in the water sector form a threat to global food security. It provides an overview of corruption risks affecting the food production chain, and summarises best approaches and concrete measures to increase water integrity for food security. The paper serves as background information for the seminar Promoting Integrity and Transparency in Water for Food at the Stockholm World Water Week 2012, jointly organised by the Water Integrity Network(WIN), the UN Development Programme Water Governance Facility (WGF) and Transparency International (TI).

A blog by Peter Brabeck-Letmathe - The Water Challenge blog by Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe aims to create discussion about the important issue of water availability around the world.

Groundwater is a life-sustaining resource that supplies water to billions of people, plays a central part in irrigated agriculture and influences the health of many ecosystems. Most assessments of global water resources have focused on surface water, but unsustainable depletion of groundwater has recently been documented on both regional and global scales. It remains unclear how the rate of global groundwater depletion compares to the rate of natural renewal and the supply needed to support ecosystems. Here we define the groundwater footprint (the area required to sustain groundwater use and groundwater-dependent ecosystem services) and show that humans are overexploiting groundwater in many large aquifers that are critical to agriculture, especially in Asia and North America.

Implications for Future Financing for “Optimal Land Use” - by Uma Lele, CPF Organization Led Initiative (OLI) on Forest, Rome, 19 Sept 2012

Presentation video of Guy Pegram, Pegasys, at the World Water Week 2012

A major international conference was held by CEP-BCI in February 2012. The conference benchmarked GMS economic growth between 2001 and 2010 and its impact on environmental and social development as well as provided an outlook for the next decade. Topics discussed included known and emerging economic, environmental, and climate change challenges in the context of food, water and energy security, and participants charted out key strategic thrusts for the coming decade. More than 233 delegates, including senior government officials from the GMS countries, private sector representatives and development partners attended. The conference outcomes have provided important inputs to the GMS program in general, and CEP-BCI Phase II in particular. During the next decade, emphasis will need to be placed on the management of food, water and energy resources in the GMS, which requires a careful balance of economic and environmental interests and better management of natural resources.

Water and energy are vital to the prosperity of the United States. We describe intimate but easily overlooked connections between the two resources: energy production relies on enormous amounts of water, and developing and delivering water supplies consumes large amounts of energy. As demand for both water and energy is expected to increase with population growth, we describe the challenges to addressing limited water and energy supplies. Obstacles exist at all scales and demand involvement of stakeholders, experts, and policymakers. In particular, we argue that because of the ubiquitous nature of the nexus between water and energy, a large-scale or system view is required to address both resource supplies together. This report will highlight some of the challenges we face in securing our energy and water resources, important steps to drive solutions, and the role of federal government to help us achieve a sustainable future. - By the American Geophysical Union (AGU)

In the final installment of the Global Resource Nexus Series, Junior Fellow Corey Johnson examines the everyday politics behind resource allocation and consumption. He examines the role resources play in causing migration, and the importance of cities in understanding and addressing the resource nexus.

The complex interplay of food, energy, and water demand and supply poses numerous policy challenges, especially in the context of expanding population sizes, rising standards of living, and resource management constraints due to sustainable environmental practices.1 Bhutan provides an interesting illustration of how these issues can be addressed holistically, in a relatively socially responsible, economically beneficial and environmentally sustainable way. By Paula Hanasz, Future Directions international

by Alain Vidal CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food

Constructing a multi-level governance framework for the Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus in the SADC region - by Inga Jacobs, Water Research Commission (WRC), and Manisha Gulati, WWF South Africa

by Aditi Mukherji, IWMI

by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the California Energy Commission

The website for the Year of Water Cooperation is now online. The objective of this International Year is to raise awareness, both on the potential for increased cooperation, and on the challenges facing water management in light of the increase in demand for water access, allocation and services. The Year will highlight the history of successful water cooperation initiatives, as well as identify burning issues on water education, water diplomacy, transboundary water management, financing cooperation, national/international legal frameworks, and the linkages with the Millennium Development Goals. It also will provide an opportunity to capitalize on the momentum created at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), and to support the formulation of new objectives that will contribute towards developing water resources that are truly sustainable.

Guardian Sustainable Business brings together the best sustainability news, comment and analysis from across the web. It collates expert opinion, features blogs from leading sustainability experts and showcases best practice in corporate sustainability. SABMiller is the official partner of GSB’s Water hub which explores the issue of water scarcity; addressing the development and implementation of water sustainability and the role that business has to play in reducing water usage.

Freshwater management challenges are increasingly common. Allocation of limited water resources between agricultural, municipal and environmental uses now requires the full integration of supply, demand, water quality and ecological considerations. The Water Evaluation and Planning system, or WEAP, aims to incorporate these issues into a practical yet robust tool for integrated water resources planning. WEAP is developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute’s U.S. Center. WEAP Hightlights: Integrated Approach: Unique approach for conducting integrated water resources planning assessments - Stakeholder Process: Transparent structure facilitates engagement of diverse stakeholders in an open process - Water Balance: A database maintains water demand and supply information to drive mass balance model on a link-node architecture - Simulation based: Calculates water demand, supply, runoff, infiltration, crop requirements, flows, and storage, and pollution generation, treatment, discharge and instream water quality under varying hydrologic and policy scenarios - Policy Scenarios: Evaluates a full range of water development and management options, and takes account of multiple and competing uses of water systems - User-friendly interface: Graphical drag-and-drop GIS-based interface with flexible model output as maps, charts and tables - Model integration: Dynamic links to other models and software, such as QUAL2K, MODFLOW, MODPATH, PEST, Excel and GAMS

In order to help understand the relationship between water and our nation’s energy production, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) released a new report today detailing the connection between energy production and water use. The report highlights solutions to address water resources as the population grows and the climate continues to warm. The report, “Energy and Water: Connection and Conflict”, makes the case that to meet future energy demand, the U.S. will need to ensure that water resources are easily accessible and reliable.

The report, “The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape” analysed the major trends in water and food-related article output at international, national and institutional levels. Elsevier and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) worked closely together on creating the report, which is based on the analysis of Scopus citation data by Elsevier’s SciVal Analytics team. The aim of this report is to provide a transparent view of the water research landscape and the key players within the field, which is becoming more dynamic, complex and, in some places, fragmented. The report clearly shows that water research is growing in new places and becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, where collaboration is a key factor in producing high impact research.

This report highlights the impact of drought on resilience in the food and grocery industry and the need for greater levels of collaboration on water stewardship, including recommendations for businesses and lessons learned & next steps.

Global food losses and waste add up to more than a quarter of our water use for irrigation. Equivalent to the water withdrawn for the industrial sector worldwide. McKinsey calculates the value of annual global food waste at US$ 252 billion. The value of wasted food is almost double the sum spent on official aid for development.

by Orn-uma Polpanich, Chayanis Krittasudthacheewa and Eric Kemp-Benedict, SEI

by Erwin Nijsse, Program director Natural Resource Stresses, Shell

by Stuart Orr, WWF International

Green Cities, Integrated Resource Planning Approach and Trade-offs to Meet a Green, Sustainable Economy. By Jay Witherspoon, Mark Anderson, Avinash Pathwardhan, and Jared Thorpe, CH2M HILL

by Joachim von Braun, Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn

A global dialogue platform for best practices and optimisation of multi-purpose water infrastructure. By Mark Smith, Director IUCN Global Water Programme Gland, Switzerland

by Jürgen Hofmann, IGB (Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries), D. Tuul, PSARI (Plant Science and Research Institute, Darkhan), and B. Enkhtuya, AUD (Agricultural Unviersity Darkhan)

by Rick Lawford, Senior Scientist, Morgan State University Associate, IISD, and Hank Venema VP, IISD

Since 2009, the Water Futures Partnership – composed of SABMiller, WWF, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ (working on behalf of the German Ministry for Development Cooperation BMZ), and our local partners – has been building the business case and creating mechanisms for companies to engage in local collective action to help address shared water risks facing businesses, communities and ecosystems. Now they are taking a fresh look at the Nexus: Water, Food and Energy are interconnected: agriculture accounts for about 70% of global freshwater use and can pollute freshwater supplies if mismanaged. Water is also used to generate electricity: in the USA, power generation accounts for about 50% of all freshwater withdrawals and drought in countries that use hydropower - Ethiopia and Ghana, for example - can lead to black-outs. Energy, in turn, is needed to fertilise and transport crops, which can themselves be used as biofuel to create energy. Large amounts of energy are also required to pump water to drier regions and, as water scarcity increases, so will the energy needed for technologies such as desalination. Given these trade-offs and interactions, successfully addressing the triple challenge of water stress, food security and energy supplies means taking a holistic view and balancing the many competing demands. This animation takes a fresh look at the Water-Food-Energy Nexus.

Agriwaterpedia is an initiative to foster the provision of approaches and good practices, and to draw data from experiences and lessons learnt from a variety of development countries. The platform is also an instrument to trigger communication and actively promote knowledge exchange. Aggriwaterpedia is a major step towards closing this knowledge gap - a tool in discussing strategies and challenges related to agricultural water use on a global scale. Initiated by GIZ, the platform was launched during World Water Week 2012 on 28 August. Wiki Workspace focuses on climate change, agricultural water management, food security, with good practices and tool box.

Video description of the NEXUS. Looking at a practical example of the interconnectivity in the natural and human environment between the food, water and energy. An initial introduction and perhaps inspiration for those looking to produce better examples of how the Nexus might influence them.

Using nexus thinking around water, energy and food leads to positive feedback loops and a brighter future for all - by SABMiller

This pilot project is a scoping study on how PRC’s current co-control analytical methods can be expanded to quantify interactions between water and energy as well as carbon and air pollutants. PRCEE’s scoping paper will lay out a roadmap for a larger research initiative to create more robust analytical tools for a co-control policy program for PRC’s 13th Five-Year Plan. The research and analysis will result in a knowledge-based product that comprises a comprehensive three-part, online, multi-media report from the field. They will lead to a better understanding of low carbon pilot projects.

by Victor Muyeba and Jackson Mulenga, Devolution Trust Fund, Zambia

The paper provides an overview of the current status of large scale artificial water storage development and its functions in the water, energy and food security nexus. The paper presents a typology of water storage structures and provides an analysis of the risks, benefits and trade-offs posed by different storage options. It also highlights good practices and lessons learned from past experiences and explores emerging opportunities for water storage schemes to enhance water, energy and food security in the future.

