16 Jan 2017
Research Brief // Governing the Nexus between Water, Energy and Food: Instruments, Incentives and Mechanisms
By Ines Dombrowsky, Waltina Scheumann and Babette Never. Isolated sector policies competing with one another for resources do not offer any viable solutions to tackling connected supply risks. The nexus approach works to counteract silo policies by promoting a connected means of resolving issues. This is primarily also a matter of governance. There are four challenges when it comes to governing the nexus between water, energy and food.
Summary
- First, Nexus governance must deal with the same market and coordination failures and information asymmetries as sectoral governance, but with more actors and a greater degree of uncertainty and risk. Consequently, one single policy instrument will barely suffice.
- Second, this plurality makes situation-specific solutions a more likely option than governance blueprints.
- Third, it is usually a large number of actors with different interests and resources for representing and asserting those interests who are affected. However, power imbalances often make it difficult to engage with the nexus.
- Fourth, there is the added difficulty in developing countries that these nations frequently already struggle with implementing sectoral governance, for instance, due to institutional weaknesses, data deficits and a lack of resources. Nonetheless, this does not mean that it is impossible to mobilise synergies and reduce negative intersectoral effects. Rather, there has simply been too little in the way of research activities and practical proposals to date with regard to governance of the nexus.