Policy Briefing // The Water-Energy-Food Nexus
By the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. The term nexus describes the key interactions between parts of a system or systems. This POSTnote summarises current understanding of the interactions between water, energy and food production and examines how nexus approaches can be used to inform policy decisions.
- A nexus assessment seeks to describe the interactions of water, food, energy, environmental and social systems to identify the interdependencies and trade-offs between these systems.
- Failure to take account of interactions and trade-offs creates vulnerabilities to shocks, such as extreme weather events, which can have cascading impacts across systems.
- There are no set methods for undertaking nexus assessments, but key aspects involve understanding the interactions between systems and people.
- Awareness of interactions and trade-offs is necessary, but addressing them also requires an understanding of the social, political and environmental context.
Acknowledgements
POSTnotes are based on literature reviews and interviews with a range of stakeholders and are externally peer reviewed. POST would like to thank interviewees and peer reviewers for kindly giving up their time during the preparation of this briefing, including:- Dr Ruth Welters, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia*
- Professor Liz Varga, Professor of Complex Infrastructure Systems Demand Chain Management, Cranfield University*
- Dr Candice Howarth, CECAN, University of Surrey*
- Dr Adam Cooper, STeAPP, UCL*
- Dr Geoff Darch, Principal Consultant, Climate Futures, Vice-Chair, Futures Programme, ATKINS*
- Professor Dan Osborn, Chair of Human Ecology, Department of Earth Sciences, University College London*
- Dr Rachel Muckle, Defra
- Dr Gary Kass, Defra/Natural England*
- Greg Lowe, Executive Director, Capital, Science, and Policy Practice, Willis Towers Watson
- Professor David Demeritt, Department of Geography, King's College London*
- Professor Tim Benton, UK Champion for Global Food Security and Professor of Population Ecology, University of Leeds*
- Professor James Wilsdon, Professor of Research Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Sheffield*
- Dr Hayley Leck, King's Centre for Integrated Research on Risk and Resilience, Department of Geography, King's College London*
- Professor Alice Bows-Larkin, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester*
- Dr Gemma Cranston, Senior Programme Manager, University of Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership*
- Ben Shaw, Director of Policy Studies Institute and Deputy Director of CECAN, University of Westminster*
- Professor Declan Conway, Grantham Research Institute, LSE and University of East Anglia*