Transatlantic Academy Senior Fellow Philip Andrews-Speed, gives a brief introduction to the 2011-2012 Collaborative Report “ The Global Resource Nexus: The Struggle for Land, Energy, Food, Water and Minerals.” He describes the methodology behind the report and offers a deeper explanation of the resource nexus.

This year, the overarching theme of the World Water Week in Stockholm is Water and Food Security. Feeding the world population in the future with limited water resources means that we have to become better at growing more “crops per drop” as well as revisit our thinking regarding how we produce, consume, and trade food from a water perspective all along the food chain. The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is one of the key collaborating partners for the 2012 water and food security theme, along with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

The presentations during the conference on climate change, water, conflict and migration, held on 21 September 2011 in The Hague, the Netherlands, have been bundled as papers.

Three focal areas need to be addressed for a transition to a Green Urban Economy, which promotes environmental well-being and improved quality of living for all income groups (i.e. Green Jobs and Poverty Eradication; Financing and Green Investments; Effective Governance and Institutions). The messages and their conditions offer potential ways to address environmental and social concerns in an economically viable way at the local level.

by Peter Stigson, Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL), held on 3 July 2012 at the Chinese Academy of Science, Institute for Policy and Management (CAS/IPM)

James Cameron of Climate Change Capital on the investment opportunities in the NEXUS

This webinar explores the interconnections and interdependencies between water and energy — a topic that is rapidly becoming a priority area of focus in British Columbia and across North America. The guest speakers address the water-energy nexus in British Columbia’s energy sector and explore water conservation and efficiency as a possible path to realizing future energy savings for municipalities in Ontario. Speakers: Ben Parfitt, Resource Policy Analyst, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives B.C. Office, Research Associate, POLIS Water Sustainability Project; Carol Maas, Innovation and Technology Director, POLIS Water Sustainability Project; Heather Cooley, Co-Director of Water Program, Pacific Institute

A map of the world’s 6,862 large dams

It takes water to produce electricity. As many Americans retreat to air-conditioned environments to get out of the heat, the flame increases under our limited freshwater resources. The electrical energy used to create our comfort zones requires massive withdrawals of water from our rivers, lakes and aquifers to cool down nuclear, coal and natural gas power plants. Some of this water is evaporated while the majority of this water is warmed up—causing thermal pollution—killing aquatic life, increasing toxic algae blooms and decreasing the sustainability of our water supplies.

Presentation by Kala Vairavamoorthy, Patel School of Global Sustainability, University of South Florida

On his first day at TEDGlobal 2012 in Edinburgh, Norbert Both, VP Corporate Communications at Shell, talks about his first impressions of the event where Shell is encouraging the debate around new energy solutions.

As you gather for crucial deliberations on the occasion of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20 ”), we wish to urge you to take decisive action during and after this Summit on one of our world’s great challenges – water. Water is well recognized as one of the critical sustainability challenges of the 21st century. Problems related to water availability, quality, and sanitation are undermining development in many regions of the world – exacting an enormous human cost while also undermining critical life-giving ecosystems. At the same time, it is important to consider the strong linkages between water-related challenges and other sustainability issues, including energy, arable land and food security. Indeed, water is a profoundly cross-cutting issue. The escalating water crisis is the impetus behind the UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate initiative, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in July 2007 and today endorsed by nearly 100 major corporations, representing hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. The endorsers of the CEO Water Mandate are eager to collaborate more actively with Governments at all levels.

The rapid development of bioenergy, and in particular liquid biofuels, has generated considerable debate regarding their sustainability, and in particular the so-called “food versus fuel” competition. The links between bioenergy and food security are complex and multi-faceted. Making bioenergy development sustainable becomes even more challenging when one tries to capture its potential rural development, climate and energy security benefits. A sound and integrated approach is required in order to address these links and promote both “food and fuel”, and ensure that bioenergy contributes to sustainable development.

Water for Life Decade website by UN Water with updated information on Water in Rio+20

Co-chaired by Keshab Man Shakya, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Nepal, and Pema Gyamtsho, Minister of Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan, this side event highlighted local, national and regional knowledge-based solutions that are inclusive and supportive to the water, food and energy nexus and have promoted green growth strategies and reduced poverty. Organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the Government of Nepal, Mountain Partnership, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), EVK2CNR, Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA).

Presentation on the ERD 2011/12 by Dirk Willem te Velde and Imme Scholz, given at the UNCSD (Rio+20) on 19 June 2012

Yesterday, the European Commission and the Government of the United Kingdom organised a side-event at the Rio+20 Conference to present the European Report on Development (ERD) 2011/2012 and discuss its findings in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. Following the launch of the report in Brussels in May, a number of other events have been organised throughout Europe to present and debate its findings on national level, involving civil society, governments and media. The series of events led to the Rio+20 Conference.

Interview with Stephan Opitz, Director General of KfW, on the Rio+20 conference and the work of KfW. On the occasion of the UN-conference Rio+20 he explains how Germany’s promotional bank implements this task. KfW promotes sustainable projects and programmes in developing and transition countries in areas such as water supply, food security and energy and is in this way supporting a “green economy” in its partner countries.

CGIAR calls for a focus on the entire agricultural landscape as an integrated system, which recognizes that isolated solutions will not reduce risks or achieve required progress in the same way as integrated approaches will. CGIAR calls for a focus on harmonizing food security and environmental sustainability through agricultural research and development. This will require us to minimize the harmful effects of agriculture on the environment through more efficient management of water, soils and agricultural inputs. CGIAR calls for the sustainable management of complex agricultural systems while maximizing agricultural productivity and improving the livelihoods and food/nutrition security of the poor.

In the face of climatic and other socioeconomic changes, most South Asian countries having large and growing population, limited land resources, and increasing water stress face a common challenge of how to grow more food with the same or less land, less water, and increased energy prices. This concept paper seeks deeper understanding of the interlinkages among water, energy, and food, which is crucial to formulate cross-sectoral policies for more resilient and adaptable societies. In South Asia, such a nexus approach inevitably needs to take Himalayan ecosystem services into account. Rice and wheat, the staple foods in South Asia, require huge amounts of both water and energy. The Indus-Ganges-Brahmaputra plain - the sub-region’s grain basket and one of the world’s largest areas of irrigated agriculture - depends in large part on the Himalayan mountain system as a source of both surface and groundwater for irrigation; as a source of hydropower; and as a regulator of climate and a repository of agro-biodiversity. To sustain these services and to ensure both upstream and downstream food, water, and energy security in South Asia, policies and strategies must therefore promote improved management of Himalayan watersheds, forests, wetlands, and rangelands. Recommended measures include support to restoration of natural water storage capacity; development of climate smart, environmentally and socially sound water infrastructure; adequate investment for natural resource management; and incentives to mountain communities for managing Himalayan ecosystems.

Fairfood International has released “The Food Future We Want”, a set of documents outlining our demands of the food and beverage industry in respect to the priority areas of Rio+20. With the aid of these demands, we aim to show how the food and beverage industry is responsible for making changes to achieve a sustainable food economy and how the decisions made at Rio+20 can facilitate this. In this set of documents, six accompanying demand briefings are provided according to the six priority areas on the Rio+20 agenda. The six demand briefings aim to outline what we expect from food and beverage companies in accordance with their corporate responsibility. Each demand briefing includes a brief introduction to the issue at hand, the connection to the food industry, possible solutions, and a list of our demands. The six demands relate to: Decent jobs, Energy, Food security and Sustainable agriculture, Water, Oceans and Disaster readiness.

On 8 June, FAN Global submitted three top priorities on behalf of the WASH cluster to the NGO Major Group which will be compiled into a compendium along with all other cluster priorities. The final compendium will be attached to a document comprising of a brief introduction of agreed principles outlining key demands by all Major Groups.

An unconventional approach that involves building alliances between groups competing for limited land and water resources has the potential to dramatically increase food production, boost rural incomes, improve human health and restore degraded land, rivers and habitats, according to a report released today by a newly launched global coalition of leading research, advocacy and multilateral organizations. The coalition, known as the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative, a collaborative international initiative with ten co-organizers, warns, however, that world leaders must use the upcoming Rio+20 global sustainable development conference to dramatically scale up the”whole landscape” approach – if planet-wide food and environmental crises are to be averted. The whole landscape approach will figure prominently in discussions at Rio+20.

The global increase in population, both rural and urban, and the socio-economic development with increasing living standards for all, will continuously raise the requirement for water, food and energy consumption. Populations will continue to concentrate in cities where the need for water, food and energy will be most acute. The rapid population growth and socio-economic development means that by 2050: The continuously increasing demands ofwater, food and energy will challenge the natural resources. We need to face this exceptional situation because at the same time.

Population and economic growth are putting pressure on available fresh water resources worldwide. Uncertain water availability is a challenge that many countries face, which can impact economic growth. This ‘water challenge’, and its links to economic growth, has multiple dimensions, one of which is access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation services. Improved access has a direct positive impact on people and communities leading to significant social, economic and environmental benefits. This explains why a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is “to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 compared with 1990 levels”. Water resource management at river basins is another key link between water and economic growth. Effective management of freshwater resources helps sustain agriculture, industries, ecosystems and communities. This executive summary focuses on the new findings from the report regarding the links between these two dimensions, and economic growth.

A few years ago, I was invited to present the OECD’s International Futures Programme at a meeting on long-term issues organised by the UK’s Foresight project. Each of us outlined our group’s approach to strategic questions, explaining why we chose a particular time horizon. Mostly it was what you’d expect (50 years at least in the energy business, a minute or less for financiers). The most surprising contribution, for me at least, was from the chief economist of a big mining group who said that they didn’t bother with strategic planning and that, in essence, when the price of a mineral went up they got out their shovels and started digging and when it dropped, they leaned on their shovels until the price rose again. If there was nothing left worth digging out, they looked at their geological surveys and moved elsewhere.

