Candice Howarth, Katya Brooks
Highlights
- Food, energy, water and environment resources and systems are deeply linked. The concept of ‘nexus’ can provide a useful lens through which to explore the interlinkages and interdependencies between them but its meanings, applications and implications are contested and varied in this context.
- A nexus shock could be any sudden occurrence that disrupts and has knock-on effects across the food-energy -water -environment nexus and/or the actors that work within it. This book focuses specifically on extreme weather events or shocks resulting from climate variability and change.
- There is a need for an integrated approach at multiple levels across sectors and systems in preparing, planning, identifying, responding and making the most appropriate decisions to nexus shocks that incorporate the interlinkages between these core resources.
- A lack of national strategy to build resilience to nexus shocks can mean that climate-vulnerable places and people are not targeted and supported.
Understanding the Nexus
In sustainability research, ‘nexus’ refers to the intersection of the core resources: water, energy, food and environment, as a whole, interdependent and interlinked system. Since 2008, ‘nexus’ has gained in popularity as a tool to explore the relationships between whichever combination of these resources is under study (e.g. the food-energy -water -environment (FEWE) nexus, the water-energy -food (WEF) nexus), with the climate and of those working in science and environmental policy, governance and business spheres and across academic research disciplines (Leck et al. 2015; Rasul and Bikash 2016). This can also enable a better understanding of (un)intended consequences of policies, technologies and practices that may arise around nexus issues (Howarth and Monasterolo 2016).
The origin and use of ‘the nexus’ in this context can be traced back to the 2008 World Economic Forum and has since been used by former UK Chief Scientific Government Advisor Sir John Beddington, by prominent international institutions (e.g. the World Bank, the UN World Water Assessment Programme, the European Commission, the OECD), has been the focus of international events (e.g. Nexus Bonn 2011 Conference, Sixth World Water Forum in 2012, the Rio +20 negotiations in 2012, 2014 Stockholm Water Week) and has driven research priorities (e.g. UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Nexus Network). However, the term is not without its critics. Some argue that ‘the nexus’ is merely a buzzword (Cairns and Krzywoszynska 2016) to represent sustainability issues and it does not adequately consider local interactions between stakeholders and resources; resource inequality and access, and how this contributes to social instability; how decision-making varies across scales; nor, the role of science and technology in some of these debates (Howarth and Monasterolo 2017; Allouche et al. 2014). A single term can also not fully represent the key elements of the interactions and interdependencies that occur across food, energy, water, environment resources (Table 1.1). Terms such as the ‘nexus’ become labels of such complex processes that they become unable to fully represent the myriad of meanings, interpretations and interactions that occur with the nexus of food, energy, water, environment and indeed the real interactions that occur between those affected by or dependent on these resources. Whilst it provides a useful way of capturing such intricate processes, and is used widely in the academic sphere it is still of limited use in the political and industry environments (although it is a common term used by those working on issues relevant to nexus resources).
Table 1.1
Key elements that characterise the food-energy -water -environment nexus (adapted from Howarth and Monasterolo 2016)
Uncertainty about societal changes and political stances and uncertainty around how resources, stakeholders and processes are connected |
Existence of risks which can lead to complex processes and can potentially lead to cascading or systemic effects |
Impacts that can cascade across a system, amplified or diminished |
Not always linear with numerous interacting components |
Consisting of multiple feedback processes where a reaction from a component or event is enhanced (positive feedback) or diminished (negative feedback) following another component or event |
Both independent of human intervention and dependent on physical and biophysical (e.g. environmental) mechanisms |
Characterized by hierarchy with sub-systems all interacting with others |
Nexus resources are fundamental for the evolution and development of society, however they are being depleted at a rate faster than ecosystems can cope with (Steffen et al. 2018). For example, between 2000 and 2010, global depletion of non-renewable groundwater increased by 24%, primarily through abstraction for agricultural irrigation (Dalin et al. 2017), and, due to consumption-based pressures, the planetary boundaries (Rockström et al. 2009) of nitrogen and phosphorus (two nutrients critical for plant and animal production, i.e. food systems), exceeded globally by more than factor of 3 and 2, respectively (Hoff et al. 2017). The concept of the nexus entails a holistic view of the world that surrounds society and interactions with a complex system of feedback loops, different sectors and natural resources (Hamiche et al. 2016).
Shocks to the Nexus
A nexus shock is anything or event that disrupts, changes or threatens the food, energy, water and environment nexus and/or the actors that work within this system and are heavily reliant upon these resources. In the context of this book, a nexus shock specifically refers to ‘climate-related’, ‘severe weather’ or ‘extreme weather’ events or shocks as direct effects of climate change, such as drought, floods and heatwaves. Globally, extreme weather and climate events have been changing with increased frequency and severity of such shocks observed since 1950 (IPCC 2013). A nexus shock can be characterized as a short-term event of low probability (i.e. not a high likelihood of occurring), low frequency (i.e. not occurring often), that has an immediate, high impact which affects a number of scales (i.e. local, national, regional, international) and stakeholders (i.e. businesses, policymakers, farmers, land owners, consumers, etc.) that work, contribute to, or depend on, the FEWE nexus (Howarth and Monasterolo 2016).
As part of an inherently interdependent, interlinked and complex system, a shock to one nexus resource can cause feedback loops for the others which can combine and cascade, and potentially compound vulnerabilities in eac...