The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A Critical Examination in the African Context

As a geographer, I value holistic problem-solving. I’m intrigued by the WEF Nexus approach, a useful approach to addressing water and food scarcity in Africa which recognises how water, energy and food management intertwine (see Figure 1). It encourages efficient resource use and management nationally and regionally, aligning with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Figure 1: The Nexus approach

In this blog post, I will share my thoughts on the benefits and challenges of a nexus approach in Africa.

WEF Nexus Benefits

Simpson et al’s (2023) work linking WEF Nexus scores to Human Development Index (HDI) scores demonstrates the main benefit of the approach.

Figure 2: The WEF Index measures access to and availability of water, energy and food on a scale of 0-100

The correlation found in high HDI and WEF Nexus Index nations like South Africa and Gabon shows how sustainable water, food and energy access aids development.

A nexus approach also encourages optimising regional strengths for farming productivity amidst climate change (Mpandeli et al., 2018).

WEF Nexus Challenges

Challenges arise due to inefficient governance, impacting the creation of regional frameworks that solve issues of water scarcity and food availability. While the WEF Nexus encourages better resource management, it doesn’t fully acknowledge structural and institutional governance challenges in Africa.

Southern Africa is one African region that is implementing a WEF Nexus. In a Southern African context, the main challenges include: 

1. Regional coordination

It is imperative to collaborate regionally, across varying sectors in Southern Africa to effectively coordinate institutional plans as many targets are sector-focused however, this is difficult when there is limited interaction between sectors regionally (Kabeya et al., 2022).

2. Lack of a formal framework 

Different units within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) work separately with stakeholders and organisations without adequate coordination (Kabeya et al., 2022). This minimises the cohesiveness of decision-making and regional resource management in the region.

3. Complex geography and history

When considering Southern Africa’s geography, cross-border water resources complicate a nexus approach. My interest in politics forces me to consider South Africa, a key player in the Southern African WEF Nexus, and its legacy of apartheid and colonialism, resulting in unequal water and food access that needs to be addressed.

Progress

The SADC have taken steps to improve the Nexus. In its first phase, the SADC held cross-sectoral dialogues and member states established a SADC Regional WEF Nexus Governance Framework. Crucially, the SADC framework provides stakeholders with a platform for discussions.

My thoughts on the WEF Nexus

The WEF Nexus offers Africa with a framework to combat water and food scarcity as well as achieve social and economic development. Successfully implementing the WEF Nexus in Africa requires governmental institutions to promote regional dialogue and integrate WEF Nexus frameworks into regional policies for better regional water and food management. 

In my view, African nations should focus on national socioeconomic and political issues that contribute to water and food scarcity.

Although climate change poses challenges that extend beyond national boundaries, establishing robust resource management institutions within each nation is a vital first step. Once stable institutions are established nationally, effective collaboration at the continental level becomes more achievable.