The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow may be over water. Nowhere is that danger greater than in water-distressed Asia. “Water: Asia’s New Battleground” is a pioneering study of Asia’s murky water politics and the relationships between freshwater, peace, and security. In this unique and highly readable book, Brahma Chellaney expertly paints a larger picture of water across Asia, highlights the security implications of resource-linked territorial disputes, and proposes real strategies to avoid conflict and more equitably share Asia’s water resources.

Rio+20 aspires to create “the future we want,” an epochal economic transformation to sustainable production and consumption. The international water community shares this aspiration, though it requires major innovation in the way water is managed. The fundamental requirement of the green economy is that it delivers food, water and energy security for all, a requirement challenged by climate and land-use change and its key impact—more volatile and less secure water supplies. Water security underlies all dimensions of human health and well-being, and is fundamental to both food and energy production. The green economy is inconceivable without diligent and highly efficient stewardship of this precious resource from raindrop to tap and back to raindrop.

Twenty years after the international community meeting in Rio de Janeiro agreed on the triad of ecological, economic and social sustainability, the subject of the green economy is gaining ground in debates on the environment and development. Many international organisations have developed their own definitions and programmes designed to boost economic growth, create jobs and protect natural resources all at the same time. In view of the ecological, social and economic problems caused by the overuse of natural resources and the continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions, the question of a sustainable economic order is more urgent than ever. Even the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or the Rio+20 Summit for short, is dominated by the green economy debate, which is almost threatening to supplant the established concept of sustainability. Although it is emphasised that sustainable development remains the contracting parties’ principal objective and that the achievement of the green economy is only a means to that end, most of the proposed measures and the debates have so far focused on strengthening environmentally compatible growth, with little attention paid to possible unintended effects on society and ecosystems. For human development and ecosystems, however, the water sector plays a key role in the implementation of many green economy projects. This paper therefore analyses the extent to which the green economy may help the water sector to achieve sustainable development and to meet the major challenges. It reaches the conclusion that, while the attention paid to the water sector that accompanies the debate on the green economy is good, the concept has serious weaknesses.

This paper aims at identifying and recommending best practices and policies from global business to address the water-energy nexus, while outlining potential drivers of innovation.

Water will be a central component of the Rio discussions due to its role in the green economy. Furthermore, water management structures will be part of the discussions at the Summit. A strong unified front from the water community is required to assure that the agreements made at Rio produce positive and lasting results regarding water resources. This guide seeks to introduce the Rio+20 process and facilitate water stakeholders’ participation in the process.

The main challenge of building a sustainable world is to ensure the right of each and every one of the world’s people to resources and basic services. Furthermore, we have the inescapable obligation to do so in a responsible manner for both us and the rest of species while ensuring the rights of future generations and without exceeding the carrying capacity of the Earth’s natural resources. The scale of this challenge is still tremendous.

Key messages to the 2012 Rio+20 Summit from the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)

Nuclear technologies are used daily to find and protect sustainable sources of fresh water, produce energy and food, while providing researchers the tools to study the ocean’s past and predict its future. The IAEA helps its 154 member countries safely employ these technologies to ensure peace, health and prosperity throughout the world.

There is a growing awareness of the Energy-Water-Food Nexus, but the tendency is to consider each issue in isolation. A holistic approach to addressing the Nexus and the related issue of climate change is needed, as are new ways of working together.

“The report is indeed timely and very pertinent to our efforts in finding answers to some of the great questions of our time: how do we handle resource scarcities? How do we tackle climate change and mitigate its consequences? How does the growth of world population affect the globe? And – of course – what does all this imply for foreign policy?”

A joint report by the McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey’s Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice shows that the resource challenge can be met through a combination of expanding their supply and a step change in the way they are extracted, converted, and used. Resource productivity improvements that use existing technology would satisfy nearly 30 percent of demand in 2030. Fifteen areas, from more energy-efficient buildings to improved irrigation, could deliver 75 percent of the potential for higher resource productivity.

Is water the “gold of the 21st century,” potentially triggering “water wars” between countries sharing the precious resource? Such scenarios proliferated in the 1990s, but today a different paradigm is taking root. Politicians are beginning to emphasise the peace dividend of water cooperation; and development agencies are now supporting transboundary water cooperation projects around the world. And even at the highest level of political discourse, water cooperation has been identified as an entry point for broader peacebuilding.

This article explores the water, energy and food nexus in Central Asia as an avenue to seek regional solutions to common challenges. A benefit-sharing scheme was in place between the countries in the Central Asia in the Soviet Union era, but since independence unilateral action has been the norm. It is concluded that a regional integrative approach would be beneficial in the water, energy and food nexus. Collaborative options include exploring existing regional frameworks with a focus on additional investment in hydropower power generation, regional power market development, irrigation reforms, and addressing regional environmental public goods such as water flows and quality.

In the United States and Europe, at present 91% and 78% of the total electricity is produced by thermoelectric (nuclear and fossil-fuelled) power plants, which directly depend on the availability and temperature of water resources for cooling. During recent warm, dry summers several thermoelectric power plants in Europe and the southeastern United States were forced to reduce production owing to cooling-water scarcity. Here we show that thermoelectric power in Europe and the United States is vulnerable to climate change owing to the combined impacts of lower summer river flows and higher river water temperatures.

The tightening “choke point” between energy demand and water supply jeopardizes China’s economic stability. That is the top-line finding of an the ongoing research and reporting project “Choke Point: China”, from Circle of Blue and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars China Environment Forum. The full series of articles, images and infographics – at the heart of the water-energy-food nexus – is online here. Circle of Blue – the network of leading journalists, scientists, data experts and conveners – continues its coverage of the nexus in China and around the world with new support from the Skoll Global Threats Fund.

Key messages developed during the seminar “On Food, Water and Energy - in the Context of Rio+20” by participants from Norwegian and international NGO’s during their working groups to the Norwegian Government

“More research is needed to examine the interdependencies between energy and water to better inform policy makers how to improve the integration of these vital resources. “There has been very little research into how even the most dominant relationships between energy and water can be incorporated into regional, national and international policy development,” says Karen Hussey, “and once you throw food security into the mix the challenge is immense.”

Climate variability is a problem in the Nile Basin and is increasing. Urgent solutions are needed to address the water-food-climate crisis. Many of the solutions need better cooperation and discussion between the Nile Basin riparian countries.

The Women’s Major Group urges for constructive work on food, water, sanitation and energy. Women, youth and indigenous people are affected most by insuffient efforts to improve access and quality of services in these sectors. – by Rosa Lizarde

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), working in close collaboration with the partners in its 8 regional member countries in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, commits itself to generating knowledge solutions for sustainable nexus solution.

Speech of HRH Prince of Orange during in interactive meeting in preparation of Rio on 30 May 2012 in Rotterdam

The World Economic Forum’s “Water Security: The Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus” provides a first-ever comprehensive assessment of the global water security problem and collects contributions from leaders of government, business, NGOs, academics, entrepreneurs, financial experts, journalists and many others to share their perspectives on the common water challenge we face today. The contributing authors, consisting of academics from Columbia University and international organizations such as the Asian Development Bank and International Finance Corporation and industry leaders such as Dow Chemical Company, Nestlé, PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company outline the challenges and how they impact not only business, but also society and the planet as a whole.

by Andrew Etzinger, ESKOM, held on the SAWEF Conference in South Africa

by Dr. Jerome Delli Priscoli, Institute for Water Resources, US Army Corps of Engineers, Governor World Water Council, Editor in Chief Water Policy, held on the SAWEF Conference in South Africa

The panel, “Energy, Water and Food Nexus: The Science of Optimization and Sustainability,” discusses how Qatar is addressing the issue of sustainability of resources and food security challenges.

Claudia Ringler, Deputy Director of IFPRI’s Environment and Production Technology Division, discusses the intersection of water, energy, and food security policies.

The need to keep climate change within safe thresholds will require rapid emission reductions, and widespread deployment of low-carbon technologies to help achieve them. Yet some low-carbon energy sources require considerable amounts of water – and given competing demands, resource depletion and projected climate impacts, sufficient water may not always be available. This report examines the potential impact of low-carbon electricity generation technologies on water resources – and how these water considerations might shape renewable-generation choices.

The interrelationship between water and energy goes around and around. Increasing demands on water from the private and public sectors are impacting the world’s ability to meet its energy needs. In parallel, the need for more and more water for agricultural, industrial and domestic uses requires more energy. A constraint in either resource limits the other, and this nexus of supply and demand poses substantial risks for virtually every government and every type of business.

for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

This statement reflects a collective opinion of the UN-Water Members and comprises recommendations to the participants of the UNCSD 2012 as well as a list of potential actions in support of green economic approaches.

Presentation by Prof Susan Bolton PhD, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington (USA)

Unless the transatlantic community takes the lead in addressing the challenges arising from the unprecedented global demand for land, energy, food, water, and minerals, severe market disruptions are likely to occur, as are increased chances of violent conflict at interstate and local levels in many “hot spots,” especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The Living Planet Report is the world’s leading science-based analysis on the health of our only planet and the impact of human activity. Its key finding? Humanity’s demands exceed our planet’s capacity to sustain us. That is, we ask for more than what we have. A new edition of the report was released on 15 May 2012.

This project undertakes the preparation of an the European Report on Development (ERD) 2012 researching this issue with the objective of presenting a report on effective natural resources management for sustainable and inclusive growth in the run up to the next RIO+20 Earth Summit in 2012.

Needs for affordable and clean energy, for water in adequate quantity and quality, and for food security will increasingly be the central challenges for humanity:these needs are strongly linked.

The role of Water in the Green Economy was a major theme at the World Water Forum last month, and promises to be a central issue at Rio+20 and beyond. Ethical implications are everywhere, starting with framing the issue. Is it about how better water management can contribute to sustainable (Green) economic growth? Or is it about how green economic strategies can contribute to healthier water ecosystems?

The AWS International Water Stewardship Standard (the Standard) is designed to be an international, ISEAL-compliant, standard that defines a set of water stewardship principles, criteria, and indicators for how water should be stewarded at a site and watershed level in a way that is environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial. The Standard is intended to provide water stewards with an approach for evaluating the existing processes and performances within their sites and watersheds, and ensuring that responsible water stewardship actions are in place to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive impacts. The first public consultation will be open to stakeholders until June 15th, 2012.

by Margaret Catley-Carlson, held at the South African Water, Energy and Food Forum: “Managing the Mega-Nexus”, 18-19 April 2012

A large quantity of water is needed to produce the food we eat every day. This animation aims to show the relationship between food production and water use.

