Agriculture accounts for most of the renewable freshwater resource withdrawals in Malawi, yet food insecurity and water scarcity remain as major challenges. Despite Malawi’s vast water resources, climate change, coupled with increasing population and urbanisation are contributing to increasing water scarcity. Improving crop water productivity has been identified as a possible solution to water and food insecurity, by producing more food with less water, that is, to produce “more crop per drop”. This study evaluated crop water productivity from 2000 to 2013 by assessing crop evapotranspiration, crop production and agricultural gross domestic product (Ag GDP) contribution for Malawi. Improvements in crop water productivity were evidenced through improved crop production and productivity. These improvements were supported by increased irrigated area, along with improved agronomic practices. Crop water productivity increased by 33% overall from 2000 to 2013, resulting in an increase in maize production from 1.2 million metric tons to 3.6 million metric tons, translating to an average food surplus of 1.1 million metric tons. These developments have contributed to sustainable improved food and nutrition security in Malawi, which also avails more water for ecosystem functions and other competing economic sectors.

Agriculture accounts for most of the renewable freshwater resource withdrawals in Malawi, yet food insecurity and water scarcity remain as major challenges. Despite Malawi’s vast water resources, climate change, coupled with increasing population and urbanisation are contributing to increasing water scarcity. Improving crop water productivity has been identified as a possible solution to water and food insecurity, by producing more food with less water, that is, to produce “more crop per drop”. This study evaluated crop water productivity from 2000 to 2013 by assessing crop evapotranspiration, crop production and agricultural gross domestic product (Ag GDP) contribution for Malawi. Improvements in crop water productivity were evidenced through improved crop production and productivity. These improvements were supported by increased irrigated area, along with improved agronomic practices. Crop water productivity increased by 33% overall from 2000 to 2013, resulting in an increase in maize production from 1.2 million metric tons to 3.6 million metric tons, translating to an average food surplus of 1.1 million metric tons. These developments have contributed to sustainable improved food and nutrition security in Malawi, which also avails more water for ecosystem functions and other competing economic sectors.

