Summaries (En) | What will happen to food production and global food security as water becomes increasingly scarce? What steps can we take to avert threats to global food supply, the environment and the livelihoods of those lacking access to clean water? Using state-of-the-art computer modelling to show how water availability and demand are likely to evolve, the book contends that if current water policies continue, so will high levels of food insecurity, environmental degradation, and water-related ill health. Further neglect of water issues could produce genuine water crisis, which in turn could lead to a food crisis. The authors show exactly which policies and actions could ensure sustainable and efficient water use, enough food for the world's people, and adequate drinking water for all. | Gift

Climate change is a complex and cross-cutting problem that needs an integrated and transformative systems approach to respond to the challenge. Current sectoral approaches to climate change adaptation initiatives often create imbalances and retard sustainable development. Regional and international literature on climate change adaptation opportunities and challenges applicable to southern Africa from a water-energy-food (WEF) nexus perspective was reviewed. Specifically, this review highlights climate change impacts on water, energy, and food resources in southern Africa, while exploring mitigation and adaptation opportunities. The review further recommends strategies to develop cross-sectoral sustainable measures aimed at building resilient communities. Regional WEF nexus related institutions and legal frameworks were also reviewed to relate the WEF nexus to policy. Southern Africa is witnessing an increased frequency and intensity in climate change-associated extreme weather events, causing water, food, and energy insecurity. A projected reduction of 20% in annual rainfall by 2080 in southern Africa will only increase the regional socio-economic challenges. This is exacerbating regional resource scarcities and vulnerabilities. It will also have direct and indirect impacts on nutrition, human well-being, and health. Reduced agricultural production, lack of access to clean water, sanitation, and clean, sustainable energy are the major areas of concern. The region is already experiencing an upsurge of vector borne diseases (malaria and dengue fever), and water and food-borne diseases (cholera and diarrhoea). What is clear is that climate change impacts are cross-sectoral and multidimensional, and therefore require cross-sectoral mitigation and adaptation approaches. In this regard, a wellcoordinated and integrated WEF nexus approach offers opportunities to build resilient systems, harmonise interventions, and mitigate trade-offs and hence improve sustainability. This would be achieved through greater resource mobilisation and coordination, policy convergence across sectors, and targeting nexus points in the landscape. The WEF nexus approach has potential to increase the resilience of marginalised communities in southern Africa by contributing towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 13).

Climate change is a complex and cross-cutting problem that needs an integrated and transformative systems approach to respond to the challenge. Current sectoral approaches to climate change adaptation initiatives often create imbalances and retard sustainable development. Regional and international literature on climate change adaptation opportunities and challenges applicable to southern Africa from a water-energy-food (WEF) nexus perspective was reviewed. Specifically, this review highlights climate change impacts on water, energy, and food resources in southern Africa, while exploring mitigation and adaptation opportunities. The review further recommends strategies to develop cross-sectoral sustainable measures aimed at building resilient communities. Regional WEF nexus related institutions and legal frameworks were also reviewed to relate the WEF nexus to policy. Southern Africa is witnessing an increased frequency and intensity in climate change-associated extreme weather events, causing water, food, and energy insecurity. A projected reduction of 20% in annual rainfall by 2080 in southern Africa will only increase the regional socio-economic challenges. This is exacerbating regional resource scarcities and vulnerabilities. It will also have direct and indirect impacts on nutrition, human well-being, and health. Reduced agricultural production, lack of access to clean water, sanitation, and clean, sustainable energy are the major areas of concern. The region is already experiencing an upsurge of vector borne diseases (malaria and dengue fever), and water and food-borne diseases (cholera and diarrhoea). What is clear is that climate change impacts are cross-sectoral and multidimensional, and therefore require cross-sectoral mitigation and adaptation approaches. In this regard, a wellcoordinated and integrated WEF nexus approach offers opportunities to build resilient systems, harmonise interventions, and mitigate trade-offs and hence improve sustainability. This would be achieved through greater resource mobilisation and coordination, policy convergence across sectors, and targeting nexus points in the landscape. The WEF nexus approach has potential to increase the resilience of marginalised communities in southern Africa by contributing towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 13).

Introduction: The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has evolved into an important transformative approach for facilitating the timely identification of trade-offs and synergies between interlinked sectors for informed intervention and decision-making. However, there is a growing need for a WEF nexus tool to support decision-making on integrated resources management toward sustainable development. Methods: This study developed a geospatial web-based integrative analytical tool for the WEF nexus (the iWEF) to support integrated assessment of WEF resources to support resilience building and adaptation initiatives and strategies. The tool uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to establish numerical correlations among WEF nexus indicators and pillars, mainly availability, productivity, accessibility, and sufficiency. The tool was calibrated and validated with existing tools and data at varying spatio-temporal scales. Results: The results indicate the applicability of the tool at any spatial scale, highlighting the moderate sustainability in the management of WEF resources at various scales. The developed iWEF tool has improved the existing integrative WEF nexus analytical tool in terms of processing time and providing geospatial capabilities. Discussion: The iWEF tool is a digital platform that automatically guides policy and decision-making in managing risk from trade-offs and enhancing synergies holistically. It is developed to support policy and decision-making on timely interventions in priority areas that could be showing signs of stress.

International audience | Smallholder farmers, who mostly engage in low-value agriculture in the drylands of Northern Africa, were the first to have felt the effects of climate change, with threats to their livelihoods and food security. The increasing costs of agricultural production, poor water and energy infrastructure, loss of agricultural land due to urban expansion, fragmented resource management, and unsustainable management practices all contribute to this vulnerability to climate change. This highlights the urgent need for innovative practices in farming systems. Within the framework of the water-energy-foodecosystem nexus, this paper explores innovative practices in dryland farming systems, by assessing their impact on water, energy, food, and ecosystem through stakeholder perception. In this work, we aim to present a systems approach for assessing the resilience of the water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus in arid and semiarid regions. By using a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) approach, the study-which focuses on the Fès-Meknès region in Morocco-involves local actors to help researchers identify the key variables in order to assist farmers in their adaptation to climate change. The findings revealed different priorities between farmers and other stakeholders regarding the adoption of agricultural innovations. Farmers prioritize innovations that guarantee higher profitability and more market opportunities, such as integrating olive trees with cereal crops, by highlighting the importance of sustainable income sources. Meanwhile, stakeholders, such as researchers, engineers, government officials, and agribusiness entrepreneurs, prioritize innovations that emphasize high water use efficiency, which is crucial for the resilience of dryland farming areas: for instance, rainwater harvesting or the use of drought-resistant crop varieties that directly address the need for water conservation. But in doing so they are overlooking broader aspects within the water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus.