About this Research Topic

Background

This Research Topic is part of a series celebrating 10 years of Water-Food-Energy (WEF) Nexus research and implementation. You can view the other collections in the series here:

Towards Knowledge Synthesis, Action Prioritization and Revitalization of Security Debates
Impact of Climate Variability and Change on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus
Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Role of Water Quality in Land Use/Land Cover Transformations in River Basins

The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has gained increasing attention in the research and decision-making communities in recent years as evidenced by the increasing published work on the subject in the past decade. The WEF nexus has become an accepted framework for integrated resources planning, utilization and management for sustainable development, particularly in the global South - a region plagued by resource scarcity and climate risks. However, besides the potential importance of the WEF nexus it has remained as a rhetoric ambition lacking analytical tools to address the three interlinked global security concerns of access to water, sustainable energy and food security. This is the major gap that remains to turn the nexus into a fully-fledged operational framework with policy relevance. There is a need to develop WEF nexus decision support tools to aid in the efficiency of resource use planning, livelihoods transformation, and for monitoring and evaluating WEF nexus performance for sustainable development. There is also a knowledge gap with regards to developing scenarios for WEF nexus assessments, assessing SDGs performance, livelihoods analysis and nexus-related project appraisal.

The goal is to address knowledge gaps on WEF nexus applications in the global South, including the use of earth observation in nexus analysis, using case studies to demonstrate the value of the nexus approach in practice, and exploring linkages between the environment/biodiversity and governance. A further goal is to provide knowledge on optimal WEF resource use to promote transformation, societal growth and socio-economic development in the global South.

This Research Topic welcomes articles focused on methods, tools, techniques, case studies, and opinions on Water-Energy-Food Nexus applications. Articles should demonstrate interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary applications of WEF nexus frameworks for (i) integrated resources management, (ii) sustainable development in the context of bio-physical and socio-economic standing and in relation to water, energy and food security, and (iii) governance from a water, energy and food perspective. Articles should have a focus in the global South.
Submissions may also include articles that:
• Explore the potential of earth observation tools on WEF nexus application,
• Apply dynamic tools and methods to operationalise and/or optimise the WEF nexus
• Assess the impacts of the WEF nexus on ecosystems and biodiversity,
• Apply the WEF nexus as a tool for assessing human health, livelihoods and wellbeing
• Offer insights on the governance of the WEF nexus, i.e. assess policy, regulatory, institutional and development structures
• Analyse WEF nexus scenarios to aid in future decision making

To support a broad range of contributors we accept the following article types: original research papers, reviews, perspective papers, community case studies, policy briefs, and brief research reports.

Keywords: WEF nexus application, modelling, sustainability, biodiversity, governance, resource scarcity

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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