Water and energy are inextricably linked. Energy is needed to provide freshwater; and water is needed to produce most forms of energy. Climate change will hit through water. Power production is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The areas of energy, water and food policy have numerous interwoven concerns ranging from ensuring access to services, to environmental impacts to price volatility. These issues manifest in very different ways in each of the three “spheres”, but often the impacts are closely related. Identifying these interrelationships a priori is of great importance to help target synergies and avoid potential tensions. Systems thinking is required to address such a wide swath of possible topics. This paper briefly describes some of the linkages at a high-level of aggregation – primarily from a developing country perspective – and via case studies, to arrive at some promising directions for addressing the nexus.

A video message by HRH The Prince of Wales to the United Nations headquarters in New York on “Happiness and Wellbeing: Defining a new economic paradigm”

Water and energy are each recognized as indispensable inputs to modern economies. And, in recent years, driven by the three imperatives of security of supply, sustainability, and economic efficiency, the energy and water sectors have undergone rapid reform. However, it is when water and energy rely on each other that the most complex challenges are posed for policymakers.

by GE: Megatrends, shocks and constraints with regard to the Energy-Water Nexus and the Energy-Food Nexus

New report by South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) underlines the nexus between water, food and energy security

Improved water-use management starts with strong principles that value water so it can be conserved and used efficiently. Sustainable water use will come from better knowledge and application of four key knowledge areas: water forecasts, water quantity data and information, policy instruments, and collaborative water governance.

The World Water Council is an international multi-stakeholder platform. It was established in 1996 on the initiative of renowned water specialists and international organizations, in response to an increasing concern about world water issues from the global community. The World Water Council’s mission is “to promote awareness, build political commitment and trigger action on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, to facilitate the efficient conservation, protection, development, planning, management and use of water in all its dimensions on an environmentally sustainable basis for the benefit of all life on earth.”

A collection of case studies on the NEXUS presented by CGIAR’s Challenge Programm, the EDF Groupe and the World Water Council on the WWF6

The WWDR4 aims to encourage all stakeholders both in and out of the “water box” – water managers, leaders in government, civil society and businesses – to engage early in decision making processes to improve the quality and acceptance of decisions and the probability of successful implementation. It will highlight that more responsible action by all water users has enormous potential to lead to better outcomes - but will require political, social, economic and technical responses at all levels of government, businesses and communities, from local to international.

From risk to opportunity – Making the most of a scare resource

WATER-L is a mailing list for news and announcements related to the World Water Forum and water policy issues. Postings include water policy news, announcements of workshops/conferences, job listings, and information on new publications and online resources. Water-L is created by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

“How we shape all this change is one of the key questions for the future. How can we shape the necessary worldwide switch to a sustainable economy so as to alleviate poverty and preserve our environmental resources?”

The growth of the earth’s urban population and areas continues as a major demographic trend; it is projected that 70 % of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. Urban growth today is most rapid in developing countries, where cities gain an average of 5 million residents each month.

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

The Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources (EIWR) was established under the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative to serve as the central administration unit to coordinate research, education and outreach activities amongst the partnering U.S. and Ethiopian Universities.

Website on “Water news. Water knowledge. Water insight” for senior executives. OOSKAnews produces weekly email subscription-based newsletters covering vital water news and intelligence for subscribing customers.

Why do millions surrounded by the means to produce food still go hungry? — Conference report by OXFAM

Water security in the 21st century requires an integrated approach to water resources management

This paper is the scientific background paper of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference. It explains the Nexus and presents initial evidence for how a nexus approach can enhance water, energy and food security in a green economy by increasing efficiency, reducing trade-offs, and building synergies across sectors.

by Chantal Symoens, EuropeAid

The EU as a whole is the world’s largest donor and a key trading partner for developing countries. With its broad and ambitious development policies and comprehensive partnerships, the EU it is already making a significant contribution towards the MDGs. But we could have even greater impact.

by André Liebaert, European Commission - Presentation at the BONN 2011 NEXUS CONFERENCE

Presentation by Josefina Maestu, UN Water Decade Program on Advocacy and Communication - Presentation at the BONN 2011 NEXUS CONFERENCE

by Zafar Adeel, Chair of UN-Water - Presentation at the BONN 2011 NEXUS CONFERENCE

Is there a contradiction between providing secure access to water and energy and supplying sufficient food to the world‘s growing population? The answer right now is: in many cases, yes! In many situations throughout the world it is becoming clear that increases in the supply of water or food or energy only come at the expense of one or both of the other resources.

Our world faces enormous challenges. Water, energy and food will become ever scarcer in future, especially in poor countries. Although solutions can be found for many of the impending problems, the measures taken to tackle one problem impact on other sectors – often with negative consequences. Conflicts of objectives arise. Thus, more food or energy has, so far, come at a high cost: rising water consumption. And this is only one example of the contradictory relationships at work.

Good management of water and sanitation is a precondition for sustainable development. It underpins the three pillars of sustainable development and also contributes to a green economy and to poverty eradication. These are compelling reasons to address water and sanitation challenges in UNCSD2012. UNSGAB believes that the global community must make progress on three major water and sanitation challenges during UNCSD2012.

Q&A with Dr. Rabi Mohtar, Executive Director of Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI)

Lead-up to Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week - Win a trip to Abu Dhabi as a Masdar VIP Blogger

Felix Dodds, as Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future, took an active part in the preparation of the Bonn2011 Conference. Now, a year after the conference, he summarises the learnings and gives an outlook on the necessary next steps.

An interview with Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director of SIWI, summarising the outcomes of the World Water Week 2012

On 26 October 2012 the STEPS Centre and SOAS ran a joint event to discuss the connections made between water, energy, food and climate, and the tendency to frame these issues in terms of “security”.

Hunger is inextricably linked to growing pressure on land, water, and energy resources. Recent events—drought, large-scale land investments, high energy prices — underscore how much we depend on these resources to produce the world’s food supply.

NATO Review Edition on Water, Energy, and Food

The “Greenius” - or Green Genius - competition is seeking innovative solutions to questions of food, water and energy sustainability such as “How to keep bills down for consumers and businesses?” or “How to better manage our energy, food and water resources?”

Water Evaluation and Planning system by SEI can explore Water-Energy Nexus issues

A voice from the ground, Edward Byers, PhD student from Newcastle/UK, gives his view of the NEXUS event at the German Pavilion in Rio.

An interview with Albert Butare, Co-Chair of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference and NEXUS ambassador

The SEI’s work on the water, energy and food security nexus – an interview with Holger Hoff

The Rio+20 Summit is less than a month away. Policymakers and civil society representatives have been advocating for the inclusion of the nexus approach in “The Future We Want”, the outcome document of the negotiations — by Olimar Maisonet-Guzmán

World Bank Group identifies six key issues and key messages for Rio+20

Launched in Brussels on 16 May 2012, the 2012 European Report on Development (ERD) highlights predicted increases in the scarcity of natural resources – with demand for water and energy expected to rise by 40% and demand for food by 50% before we reach 2030.

Needs for affordable and clean energy, for water in adequate quantity and quality, and for food security will increasingly be the central challenges for humanity:these needs are strongly linked.

An interview with Margaret Catley-Carlson, Vice Chair, Canadian Water Network and Member of the Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB)

What has brought nexus thinking to the fore, and what does this nexus look like? How does it relate to climate compatible development?

German-Rwandan Side event on the Nexus on 22nd March before the 3rd Intersessional Meeting of the UNCSD

Cutting down on the amount of food that is wasted around the world is a key component of water management, according to Dr. Colin Chartres, general director of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle introduces the results of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference

Reflections of the Co-Chairs on the outcomes of the Bonn2011 Nexus-Conference

International experts comment on the main topics of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference

There are strong reasons for a new approach to the issue of sustainable water management

Seventh Biennial Conference of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH), Munich, Germany

The 1st International Terra Preta Conference aims at bringing experts and interested people from the different sectors – water/sanitation, agriculture, soil, energy, health – together to present their research results and to share their experiences in the field of Terra Preta Sanitation.

1st Inter-Regional Conference on Land and Water Challenges, Bari, Italy

A UNESCO sponsored conference, September 22nd-27th, 2013 in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Call for entries for the 2014 Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value until 31st March 2013.

On 22 February 2013, the Energy Nexus Consultation, a special segment of the global energy consultation of the World We Want online consultations, will be closed and wrapped up.

The objective of this regional meeting is: to highlite and build on major achievements and impacts of FAO, IFAD, WFP and GIZ land and water programmes and projects implemented by Member Countries in the region through the exchange of success stories, lessons learned, good approaches and practices; and to draw conclusions and recommendations for follow-up actions to improve the impact and effectiveness of land and water projects , initiatives and programmes in the region.

The 2-day conference in December 2012 will focus on how energy policy and governance are influenced by or influencing water and food sectors. The first day deals mainly with energy governance issues in Asia Pacific countries, but with papers pointing to the importance of Nexus internationally.

17th Annual International Summit and Exhibition, International Water Symposium

The African Union and the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB) are convening a High-level African Dialogue on the Water-Food-Energy Nexus in Nairobi, Kenya on November 29, 2012.

The objective of this conference is to discuss and identify priority areas following the outcomes of the 6th World Water Forum and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 or UNCSD).

The Second Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy will continue this constructive dialogue on the relationship between the cost and benefits of water development.

In preparation for a Resource Summit to be held in Berlin, Germany in 2013, the Heinrich Böll Foundation offices in Kenya and Ethiopia are calling for applicants from Ethiopia, Kenya, North Sudan, South Sudan, South Central Somalia/Somaliland/Puntland and Tanzania to participate in a regional 3-days workshop to be held between 5th - 10th, November 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. This workshop will apply the Future Workshop methodology to identify topics and innovative approaches of young people with regard to resource policy.