Food, energy, and water are essential goods for human survival. The three goods are intrinsically connected through economic consumption and production linkages as well as ecological processes. All three are dependent on limited resources which are threatened by global drivers in the form of economic growth, population growth, and climate change that are particularly affecting developing countries. Therefore, a nexus perspective that simultaneously encompasses food, energy, and water has become crucial to avoid resource inefficiencies and to ensure the provision of the three goods for the most vulnerable people. This dissertation contributes to the research on the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus approach through first developing integrated modeling frameworks that capture the linkages between food, energy, and water, in order to secondly identify those policy measures that maximize the synergies for food, energy, and water security and minimize the tradeoffs. To this end, three studies analyze four policies – biofuels production, irrigation expansion, improved cookstoves and agroforestry – that directly affect food, energy, and water security and provide a large scope for realizing synergies. The empirical findings of this dissertation show that policy measures indeed produce some tradeoffs between FEW security, but that – if policies are designed correctly – the tradeoffs can be minimized while simultaneously maximizing the synergies. These findings are an essential contribution to the literature through proving that even in a world with enormous pressures on limited resources, prudent policy making can provide FEW security for all people. Finally, the results demonstrate that the development of integrated modeling frameworks is vital for quantitative analyses of policies that simultaneously affect the economic, social, and environmental spheres to identify the synergies and tradeoffs. This dissertation makes an important methodological contribution to integrated environmental-economic modeling of developing countries and may serve as a starting point for future research on linking the economy and the environment in models. | Nahrungsmittel, Energie und Wasser sind für den Menschen lebenswichtige Güter, die sowohl durch volkswirtschaftliche Produktions- und Konsumverflechtungen als auch durch Umweltprozesse intrinsisch miteinander verknüpft sind. Alle drei Güter sind auf begrenzte Ressourcen angewiesen, die durch globale Antriebsfaktoren wie Wirtschaftswachstum, Bevölkerungswachstum und Klimawandel stark gefährdet sind, welche besonders Entwicklungsländer beeinträchtigen. Eine Nexus-Perspektive, die Nahrungsmittel, Energie und Wasser gleichzeitig betrachtet, ist daher zentral, um ineffiziente Ressourcennutzung zu vermeiden und die Versorgung mit lebenswichtigen Gütern für besonders gefährdete Menschen sicherzustellen. Diese Dissertation zielt darauf ab, einen Beitrag zur Forschung über den Nahrungsmittel-Energie-Wasser (NEW) Nexus zu leisten, einerseits durch die Entwicklung von ganzheitlichen Simulationsmodellsystemen, welche die Verflechtungen zwischen Nahrungsmitteln, Energie und Wasser erfassen, um andererseits solche Politiken zu bestimmen, die sowohl die Synergien zwischen Ernährungs-, Energie- und Wassersicherheit maximieren als auch die Zielkonflikte minimieren. Dazu untersuchen drei Studien vier verschiedene Politiken – Biokraftstoffproduktion, Ausbau von Bewässerung, verbesserte Kochherde und Agroforstwirtschaft, – welche Ernährungs-, Energie- und Wassersicherheit direkt beeinflussen und daher zahlreiche Möglichkeiten für Synergien bieten. Die empirischen Forschungsergebnisse dieser Dissertation zeigen auf, dass Politiken fast immer gewisse Zielkonflikte zwischen Ernährungs-, Energie- und Wassersicherheit hervorbringen, aber dass – wenn Politiken richtig ausgestaltet sind – diese Zielkonflikte minimiert werden können und gleichzeitig Synergien maximiert werden. Diese Resultate bilden einen grundlegenden Beitrag zur empirischen Literatur, da sie belegen, dass sogar unter dem vorherrschenden gewaltigen Druck auf begrenzte Ressourcen eine kluge Politik die Versorgung mit Nahrungsmitteln, Energie und Wasser für alle Menschen erreichen kann. Außerdem manifestieren die Forschungsergebnisse die Notwendigkeit, ganzheitliche Simulationsmodellsysteme für die quantitative Analyse von Politiken zu entwickeln, die gleichzeitig volkswirtschaftliche, gesellschaftliche und ökologische Wirkungsbereiche beeinflussen, um Synergien und Zielkonflikte überhaupt zu identifizieren. Diese Dissertation strebt danach, einen wichtigen Beitrag zur ganzheitlichen ökologisch-ökonomischen Modellierung von Entwicklungsländern zu leisten, und kann als Ausgangspunkt für zukünftige Forschung über die Kopplung von volkswirtschaftlichen und ökologischen Modellen dienen.

The discourse on the need for water, energy, and food security has dominated the development agenda of southern African countries, centred on improving livelihoods, building resilience, and regional integration. About 60% of the population in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) live in rural areas relying mainly on rainfed agriculture, lacking access to clean water and energy, yet the region is endowed with vast natural resources. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a conceptual framework that presents opportunities for greater resource coordination, management, and policy convergence across sectors. This is particularly relevant in the SADC region as resources are transboundary and supports efforts linked to regional integration and inclusive socio-economic development and security. We conducted an appraisal of WEF-related policies and institutions in SADC and identified linkages among them. The present ‘silo’ approach in resource management and allocation, often conducted at the national level, contributes to the region’s failure to meet its development targets, exacerbating its vulnerabilities. The lack of coordination of WEF nexus synergies and trade-offs in planning often threatens the sustainability of development initiatives. We highlighted the importance of the WEF nexus to sustainably address the sectoral coordination of resources through harmonised institutions and policies, as well as setting targets and indicators to direct and monitor nexus developments. We illustrate the significance of the nexus in promoting inclusive development and transforming vulnerable communities into resilient societies. The study recommends a set of integrated assessment models to monitor and evaluate the implementation of WEF nexus targets. Going forward, we propose the adoption of a regional WEF nexus framework.

Phosphorus is essential to food production, but current management practices fail to ensure equitable access to farmers globally and often results in polluted waterways. There is a lack of local and global governance mechanisms to ensure phosphorus is sustainably managed. The P-FUTURES research initiative aims to address this gap by working with stakeholders to explore visions and pathways of social transformation towards food and water security. In the seed phase of the project, academic, civil, industry, and municipal stakeholders interacted as partners in Blantyre (Malawi), Hanoi (Vietnam), Sydney (Australia), and Phoenix (USA) to collaboratively develop a full proposal and build capacity for transformational change. The article offers guidance on the opportunities and challenges of co-developing a research approach and proposal in a transdisciplinary, international setting.

