Conflicting demands for food and water, exacerbated by increasing population, increase the risks of food insecurity, poverty and environmental damage in major river systems. Agriculture remains the predominant water user, but the linkage between water, agriculture and livelihoods is more complex than “water scarcity increases poverty”. The response of both agricultural and non-agricultural systems to increased pressure will affect livelihoods. Development will be constrained in closed basins if increased demand for irrigation deprives other users or if existing agricultural use constrains non-agricultural activities and in open basins if agriculture cannot feed an expanding or changing population or if the river system loses capacity due to degradation or over-exploitation.

Conflicting demands for food and water, exacerbated by increasing population, increase the risks of food insecurity, poverty and environmental damage in major river systems. Agriculture remains the predominant water user, but the linkage between water, agriculture and livelihoods is more complex than “water scarcity increases poverty”. The response of both agricultural and non-agricultural systems to increased pressure will affect livelihoods. Development will be constrained in closed basins if increased demand for irrigation deprives other users or if existing agricultural use constrains non-agricultural activities and in open basins if agriculture cannot feed an expanding or changing population or if the river system loses capacity due to degradation or over-exploitation.

Currently, the security of basic resources such as water, energy, and food is regarded as essential for sustainable development. Nonetheless, population growth, economic development, and changing consumption patterns have caused stress on these resources. It is expected that, in the near future, in many parts of the world, it will be challenging to satisfy the demand of the population and the access to essential services. Assessing the availability and access to natural resources allows for making projections of future scenarios and, in this sense, developing policies to mitigate deficiencies in all these sectors. This work presents an approach to assess the progress on the water–energy–food nexus security through an index that involves availability, accessibility, and sustainability indicators of a region over a time period. The evaluation considering the Sustainable Development Goals allows for identifying vulnerabilities associated with the water–energy–food nexus. The state of Sonora in Mexico was selected as a case study because of its unequal distribution and accessibility of resources. Results show that water, energy, and food access is not at risk, but the importation of resources to meet the demand of the state makes the nexus unsustainable because the availability of resources is not enough to satisfy the services of the population. Nevertheless, projections for 2030 show slight improvements in the water–energy–food nexus security.