Growing global water stress caused by the combined effects of growing populations, increasing economic development, and climate change elevates the importance of managing and allocating water resources in ways that are economically efficient and that account for interdependencies between food production, energy generation, and water networks—often referred to as the “food-energy-water (FEW) nexus.” To support these objectives, this report outlines a replicable hydro-economic methodology for assessing the value of water resources in alternative uses across the FEW nexus–including for agriculture, energy production, and human consumption—and maximizing the benefits of these resources through optimization analysis. The report’s goal is to define the core elements of an integrated systems-based modeling approach that is generalizable, flexible, and geographically portable for a range of FEW nexus applications. The report includes a detailed conceptual framework for assessing the economic value of water across the FEW nexus and a modeling framework that explicitly represents the connections and feedbacks between hydrologic systems (e.g., river and stream networks) and economic systems (e.g., food and energy production). The modeling components are described with examples from existing studies and applications. The report concludes with a discussion of current limitations and potential extensions of the hydro-economic methodology.

Growing global water stress caused by the combined effects of growing populations, increasing economic development, and climate change elevates the importance of managing and allocating water resources in ways that are economically efficient and that account for interdependencies between food production, energy generation, and water networks--often referred to as the "food-energy-water (FEW) nexus." To support these objectives, this report outlines a replicable hydro-economic methodology for assessing the value of water resources in alternative uses across the FEW nexus--including for agriculture, energy production, and human consumption--and maximizing the benefits of these resources through optimization analysis. The report's goal is to define the core elements of an integrated systems-based modeling approach that is generalizable, flexible, and geographically portable for a range of FEW nexus applications. The report includes a detailed conceptual framework for assessing the economic value of water across the FEW nexus and a modeling framework that explicitly represents the connections and feedbacks between hydrologic systems (e.g., river and stream networks) and economic systems (e.g., food and energy production). The modeling components are described with examples from existing studies and applications. The report concludes with a discussion of current limitations and potential extensions of the hydro-economic methodology.

We use an innovative methodology to model the socioeconomic linkages between water, energy, and food in the East Nile Basin. Based upon a theoretical nexus framework, the methodology is expanded into a quantifiable modeling suite that under-lies the analysis of each of three country case studies. The advantages are that, despite resource shortages being a challenge, the modeling suite aids in devising policies and strategies that formulate these sectoral interdependencies and provide the evidence-based research results necessary for their design in a way that exploits synergies existing across sectors, countries, and regions (Al-Zubari n.d.). This paper lays out the methodology and gives an example of an application and scenarios by focusing on three countries in the East Nile Basin. This methodology paper will be followed by three individual country case studies that highlight the water, energy, and food nexus for each.

The book’s primary intention is to serve as a roadmap for professionals working in developing countries interested in the Nexus Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) approach. The book shows a multi-disciplinary approach, showcasing the importance of the proper use of Nexus WEFE when implementing certain development programs in regions around the globe. It can be presented as a manual for an individual that either wishes to implement intervention projects following the NEXUS approach or students interested in cooperation and development. The book begins with a general explanation of the theoretical concepts and implementation processes of Nexus WEFE and continues getting into case studies, explaining the importance of proper implementation and potential drawbacks and solutions to them. This book has a particular focus on the European Union cooperation policies when implementing such an approach in developing countries.

The project titled “The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Global, Basin and Local Case Studies of Resource Use Efficiency under Growing Natural Resource Scarcity“ (2015-2018), which was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany, and was undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. The project set out to develop research methodologies and insights globally as well as for the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Organization (ENTRO) of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to support efforts for enhanced water, energy and food security and environmental sustainability. The toolkit describes both qualitative and quantitative methods that have been used in the research project. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list of information and tools related to the analysis of the water, energy and food (WEF) nexus. The overall focus of the tools has been on economic analysis of the linkages across water, energy and food--to complement other studies and method developments that focus on biophysical linkages across the WEF nexus. The toolkit is aimed, primarily, at researchers interested in the analysis of the water, energy and food nexus. However, the studies summarized here also provide insights for practitioners implementing Nexus projects.

Water, Energy and Food are the very basic necessities of human life and all the three of them are interconnected with each other, this connection being called the Water-Energy-Food nexus. Water is an inevitable element to energy and food systems to work. Water is essential for the growth of crops and produce energy and it consumes a lot of energy to treat and move water. Food and energy are equally dependent upon each other as well. This book highlights with various examples and case studies from around the World, the importance of this concept.

Due to global transformational trends, such as population growth, economic development and climate change, energy, water, land and human resources are increasingly under pressure to support societal development and to maintain necessary services. Decision makers need improved tools in order to be better informed about trade-offs and synergies between different development and management choices, and to help them identify options on how to sustainably manage resources. This report proposes a way to carry out a water-energy-food nexus assessment approach in order to: a) understand the interactions between water, energy and food systems in a given context, and b) evaluate the performance of a technical or policy intervention in this given context. The ultimate goal of the nexus assessment is to inform nexus related responses in terms of strategies, policy measures, planning and institutional set-up or interventions.