Water–Energy–Food Nexus Narratives and Resource Securities: A Global South Perspective provides a knowledge synthesis on the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus, focusing primarily on the global south. By presenting concepts, analytical tools, and case studies, the book serves as a practical resource for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in sustainability and functional roles across all three sectors. It addresses key issues related to data availability, tools, indices, metrics, and application across multiple scales, beginning with a summary of existing knowledge. Finally, it examines the WEF nexus, presents global insights, and discusses future considerations and implications. This book presents an overview of existing knowledge on the WEF nexus and examines how such research aligns with emerging global WEF nexus perspectives, making it ideal for professionals, government entities, private industry, and the general public.

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).

Local-scale opportunities to address challenges of the water–food nexus in the developing world need to be embraced. Borehole-garden permaculture is advocated as one such opportunity that involves the sustainable use of groundwater spilt at hand-pump operated borehole supplies that is otherwise wasted. Spilt water may also pose health risks when accumulating as a stagnant pond. Rural village community use of this grey-water in permaculture projects to irrigate borehole gardens is proposed to primarily provide economic benefit whereby garden-produce revenue helps fund borehole water-point maintenance. Water-supply sustainability, increased food/nutrition security, health protection from malaria, and business opportunity benefits may also arise. Our goal has been to develop an, experience-based, framework for delivery of sustainable borehole-garden permaculture and associated benefits. This is based upon data collection and permaculture implementation across the rural Chikwawa District of Malawi during 2009–17. We use, stakeholder interviews to identify issues influencing uptake, gathering of stagnant pond occurrence data to estimate amelioration opportunity, quantification of permaculture profitability to validate economic potential, and critical assessment of recent permaculture uptake to identify continuing problems. Permaculture was implemented at 123 sites representing 6% of District water points, rising to 26% local area coverage. Most implementations were at, or near, newly drilled community-supply boreholes; hence, amelioration of prevalent stagnant ponds elsewhere remains a concern. The envisaged benefits of permaculture were manifest and early data affirm projected garden profitability and spin-off benefits of water-point banking and community micro-loan access. However, a diversity of technical, economic, social and governance issues were found to influence uptake and performance. Example issues include greater need for improved bespoke garden design input, on-going project performance assessment, and coordinated involvement of multi-sector governmental-development bodies to underpin the integrated natural-resource management required. The developed framework aims to manage the identified issues and requires the concerted action of all stakeholders. Based on the probable ubiquity of underlying issues, the framework is expected to be generalizable to the wider developing world. However, this particular application of permaculture represents a fraction of its greater potential opportunity for rural communities that should be explored.

