A literature review on:

The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A

systematic review of methods for
nexus assessment
PREPARED BY: Tamee R Albrecht
Jyotsana Adhikari (PUR076BAG024) Arica Crootof
Krishna Prasad Yadav (PUR076BAG025) Christopher A Scott
INTRODUCTION/ OBJECTIVES:
•The paper focuses on the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus and the need for effective resource
management for sustainable outcomes.
•The WEF nexus recognizes the interconnectedness and interdependence of water, energy, and
food systems.
•Current methods for analyzing WEF interactions and addressing complex resource challenges are
limited.
•The paper aims to review existing WEF nexus analytical approaches, identify best practices, and
promote further development of tools and methods.
•It emphasizes the importance of integrating sectors, considering social and environmental
dimensions, and engaging stakeholders for robust nexus assessments.
Figure 1. Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus from Hoff (2011). Source:
Understanding the Nexus: Background paper for the Bonn 2011 Nexus
Conference, Stockholm Environment Institute 2011.
METHODOLOGY:
•Conducted a systematic review of 245 journal articles and book chapters on the
WEF nexus.
•Selected articles based on criteria: explicit use of the nexus concept, inclusion of
all three sectors (water, energy, and food), and testing or proposing specific
analytical tools.
•Analyzed articles for publication information, nexus methods used, sector
preferences, presence of case studies, purpose, scale of analysis, and challenges or
limitations.
 CHARACTERI
ZING NEXUS
METHODS:
Studies were most often
published in journals from the
fields of environmental
sciences, social sciences,
energy, and agricultural, and
biological sciences (figure 2), Figure 2. Number of articles published in a journal categorized under the disciplines
generally consistent with listed. For example, 60 of the articles reviewed were published in a journal
findings by Keairns et al (2016). categorized in the ‘Environmental sciences.’ Most journals are listed in more than one
Most journals cover more than category; thus, the totals of all categories exceed the total number of articles. Other
one discipline (per categories categories not shown in the figure were mentioned less than five times each:
defined in the Scopus database). ‘Business’, ‘Chemical engineering’, ‘Medicine’, ‘Computer science’, ‘Psychology’,
‘Nutrition’, ‘Economics’, ‘Earth and planetary sciences’ and ‘Decision sciences. One
journal was not categorized in Scopus.
FINDINGS:
•Specific and reproducible methods for nexus assessment are uncommon.
•Nexus methods often fail to capture interactions among water, energy, and food.
•Quantitative approaches are favored over qualitative approaches.
•Social science methods are underutilized.
•Many nexus methods are confined to disciplinary silos, lacking integration across
diverse disciplines.
Key Features of Nexus Analytical
Tools and Methods:
•Innovation: Methods should address the complexity of WEF interactions, incorporate
novel approaches, and understand system dynamics and boundaries.
•Context: Methods should consider historical, social, political, and economic dynamics,
adapt to different conditions, and account for multi-scalar system dynamics.
•Collaboration: Methods should encourage broad participation, cooperation, and data-
sharing among stakeholders from different sectors.
•Implementation: Methods should be accessible to decision-makers, address policy-
relevant questions, and offer a systematic process for practical application.
Figure 3. Key features of WEF nexus analytical approaches with
corresponding representative studies.
Promising Advances in Nexus
Methods:
•Identified 18 studies that demonstrate promising advances in nexus methods.
•These studies incorporate social and political dimensions, utilize
interdisciplinary approaches, and engage stakeholders and decision-makers.
LIMITATIONS:
•Search methodology limitations, potential bias in article selection, and focus on peer-reviewed
literature.
•Overlooking contributions from the grey literature.
CONCLUSIONS:
•Mixed-methods and transdisciplinary approaches are needed to address complex resource
and development challenges.
•Nexus assessments should incorporate diverse approaches, engage stakeholders, and
promote socially and politically-feasible outcomes.
•The identified key features provide a framework for the development of robust nexus
methods that promote sustainable resource management.
THANK YOU!