The Lecture Series addresses these key issues by bringing scientists and experts from many disciplines together. It wants to contribute to the current global dialogue regarding the future of our planet. Organised by German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE-GDI),
Institute of Geography/University of Cologne, Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT) of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences.

Achieving inclusive green growth for all is the optimal path to true sustainable development, which combines inclusive economic growth and human development with environmental and social sustainability. But green growth requires water security as an input to human and economic development.

This panel examines the inter-dependencies among the three spheres and discuss how governments and businesses can put in place coordinated policies, strategies and investments to ensure energy-water-food security for all.

This panel scrutinises this policy from the perspective of policy coherence for development: what are the impacts of the EU’s demand for biofuels on food security, the access to land and water, and the livelihoods of people in developing countries? What is the way forward for the EU in a world where biofuel mandates are proliferating and food price surges are a recurrent phenomenon?

KTH Division of Energy Systems Analysis (DESA) invites PhD students and researchers with an interest in integrated resource modelling to the course on Integrated Assessment of Climate, Land Use, Energy and Water Systems. The course will be held in conjunction with an IAEA meeting hosted by the Swedish government at KTH with the same name, bringing together analysts from several countries as well as leading modelers and academics.

A colloquium with keynote presentations and discussion on recent thinking on the new securities and their nexus organised by Peter Mollinga, Laura Hammond and Anna Lindley (SOAS Development Studies/Centre for Water and Development) and Lyla Mehta, Jeremy Allouche and Alan Nicol (IDS and the STEPS Centre at the University of Sussex).

The Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI), Strengthening Water Association Partnership - bfz gGmBH (SWAP-bfz), Water CAP and the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) will host a week long workshop from the 15-19 October 2012 titled the Water-Food-Energy Nexus Workshop.

This is the first webinar in the POLIS Water Sustainability Project’s 2012/2013 Creating a Blue Dialogue webinar series.

From the recent drought to the needs of a growing society, water is now a pressing issue that impacts our economy and way of life. Just how important is the nexus between water and the economy? - Hosted by Growing Blue in Washington DC

Webchat hosted by Dick Benschop, President Director Shell Netherlands and Jeremy Bentham, Vice President Global Business Environment

WaterLex, with the sponsorship of the permanent missions of Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany and Spain, invites to a side event on “The Future of Water in the United Nations System”, Wednesday 19th September, 1-4pm, Room XXIV, Palais des Nations.

This conference was held by CEP-BCI in February 2012 in Bangkok,Thailand. The conference benchmarked GMS economic growth between 2001 and 2010 and its impact on environmental and social development as well as provided an outlook for the next decade.

What are the next steps in addressing the world’s water, energy and food challenges and how can nexus-thinking help? The Guardian stages a live discussion reflecting on conversations at World Water Week, Thursday 6 September, 2-4pm (BST)

The objective of this workshop is to have a discussion to explore what post-2015 goals could address from a sustainable development perspective, with a focus on food, water and energy.

The objective of the seminar is to share best practices and lessons learnt, while inviting the participants to actively contribute their ideas and experiences. The expected output is a better understanding of the multidimensional factors influencing efficient water use in agriculture. Organised by GIZ.

How many times have you seen a graphic depicting the Water-Energy Nexus? Are you ready to start analysing what they actually mean? If you answered: Too many times; and YES; then don’t miss this side-event, which will demonstrate the integration of powerful water (WEAP) and energy (LEAP) modelling platforms.

The Great Lakes and Great Lakes states are in the midst of a remarkable and confounding ecological and economic transition related to climate change and the fossil energy sector that industries and scientists are busy trying to anticipate and understand.

This seminar presents policies, enabling conditions, innovations and solutions, for putting the quickly growing knowledge around the water-(land-)energy-food security nexus into practice.

This seminar will analyse how the water-food nexus is being affected by climate change in two of the more important mountain regions of the world: the Andes and the Himalayas. The seminar will review concepts, discuss relevant cases that address different dimensions of the water-food nexus and innovative approaches for dealing with depleting resources, as well as provide guidance to mitigate the impact of the vulnerable water-food nexus in developing regions.

As a natural extension of the UAE’s commitment to sustainability, the first International Water Summit will be co-located with next year’s World Future Energy Summit, bringing to life the nexus between mankind’s two most vital resources: water and energy. Managing the energy footprint of water — and the water footprint of energy is a two-pronged challenge. Water and energy have a symbiotic relationship. This simple truth becomes increasingly evident as demand for both resources rises. With this in mind, Water-Energy Nexus was introduced.

New Challenges for Science and Governance. Indicators, Thresholds and Uncertainties of the Global Water System, Bonn

Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2012 provides the platform to address today’s challenges and explore opportunities in the integration of water solutions and urban planning in cities around the world. Opportunities abound for global water leaders and practitioners from the public and private sectors to debate in water dialogues, network with key industry players, showcase leading-edge technologies and best practices and identify viable solutions to address this common challenge.

Water is a prerequisite for food production which requires also nutrients and energy. Vice versa alternative energy production by biogas plants is based on biomass derived from agriculture. Thus agricultural food production seems to be the most important integrative part concerning the water-food-energy nexus.

This side event aims to contribute to the “The Future We Want” outcome document by highlighting the need to better manage mountain natural resources as global public goods supplying water for life, food for health, and clean energy for livelihoods.

Insights from the European Report on Development

By highlighting the linkages among climate change risks and opportunities, sustainable development and adaptation, this session will explore how companies can integrate and build effective resilience measures into their business strategies, operations and throughout the value chain.

The Side-Event aims at identifying trade-offs between the sectoral objectives and discussing how a better consideration of the interlinkages between energy, water and food security can contribute to the achievement of the energy objectives.

A high level debate on the climate security agenda in the Amazon and worldwide

This session aims to consider how a new paradigm of adaptive management can be developed to address water security issues in a context of growing multiple needs and water scarcity.

This event will profile some of the world’s most innovative “natural capital partnerships” implementing integrated approaches toward the transition to green growth and green economies today. It will promote a south-south knowledge exchange and commitments from Mexico, the Coastal Eastern Africa region and Asia’s Greater Mekong Subregion.

The “nexus” of food, water and energy represents one of the biggest challenges in urban areas. If supplies of these three key resources are not maintained over time to serve human societies as well as the natural ecosystems from which they derive, the basis for all life will be undermined, and cities will not be functional any more.

The Energy Delta Convention is an international platform for senior energy experts from various disciplines, sectors and countries. – by the University of Groningen

The Africa Water Week (aww) is organized by the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) and represents a political commitment at the highest level with over 1000 participants from governments, regional institutions, international partners, the private sector, the scientific community, civil society, and the media from all over the world, and in particular Africa, meeting to discuss and collectively seek solutions to Africa’s water and sanitation challenges.

The third European Report on Development (ERD) – drawn up by three European think tanks, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) – focuses on the use of scarce resources for inclusive and sustainable growth in the spheres of water, energy and land.

The rapidly growing cities in Asia will face enormous challenges in ensuring water, energy and food security for their population if not now than in near future. To discuss possibilities to address this challenge more than 40 participants from six Asian took part in the workshop on “Integrated Resource Management in Asian Cities”.

The event aims to present fully gender and development issues which are vigorously embedded within the framework of fundamental human rights and gender justice in the Asia-Pacific region and in many parts of the world. It hopes to elevate further the discussions on the theme of green economy and gender equality, justice and human rights with special focus on water, energy, and food nexus , to a broader and more significant audience , during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20 , in Rio de Janiero Brazil, June 2012.

This Workshop will address a series of innovative frameworks that help analyse technical solutions as well as trade-offs in the water-food-energy nexus for better informed decision-making.

by the German Federal Foreign Office (AA), the Transatlantic Academy and the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU)

To solve population and resource challenges, societies are looking to the intersection of energy, water, and food. It takes energy to extract, process, and transport water. It takes energy and water to grow food. It takes water and land—which might otherwise be used for food—to produce biofuels. What are the tensions and tradeoffs?

The Global Water Summit brings the entire international water sector to Rome, and lays down the challenge to think bravely about one question: What does our successful water future look like?

In its 2011 report, the World Economic Forum identified the Water-Energy-Food (W-E-F) security nexus as one of the greatest threats to the global economy and sustainable development over the next few decades. In order to address this issue the Water Innovation Centre of IISD is collaborating with the Global Water System Project (GWSP) to host a conference on Water-Energy-Food Security.

The 12th edition of Green Week, the biggest annual conference on European environment policy.

Stanford experts from a range of disciplines will discuss the interconnections and interactions among humanity’s needs for and use of water, food, energy, and environment.

“BONN PERSPECTIVES” workshop in Bonn

by the Guru Arjan Institute of Development Studies, Amritsar (India)

A NEXUS session to analyse the different nexus connections, chaired by Jamie Pittock

International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Solutions for the Green Economy

The World Water Week has been the annual focal point for the globe’s water issues since 1991.

Innovation and Collaboration for the Future We Want

The Forum is organised by ICSU, in partnership with UNESCO, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

The Congress will explore the topics of resilient and sustainable cities with a focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation together with the impacts and responses of climate change on water resources. Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, operating in a carbon constrained world and a focus on renewable energy including practical applications and integration in to the energy mix will be covered.

Every three years since 1997, the World Water Forum mobilises creativity, innovation, competence and know-how in favour of water.

The global demands for food, energy, and shelter are putting unprecedented pressure on the resources of the planet. The study, “Tapped Out: How Can Cities Secure Their Water Future?” focuses on growing cities and the need of reliable sources of water.

Resource security matters for India. It has to simultaneously secure energy, water and other minerals to support economic growth; meet basic needs for food, fuel and water for a growing population; and manage the environmental constraints and consequences of increased resource use.

Part One of a five-part series, exploring the power of innovation to boost our access to energy, food, water, raw materials, and human population.

“Global Trends 2030” a report by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) predicts that one of the four megatrends will be the “Food, Water, Energy Nexus.”

As the population continues to grow, the demand for food, water and energy will rise by as much as 50% by 2030, says the US National Intelligence Council (NIC) in its Global Trends 2030 report.

