Latin America and the Caribbean

50 million people currently do not have adequate access to food, despite playing a key role in meeting the growing international food demand. The region contains over 41% of the global freshwater resources, however 36 million inhabitants do not have access to an improved water source, as inequality in water accessibility and availability remains a problem. The region strongly depends on hydropower for energy production, which is responsible for 65% of the electricity generated. This however raises conflicts with other water users, such as the mining and agricultural sector. In order to overcome resource conflicts in LAC, it is necessary to understand the interconnections -synergies, conflicts and compensations- between water, energy and food.

Different intervention areas between water, energy and food as of priority interest and concern for LAC, are:

• hydroelectric generation

• mining and oil

• expansion and modernisation of irrigation with Solar-powered irrigation systems

• overexploitation of aquifers,

• services of potable water and sanitation in cities (Urban nexus),

• and biofuels.

The Nexus Regional Dialogues Programme works in close cooperation with several major stakeholders in the region such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) to raise Nexus issues up to high-level regional policy discourses, to support the identification of synergies within the WEF Nexus, as well as to support the recommendation of policies for strengthening the management of natural resources.