Article // The Nexus Approach to Governance of Environmental Resources Considering Global Change

By Mathew Kurian (Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources, United Nations University), Reza Ardakanian. — Global trends such as urbanization, demographic and climate change that are currently underway pose serious challenges to sustainable development and integrated resources management. The International Panel on Climate Change noted in 2007 that one key feature of these changes is an acceleration of the global hydro-cycle. This is manifested in the increasing frequency or severity of extreme events such as floods and droughts. Since water is a potent dissolver and transport agent of soils, nutrients, other chemicals and materials and wastes may ‘migrate’ with water and could be ‘lost’ in unwanted places such as oceans, which may make recycling unfeasible with technologies that are available today. The ‘volatility’ of water resources needs to be accounted for given an increasing demand for food production. At the same time, there is a growing concern about soil degradation and the decline in soil quality, while the demand for food is going to increase. In this context, environmental quality can be satisfied only if soil, waste and water resources are managed in a sustainable and integrated manner. Given the limitations of the conventional technology transfer model in terms of addressing environmental challenges it is now acknowledged that capacity development approaches that aim to facilitate technology adaptation may offer a better chance of success.