Recognition and understanding of the closely-bound interaction between water, energy and food production and use – the ‘nexus’ – is established in these sectors, but perhaps for many, ‘this nexus’ is still not entirely understood - by Rebecca Welling, IUCN

It’s one of the most inconvenient truths of modern times that it takes increasing amounts of finite water to supply energy and increasing amounts of climate-disrupting energy to supply water. And too often our search for solutions to one set of challenges is making the other set worse.

“The world is walking towards a crisis that it barely recognises. In scale and significance, it dwarfs all the others it is intricately connected with,” says Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the Nestlé Group.

What cost are you willing to pay for energy independence? Is it enough to invest in pricier light bulbs to increase your energy efficiency and reduce your energy bill? What about our natural resources? Does it make sense to sacrifice our water quality to achieve a lower price at the pump?

“Leaders call for global co-operation to address energy challenges.”

“The Thematic Consultation on Water in the post-2015 development agenda is now open, waiting for your inputs on the www.worldwewant2015.org/water website.”

Energy, water and land are being squandered as the world throws out as much as half the food it produces.

Figures from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers show as much as 2bn tonnes of food never makes it on to a plate.

Senior editor Keith Schneider reflects on — and celebrates — Circle of Blue’s body of work from 2012.

Food security is at the center of the Qatari government’s strategy presented in its “Vision 2030” plan. More than 90% of products eaten by the country’s two million residents (of which only 300,000 are Qataris) depend on imports. Water scarcity is another issue that needs to be resolved. This is why Qatar is building new desalination factories that will run on solar energy.

Rising resource and food costs add to the increasingly constraining effect the water-energy-food nexus exerts on our energy and other choices. Among other things, the water demands of conventional energy - including nuclear - threaten to overwhelm our capacity to cope with global population increases and urbanization.

The author demands to acknowledge the nexus between water and energy. “Texas has a 50-year state water plan but Texas has no energy plan. The Legislature should close this glaring gap in resource planning by creating a component to the water plan that recognizes the practical link between water and energy. One of the most important aspects of energy production is the availability of fresh water, and energy is often the most expensive aspect of water treatment and conveyance.”

The world faces a serious water crisis, warned former heads of government and experts recently in a book that identifies a multitude of associated security, development and social risks, including food, health, energy and equity issues.

China, the world’s largest energy producer and consumer, mines and processes more than 3 billion metric tons of coal annually to fuel its expanding economy, or 76 percent of China’s total energy use. But coal, the nation’s second-largest industrial user of water, challenges water security in China’s northern and western desert provinces, where 70 percent of the nation’s coal is produced and processed. The energy-water imbalance is the principal source of a cycle of escalating economic and environmental risk that China’s leaders — as well as heads of state around the world — are anxious to solve.

The United Arab Emirates hosted COP18’s central discussion of the energy-water-food-climate nexus, in cooperation with New York University. The panel, “It Never Rains in the GCC,” had identified priority government interventions in the market to manage the nexus as its global significance intensities.

Water governance and investment will be key topics addressed at the inaugural International Water Summit (IWS), which will take place on 15-17 January 2013, as a part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. “The sessions we have developed for IWS, including interactive voting sessions, will explore, among other issues, the ways political initiative and water governance can lead to mutually beneficial public-private sector synergies, attract investors and stimulate business development in the water industry,” said Peter McConnell, Show Director for the IWS.

An integrated perspective could help countries in the region find more effective approaches to climate-smart development, mitigation and adaptation, the SEI researcher says.

Energy, water, and food are intrinsically connected, and figuring out how to increase availability of one without compromising access to the others will be a demanding policy challenge as global population heads toward 9 billion by 2050, three resource specialists agreed in a wide-ranging discussion at AAAS.

From seeding clouds with rain-inducing particles to erecting a wall of trees against the advancing Sahara Desert, scientists have long sought to answer the challenge of growing crops in drought-struck lands. Drylands account for 41% of the world’s land surface and are home to more than two billion people. Those numbers, combined with fears that climate change will exacerbate what could become a chronic global foodcrisis as global population grows, has sparked new interest in turning the world’s deserts into gardens. Nowhere is that more evident than in the tiny Gulf nation of Qatar, a salt scoured spit of land the size of Connecticut that has no rivers, no lakes and annual rainfall averaging 74 mm—barely enough for a respectable puddle.

The world population is growing - and with it the demand for food. However, intense agricultural use of land leads to groundwater levels sinking dangerously in many regions of the world, according to a new study.

ENERGY, water and food - three cornerstones of the world - are deeply intertwined, and will be demanded in ever larger quantities in the future. To meet these inter-related demands, businesses can play a key role, working closely with government, said Ms Ruth Cairnie, executive vice-president of strategy and planning at energy giant Royal Dutch Shell.

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.

New white paper showcases learnings from Water Innovation Summit. The report touches on the utility perspective on innovation, smart water networks, financing innovation, sustainable water management in the oil and gas sector, opportunities in water and agriculture, and securing clean water for industries.

Water, energy and food are three crucial resources needed to sustain life on earth. Yet, every year 1.1 billion people go without clean drinking water, 1.3 people billion without electricity and over one billion people face starvation. And the situation could worsen - as world population hurtles towards a population of nine billion people demanding basic services and higher living standards. This fact was the focus of a forum held in Nairobi last week. Organised by the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute, SWAP-bfz, Water Capacity Building Network (Water Cap) and Africa Centre for Technological Studies (ACTS), the “Water Food Energy Nexus” Workshop targeted at policy makers, researchers and practitioners.

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.

Water, food and energy are interconnected. Agriculture accounts for about 70% of global freshwater use and can pollute freshwater supplies if mismanaged. Water is also used to generate electricity: in the USA, power generation accounts for about 50% of all freshwater withdrawals3and drought in countries that use hydropower – Ethiopia and Ghana, for example – can lead to black-outs. Energy, in turn, is needed to fertilise and transport crops, which can themselves be used as biofuel to create energy. Large amounts of energy are also required to pump water to drier regions and, as water scarcity increases, so will the energy needed for technologies such as desalination. - This is good news; the leap forward in quality of life for so many millions is something to celebrate. But this growth could be jeopardised by the resource challenge being felt across the world. The expanding population will need 70% more food, and growing and processing this food will increase water stress. The Water Resources Group, of which SABMiller is a member, estimates that there could be about 40% shortfall between water demand and available freshwater supply by 2030 - by Andy Wales, SAB Miller

A handful of thirsty countries are guzzling their groundwater reserves much faster than those resources can be renewed. India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mexico, and the United States lead the global pack of water-thirsty nations, researchers report online August 8 in Nature. Irrigation for agriculture drives much of the demand.

In short, predictions of a Water World War are overwrought. However, tensions over water usage can still exacerbate other existing regional conflicts. Climate change is expected to intensify droughts, floods, and other extreme weather conditions that jeopardize freshwater quantity and quality and therefore act as a threat-multiplier, making shaky regions shakier -by

As World Water Week draws to a close, a new report highlights the promise of small-scale irrigation schemes. “Water for Wealth and Food Security” touts simple interventions, such as motor pumps, small reservoirs and rainwater harvesting, as key tools for tackling food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa. These technologies have the potential to protect millions of farmers by increasing crop yields up to 300 percent in some cases, researchers say. But to reap the benefits of increased water irrigation management, investment priorities will need to change, they say. Small-scale irrigation offers a lucrative opportunity and could provide a billion-dollar boost to household revenues across sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report. Researchers are hopeful that their findings will illuminate the value of small-scale irrigation to private investors. The International Water Management Institute, which aims to improve resource management in the developing world, spearheaded the research. Timothy Olalekan Williams, the organization’s Africa director, spoke with AllAfrica about the report and the potential impact of improved water management. The agricultural economist is confident that small-scale irrigation offers big opportunities.

The world underestimates a huge problem: the population is growing, at the same time we are losing huge amounts of fertile soil. Time to take action, says ex-minister Klaus Toepfer.

Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Resilience is one of the three main themes of discussion at the European Development Days this year. The event will highlight the European Commission’s first ever set of proposals on resilience, which will outline a series of concrete recommendations on how to target the root causes of food insecurity and help millions of people to adapt and recover quickly from shocks. Universal food security is critical and underpins political stability, social welfare and economic growth. But challenges exist in the water-energy-food nexus, including increasing competition for land and water, rising prices of fuel and fertilisers, and climate change. Across the world, complex challenges abound. To help meet these challenges, the European Commission’s ‘Agenda for Change’ – a strategy for increasing the impact of EU development policy – urges support for sustainable practices in agriculture.

Chemistry can enable the development of technologies such as new drought-resistant crops and seeds, in addition to fertilizers that use less water in farming. - We often hear about the nexus between water and energy, and this is undeniable as energy is required to make use of water, and water is required to make use of energy. The nexus between food and water is also important. It is estimated that nearly one billion people went hungry in 2010, and as the world’s population is expected to grow to nine billion in 2050, at least a 70 % growth in global food production is anticipated to meet the needs of this population. Agriculture currently accounts for 70 % of fresh water use. As global food production increases, demand for fresh water will grow. Increasing the efficiency of water in agricultural use therefore needs to be addressed and has a double benefit.

As the UN and Oxfam warn of the dangers ahead, expert analyst Lester Brown says time to solve the problem is running out.

Smarter use of land, water and energy is needed for the world to continue to make gains against hunger, the International Food Policy Research Institute said today as it released its annual Global Hunger Index. The gauge shows 20 countries with levels of hunger that are “extremely alarming” or “alarming,” down from 26 last year and 43 in 1990 when the institute began compiling the index. Burundi, Eritrea and Haiti scored the worst, while the Democratic Republic of Congo, a perennial poor performer, didn’t have enough data to be ranked. The bulk of low-scoring countries are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Tom Friedman, the New York Times columnist, yesterday described the confrontation between population growth and water in China, arguing that a nation developing as fast as that one is bound to hit big economic and ecological impediments. For readers of Circle of Blue, where I serve as senior editor and a global correspondent, this is not a new thought. In fact, in recent months we’re seeing lots of fresh evidence that the groundbreaking reporting we’ve done on the contest between energy, water, and food is having influence in the media and in non-profit circles.

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.

