The Water, Energy & Food Nexus

An array a high level inputs has informed a new report by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology summarises current understanding of the interactions between water, energy and food production and examines how nexus approaches can be used to inform policy decisions. It says that 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. Water, energy and food (WEF) systems interact with each other and the environment. For instance, food crops require energy for fertilisers, water for irrigation, and rely on environmental processes for cycling of nutrients and pollinating crops. Agricultural practices have also led to declines in pollinators and an excess of nutrients in the environment. The term nexus has been used to describe these interactions since the 1980s. It has become prominent in discussions of international resource policies and is the focus of UK research programmes. Exact definitions of the water, energy and food nexus differ, but all seek to describe interactions across and between relevant systems. Understanding the interactions between WEF systems can help decision makers balance trade-offs made between them, in response to increasing demand. This in turn could increase security in these sectors. 

Click here to download the report