Round Table // 1st Round Table on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Paris

The Dutch delegation to the OECD organizes a series of Nexus Round Tables with the aim to initiate a policy discussion of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in an integrated way. The first session took place on Thursday September 25 in Maison Benelux with the objective to set the scene and discuss the issue of competing claims for (scarce) resources. The panel discussion was fed by four presentations. Ton Manders from the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency set the scene by explaining the complicated inter-linkages between water, energy and food. He stressed that climate change, resources and minerals, and forestry (biodiversity) add to the complexity and that some linkages are more important than others. Ellina Levina (IEA) addressed the energy leg of the nexus in more detail. She highlighted that energy security is highly dependent on water availability and quality, since water is used for fuel extraction and energy production. The fact that water is the cornerstone for many other sectors was presented by Aziza Akhmouch (OECD). She emphasized that the water sector is fragmented, lacks vertical co-ordination and that a policy gap exists since decisions are made in "silos". Finally, Jonathan Brooks and Guillaume Gruére clarified the agricultural linkages to the nexus, which relate to groundwater irrigation, water competition and irrigated biofuel crops.