With droughts on three continents triggering rising food prices, Malthusian fears are growing about the world’s ability to feed a fast-growing population. Do we have enough land? What about climate change? Will we - as the Stockholm World Water Week will ask in the coming days - have enough water? Could we even run short of farmers? Such fears are real. The current research focus on the sustainable intensification of farming systems around the world to feed more mouths is important. A world of nine billion people by mid-century could need 70 per cent more food. But there is another narrative that seems set to play out over the decades beyond. We may - just may - be on a path to peak population. By late this century, it is perfectly possible that our numbers will have peaked and be falling. And that could change all our perceptions about future food security.

The principal challenge of this century, in my view, will be adapting to a life without abundant, cheap fossil fuels. It has been the lifeblood of our society, and turns out to have some really fantastic qualities. The jury is still out as to whether we will develop suitable/affordable replacements. But additional challenges loom in parallel. Water is very likely to be one of them, which is especially pertinent in my region. For true believers in the universality of substitution, let me suggest two things. First, come to terms with the finite compactness of the periodic table. Second, try substituting delicious H2O with H2O2. It has an extra oxygen atom, and we all know that oxygen is a vital requisite for life, so our new product will be super-easy to market. Never-mind the hydrogen peroxide taste, and the death that will surely visit anyone foolish enough to adopt this substitution. Sometimes we’re just stuck without substitutes - by Tom Murphy

A few years back, number crunchers at the California Energy Commission tried to add up how much electrical power (and other forms of energy) goes into using water in California. The bottom line number they came up with: 19%. That is, nearly a fifth of all the power generated in California — as well as huge quantities of natural gas and diesel fuel consumed in the state — goes into water-related uses. You might call that report, entitled California’s Water-Energy Relationship, as The Great Wake-Up Call. The idea that so much power could go into this one vital activity—moving and treating and using water—is both stunning and captivating. And it has spurred both state agencies and water and power utilities into action.

Valley resident leads public conversation on local issues: Paul Andersen has earned a reputation in the Roaring Fork Valley for being a deep thinker and top essayist on environmental issues. Now, he’s trying to get midvalley residents more fully engaged in discussing some top issues of the day. Andersen, a columnist at The Aspen Times, will lead a three-part conversation at the Basalt Regional Library that delves into food, energy and water - what he labels the “triumvirate of really critical issues in our region.”

Commodity derivatives trading in water? It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds, and it may become part of the energy business soon. Water supply is critical to 89% of all electricity generation worldwide, so energy companies need to calculate “water risk” as part of overall business risk. Upmanu Lall, Director of Columbia University Water Center, said key to managing these risks is quantifying them, so businesses can create “actionable agendas.”

Our world is facing an urgent food management crisis that is leading to many continuing to go hungry whilst vast amounts of food are being wasted daily. This is why the link between water and food is of immense concern and this year, the World Water Week in Stockholm, organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) was dedicated to this issue. Within the complex nexus of water, food and energy, water plays a critical role and a fair governance mechanism for efficient management of water can lead to long-term positive implications for food security. However, water governance and management are currently suffering from numerous problems that prevent this positive long-term perspective from becoming a reality.

The POLIS Project on Ecological Governance’s Creating a Blue Dialogue webinar series is ramping up for another year, beginning with a session that will preview a forthcoming report on the water-energy nexus in British Columbia. Water Canada spoke with report author Ben Parfitt of the Candian Centre for Policy Alternatives to learn more.

Developing countries need a more integrated water management or a “water balance” that should be adhered to by all stakeholders around the world to preserve this very previous but perishable resource, according to Jae So, manager of World Bank Water and Sanitation Program. “A ‘water balance’is a detailed calculation of water demand from agriculture, industry, to household level as well as water supply and resources,” Jae told Xinhua by email before delivering a keynote speech at the IWA World Water Congress in Busan, South Korea. “Developing countries also have to deal with a high rate of non- revenue water or water loss, river pollution and decreasing quality of water resources due to poor sanitation,” Jae said. The high rate of non-revenue water, which in countries such as Indonesia tops 40 percent, affects financial viability of water utilities as well as the quality of water itself.

Water scarcity’s effect on food production means radical steps will be needed to feed population expected to reach 9bn by 2050. Leading water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global food supplies, saying that the world’s population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages.

Water conflicts are bubbling in many parts of the world, from China and India to the Middle East and southern Africa. A group of former world leaders is calling on the UN to make water a top security concern. As the world’s population continues to grow, so does its thirst. But not every nation is equally able to quench it. The looming water crisis threatens political stability and economic development in a number of developing and emerging markets, with implications for global peace, warns a group of prominent former government leaders, including Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela.

While we usually look at wind turbines chiefly as a cleaner, better source of electricity. But in many parts of the world, electricity is only one of several needs faced by much of the population. In answer to a broader set of needs, a new wind turbine has been presented to the market which uses some of the power that it produces to extract as much as 1,200 liters (more than 315 gallons) of clean water per day by condensing it from the air.

In India, like in the United States, the power sector is the single largest user of water – more than agriculture. Presuming that India could solve its power problems and build more coal, they would run out of fresh water even faster.

Asia’s water crisis is at the heart of the world’s water challenges, where the degradation of surface and subterranean water resources threatens the ecosystem. With Asia facing the world’s lowest per capita access to fresh water, the continent’s ever-deeper search for water is sucking groundwater reserves dry with millions of pump-operated wells even as it confronts river depletion. Groundwater is recklessly exploited because it is not visible to the human eye. What is out of sight tends to be out of mind, as people drill ever deeper into the receding water table. At least seven factors have contributed to the rising economic and security risks linked with the Asian water crisis.

Agriculture consumes the most water worldwide: the theme of this year’s World Water Week in Stockholm was “Water and Food Security”. Discussions centered on the question of how agricultural production can be increased by 40 to 50 per cent over the next 30 years in order to provide food security for a growing global population - even though there is not more water available. At the conference some 1,500 experts from development policy organisations and from the policy, scientific and civic communities sat together to work on this issue. The laureate of the Stockholm Water Prize, the International Water Management Institute IWMI, put it succinctly by saying “agriculture is thirsty”. Colin Chartres from IWMI underscored that the water requirements in agriculture will double if developments continue at their current pace. Therefore use of the scarce resource water must be optimised and generating additional need should be avoided as far as possible.

Drought and rising temperatures are forcing water managers across the country to scramble for ways to produce the same amount of power from the hydroelectric grid with less water, including from behemoths such as the Hoover Dam. Hydropower is not the only part of the nation’s energy system that appears increasingly vulnerable to the impact of climate change, as low water levels affect coal-fired and nuclear power plants’ operations and impede the passage of coal barges along the Mississippi River.

Ludgate Investments Ltd., a London-based private equity investor, is seeking to raise as much as $300 million to finance waste-recycling and water-treatment businesses through a second resource-efficiency fund. “The value proposition is resource scarcity and the fact that wastes have now become commodities, providing strong returns,” Chief Executive Officer Gijs Voskamp said in an interview in London. “There is no other way than becoming more efficient with resources.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Sanjeev Chadha, President, PepsiCo Middle East & Africa, we discussed the evolving relationship between business and society, water management and sustainability at PepsiCo, shortages and scarcity particularly in the Middle East and Africa, the interconnectivity of water with a number of other critical issues, and key leadership lessons learned from a business perspective in tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Why is it so important to look at sustainability issues related to water, food, and energy together, rather than treating each of them a potential problem on their own? Brewing conglomerate SABMiller (selling brands Grolsch, Peroni, Pilsner Urquell, Miller, among many others) is one of the frontrunners in the business community promoting nexus thinking. As their website states: “Water, food and energy are interconnected. Agriculture accounts for about 70% of global freshwater use and can pollute freshwater supplies if mismanaged. Water is also used to generate electricity: in the USA, power generation accounts for about 50% of all freshwater withdrawals and drought in countries that use hydropower - Ethiopia and Ghana, for example - can lead to black-outs. Energy, in turn, is needed to fertilise and transport crops, which can themselves be used as biofuel to create energy. Large amounts of energy are also required to pump water to drier regions and, as water scarcity increases, so will the energy needed for technologies such as desalination. Given these trade-offs and interactions, successfully addressing the triple challenge of water stress, food security and energy supplies means taking a holistic view and balancing the many competing demands. We call this interconnected issue the water-food-energy nexus.”

Agriculture consumes the most water worldwide: the theme of this year’s World Water Week in Stockholm was “Water and Food Security”. Discussions centered on the question of how agricultural production can be increased by 40 to 50 per cent over the next 30 years in order to provide food security for a growing global population - even though there is not more water available. As KfW reported, at the conference some 1,500 experts from development policy organisations and from the policy, scientific and civic communities sat together to work on this issue.

Many of this year’s Stockholm World Water Week water and food security discussions centered on a new concept: the water-food-energy (WFE) nexus.
A new term is rapidly increasing in prominence in the world of agricultural water research: the water-food-energy (WFE) nexus. This year’s Stockholm World Water Week focal theme was “food and water security” and the WFE nexus seemed to feature prominently in almost every discussion.

Today at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, I had the good fortune of chairing a most interesting workshop on addressing resource scarcity. It was organised by Shell. Over the coming two decades, the growth of population and prosperity will significantly increase the global demand for energy, water and food, perhaps beyond planetary boundaries. This is known as the “stress nexus” and how are we to address it? - by Francis Vorhies

By Stuart Orr, Freshwater Manager, WWF International, and David Grant, Senior Manager: Water Risk and Partnerships, SABMiller

Research into water is growing faster than the average 4 per cent annual growth rate for all research disciplines, claims a new report presented by Elsevier and SIWI during the 2012 World Water Week in Stockholm. The report, “The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape” analysed the major trends in water and food-related article output at international, national and institutional levels. Elsevier and SIWI worked closely together on creating the report, which is based on the analysis of Scopus citation data by Elsevier’s SciVal Analytics team.

As World Water Week 2012 begins, we talk with SEI’s executive director about the key themes and how SEI is addressing them. Johan L. Kuylenstierna is moderating and participating in several events at World Water Week. In this interview, he draws on SEI’s work and on his own insights and experience to identify key challenges of the “nexus” - and how SEI can help policy-makers tackle them.

This week, businesses, governments and NGOs came together for the annual World Water Week conference in Stockholm. PepsiCo hosted three events, and participated in several others, focused on the nexus between water and sustainable agriculture. Of the three events we hosted, one was a small, closed session for two dozen peers and potential partners; the others were panels on the official agenda. One about farm verification programs cohosted with Unilever and BSR and the other about supply chains cohosted with the Columbia Water Center In addition, we gave a keynote presentation in the WBCSD Founders Business Seminar entitled “Water and Energy for Food, Fiber and Fuel.”

“If something isn’t given a value, people tend to waste it. Water is our most useful resource, but those using it often don’t even cover the costs of its infrastructure,” said Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke, speaking in Stockholm for 2012 World Water Week, which concluded Friday. The key issues this year: water and food security, followed by partnerships, tools and data. The water-food-energy triangle was key at the 2011 Bonn Nexus Conference, but the key the difference this year, according to an essay penned by David Grant, SABMiller’s senior director of water risk and partnerships, for the Guardian, “was the progression of the issue from a broad theoretical concept to actually seeing practical examples of how it is being both experienced and addressed on the ground.”

The global water crisis makes collaboration between business, NGOs and civil society essential for securing a sustainable, long term future for all. In Stockholm, 2,500 delegates have gathered for World Water Week to discuss the global water crisis and its effects on food security. Droughts and floods from America to Australia have devastated farms, frustrated civic leaders and caused food prices to skyrocket at a disturbing rate. Now companies are realising that water stewardship is both a moral imperative and makes smart business sense. With the world confronting a 40% gap between the planet’s supply and demand by 2030, the time to confront water scarcity is now.

The increasingly joined up thinking towards tackling water, energy and food challenges is apparent but more is needed to build advocacy among civil society, writes Rebecca Tharme

Amid dire warnings, there are rays of hope emanating from around the world. People, not governments, who through ingenuity and hands on experience are creating productive farmland from arid land, fuel this hope. A report by Malik Falkenmark and colleagues at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) states there will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the projected population of nine billion people in 2050 if current diet trends continue. Amid warnings of water scarcity limiting food production, and as Oxfam and the United Nations prepare for a possible second global food crisis in five years, another report shows that there is water at the bottom of the well.

A summary of the Stockholm Water Week’s discussions on the NEXUS on 28 August 2012.

The International Water Management Institute, headed by Australian Dr Colin Chartes, was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize at last year’s Stockholm World Water Week. For this year’s event, being held from 26 August, IWMI have released research that finds that smallscale irrigation schemes can protect millions of farmers from food insecurity and climate change in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. As food prices escalate globally due to the failed monsoon season in Asia and the “super drought” in the US, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a CGIAR consortium research center, released a paper for Stockholm World Water Week titled “Water for wealth and food security: Supporting farmer-driven investments in agricultural water management” that find expanding the use of smallholder water management techniques could increase yields up to 300 percent in some cases, and add tens of billions of US dollars to household revenues across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

A new report warns that unless the world’s population adopts a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years, we may face a global food shortage crisis nothing short of a catastrophe. The warning comes as U.S. meat consumption declines - it’ll be down more than 12 percent from 2007 by the end of 2012. The amount comes to 165.5 pounds per person a year, or under half a pound a day. Growing awareness of global food security issues may be to thank in part, but the world still has a long way to go. The findings by leading water scientists at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said that about 20 percent of protein in human diets is currently animal-based, but unless that drops to 5 percent by 2050 there won’t be enough food to nourish the additional 2 billion people estimated to be alive by 2050.

Fleisch ist in den reichen Ländern eine billige Alltagsnahrung. Doch damit dürfte laut einer Studie bald Schluss sein: Das Wachstum der Weltbevölkerung und künftige Wasserkrisen könnten das Schnitzel zum Luxusgut machen. Sparsames Spülen hilft da kaum. Denn das weitaus meiste Wasser, das man als Bewohner eines reichen Industrielandes zum Leben braucht, fällt fernab der heimischen Wohnung an - der größte Teil entsteht in der Lebensmittelherstellung. Die Landwirtschaft verbraucht rund doppelt so viel Wasser wie alle anderen Aktivitäten der Menschheit zusammen - und die Fleischproduktion wiederum hat den höchsten Wasserverbrauch. Die Herstellung eines einzigen Kilogramms Schweinefleisch verschlingt rund 10.000 Liter.

As we sail down the road from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville in air-conditioned luxury, we can stare out of the mirrored windows at mile upon mile of dry rice paddy. It is the dry season, and the landscape is a dark brown, the paddies empty. My driver is a “bong tom”, a “big brother”, with a day job in a Cambodian ministry, a side job in the military, and a sluice of other business activities on the side. He is much wealthier than I am, and the car we’re in is the bong tom trademark, a Lexus GX SUV, with a 4.6 litre, V8 engine, painted in high-gloss black. Inside the car, the air conditioner has pushed the temperature down to a chilly 20 degrees. Outside it, a man in a conical hat walks alongside a pair of buffalo. The blades on the plough they’re pulling scratches at the hard earth. The Lexus is not a nexus. Or so I thought. But in December 2011, when we held our first Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy (W-F-E) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, our hosts stared at the term we were trying to introduce to them. Nexus.

Food, water, energy, and health form a nexus of interrelated factors. Food worriers see the long term curves of food supply and creeping demand closing in on each other. Most figure that a crisis will hit in a weather nexus when several major crop regions have a down year at once.

The relationship between water and food production is in focus at this year’s World Water Week in Stockholm. Climate-related issues like droughts are just one factor putting pressure on the world’s water resources. “Water is life. It is the heart of a green economy. That’s why we must talk about water efficiency,” stressed Kenza Robinson, the secretary of UN-Water who also works at the United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs.

There’s no better time than now for the American public to appreciate the “water-energy-food nexus,” or as I like to call it, the “liquid triangle of life”. To farmers across the U.S., particularly the Midwest, it’s painfully obvious: The historic drought, sweeping across the land like a silent tsunami, is wreaking economic, environmental, and emotional havoc in its wake. It should be a wake-up call for all of us to value water, appreciate the embedded role it plays in our economy, and manage it wisely (saving for a rainy day as well as preparing for rain-less days).

Feeding 7 billion people whilst maintaining the health of natural ecosystems and livelihoods is a huge challenge and urgent solutions will be required. During the six day conference, IUCN and partners will look into and discuss possible answers and solutions to the growing water, energy and food security challenge. The yearly conference attracts over 2,000 participants, from government, private sector and civil society, who will put forward policy recommendations and concrete actions.

Droughts, poor land use and water access have all contributed to recent volatility in food prices and regional food emergencies. To address such insecurity in food supplies, good water management and governance – as well as reliable early warning systems – are needed, says Jens Berggren, who heads World Water Week that begins on 26 August in Stockholm.

Michel Jarraud, WMO Secretary-General said: “Climate change is projected to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of droughts, with impacts on many sectors, in particular food, water, and energy. We need to move away from a piecemeal, crisis-driven approach and develop integrated risk-based national drought policies.”

The World Water Week 2012 in Stockholm will zoom in on food security and the global water situation. This is warranted not least from the perspective of the increasing imbalances in global food security. In this article, Dr. Anders Jägerskog sums up the thrust of a report he edited on this topic, which is meant to provide input for the Week’s deliberations.

The World Water Week 2012 will focus on food security and the global water situation. To bring some perspectives to that debate Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) is launching a report called “Feeding a Thirsty World: Challenges and Opportunities for a Water and Food Secure Future”. The publication is intended to provide an overview of the areas that relate to food security and water. It will give food for thought through providing the latest knowledge on issues such as food waste, land acquisition and water, gender aspects of agriculture, early warning systems for agricultural emergencies as well as a take on water and food linkages. The articles of the report aim to provoke appropriate concern and inspire action where needed. Getting the question of water and food security “right” is not simply urgent and important. It is imperative to the health and well-being of all people and the planet.

Irrigation has helped farmers feed a population that has now reached 7 billion people. But in many places farmers have overused underground aquifers that have taken thousands of years to form, drawing down the fossil water much faster than it can be replaced. The Ogallala aquifer in the American high plains, along with similar aquifers in Mexico, Eastern Europe, Egypt, Arabia, Iran, India and China, represent the crisis zones for humanity’s groundwater footprint, according to a new analysis published in Nature on August 9.

China’s plan to rapidly expand large coal mines and power plants in its arid northern and western provinces threatens to drain precious water supply and could trigger a severe water crisis, a report by environmental activists Greenpeace said on Tuesday. China intends to boost coal production in provinces including Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Ningxia, with output in those areas expected to reach 2.2bn tonnes, or 56% of the country’s forecast production of 3.9bn tonnes, by 2015.

A global system to monitor management of water resources would help governments secure food and water supplies for the future, a U.N. expert due to attend the World Water Week conference later this month has told AlertNet. “There’s demand for a global reporting mechanism that will help us see what is the status of water security and how water is used around the world as a resource, whether in agriculture, industrial production or any other way,” said Joakim Harlin, senior water resources advisor for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The embryonic process - due to be discussed at the water gathering - would set indicators for water-resource management, and build capacity in developing countries so they can collect data, analyse and report on these indicators, he said.

The Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA) has been chosen to join the MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA-NETWORK OF WATER CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE (MENA NWC) and to lead the water supply and sanitation thematic group. The network aims to link technical institutions across the Middle East and North Africa with each other, with counterpart institutions in the United States and elsewhere, with governments, and with the private sector to solve the critical water problems confronting the region. It was agreed on five Thematic Partnerships that are a focal point for communications and knowledge sharing. Within each Thematic Partnership, priority research areas were identified. The following priority research areas are the basis for the Network’s first Research Teams and submit R&D Grant Applications: 1) Groundwater; 2) Non-Conventional Water; 3) Water/Energy/Food Security Nexus; 4) Water Supply and Sanitation; 5) Water Use Efficiency and Productivity

Human waste attracts less funding than other development projects but Reinvent the Toilet challenge recognises that better hygiene can cut healthcare costs and prevent early deaths. A solar powered toilet that breaks down water and human waste into hydrogen gas for use in fuel cells has won first prize in a competition for next-generation toilets to improve sanitation in the developing world.