The increasing pressure from the world’s population on limited natural resources has reached an urgent level. The global demand for water, food, and energy is unsustainable, and poses a threat to human health, political stability, and environmental well-being. The poor in developing countries are most vulnerable to the negative effects of the exploitation of constrained resources, and the segregation of development programs by sector means that policy interventions do little to help. Currently, development policies are created in isolation from one another, within their own sectoral realms, and inter-sector coordination is rare. Policy interventions that affect more than one sector are key to holistic, sustainable development, but because they face an ownership issue, not falling under any one sector’s jurisdiction, they often go unaddressed. The alternative to the status quo is the use of a nexus perspective, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of sectors and seeks to implement policy interventions with the best net outcomes. Policy makers are encouraged to adopt “systems thinking”, to resist over-focused investments and interventions, and to seek regulatory cooperation. The body of nexus literature is growing mainly with the establishment of theoretical frameworks and macroeconomic studies that model outcomes of nexus interventions. This thesis contributes to the pool of nexus literature with microeconomic studies that are evaluated from the perspective of the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus. Microeconomic analysis is valuable to the nexus perspective not only because it informs macroeconomic models, but also because it provides empirical evidence of nexus forces at work. The subjects of the three studies contained in this thesis are smallholder farmers in Dedza, Malawi. The first study investigates the farmers’ willingness to invest in communally-owned irrigation schemes and the household socioeconomic characteristics that determine that willingness. The study is intended to inform Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) programs, to help smooth the process of the transfer of irrigation scheme ownership from the government to local stakeholders. The promotion of IMT programs is considered a FEW nexus intervention because irrigation affects not only the water sector, but also the energy and food sectors. The second study in this thesis elicits smallholder farmers’ preferences for a conditional cash transfer (CCT) over a fertilizer subsidy coupon, with the intent of presenting policy makers with an alternative to Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP). The narrow focus of the FISP, combined with its astronomical budget and disputed impact, indicate that it is time for an alternative, nexus-oriented intervention. The conditionality of a CCT means it can be targeted directly at certain sectors, and because beneficiaries are free to spend the cash as they choose, the impact will be spread over all three sectors. The third study in this thesis explores smallholder farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for improved cookstoves (ICS) and the socioeconomic characteristics that determine their WTP, to assist ICS promoting programs with pricing and targeting. Widespread sustained ICS adoption and the resulting fuel savings would directly affect the food and energy sectors, and indirectly affect the water sector. The high morbidity rates caused by reliance on biomass fuels for cooking would decline with sustained ICS adoption and proper use, resulting in human health improvements that would affect all three nodes of the nexus. There would be further indirect effects on all three sectors resulting from advancements in gender equality and climate change mitigation. While the findings of these studies have interesting implications for the FEW nexus, the interventions in question should be applied in an economy-wide model to determine the nexus effects. Such coordination of micro- and macroeconomic research, coupled with the inter-sector perspective, characterize the nexus approach and the future of development policy. | Der zunehmende Bevölkerungsdruck auf begrenzte natürliche Ressourcen hat ein kritisches Niveau erreicht. Der globale Bedarf an Wasser, Nahrungsmitteln und Energie ist nicht nachhaltig und stellt eine Bedrohung für die menschliche Gesundheit, die politische Stabilität und die Umwelt dar. Arme in Entwicklungsländern sind am stärksten von negativen Auswirkungen der Ausbeutung von begrenzten Ressourcen betroffen. Die Trennung von Entwicklungsprogrammen nach Sektoren führt dazu, dass politische Interventionen wenig zur Lösung dieses Problems beitragen. Derzeit werden entwicklungspolitische Maßnahmen isoliert voneinander, innerhalb ihrer eigenen Sektoren geschaffen, und es gibt wenig Koordination zwischen den Sektoren. Sektorübergreifende politische Maßnahmen sind unablässig für eine ganzheitliche, nachhaltige Entwicklung, doch weil sie nicht unter die Zuständigkeit eines einzelnen Sektors fallen und Verantwortlichkeiten nicht klar sind, werden sie oft nicht durchgeführt. Die Alternative zum Status Quo ist die Verwendung einer Nexus-Perspektive, die die Vernetzung von Sektoren unterstreicht und politische Interventionen mit den besten Nettowirkungen umsetzt. Politische Entscheidungsträger werden dazu aufgefordert "systemisch“ zu denken, thematisch zu sehr fokussierten Investitionen und Interventionen zu widerstehen und regulatorische Zusammenarbeit zu suchen. Die Literatur zum Nexus wächst vor allem mit der Etablierung von theoretischen Bezugsrahmen sowie makroökonomische Studien, die Ergebnisse von Nexus-Interventionen modellieren. Die vorliegende Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zur Nexus-Literatur mit mikroökonomischen Studien, die aus der Perspektive des Nexus Nahrung-Energie-Wasser (FEW) ausgewertet werden. Eine mikroökonomische Analyse ist für die Nexusperspektive nicht nur deshalb wertvoll, weil sie Daten für makroökonomische Modelle, sondern auch, weil sie empirische Beweise für Nexus-Kräfte liefert. Gegenstand der drei Studien in der vorliegenden Arbeit sind Kleinbauern in Dedza, Malawi. Die erste Studie untersucht die Bereitschaft der Landwirte, in gemeinschaftlich genutzte Bewässerungsprogramme zu investieren sowie die sozioökonomischen Charakteristiken der Haushalte, die diese Bereitschaft bestimmen. Die Studie soll den Prozess der Übertragung von Projektverantwortung für das Bewässerungsmanagement-Transferprogramm (IMT) von der Regierung zu lokalen Stakeholdern erleichtern. Die Förderung von IMT-Programmen gilt als FEW-Nexus-Intervention, da Bewässerung nicht nur den Wasser-, sondern auch den Energie- und Nahrungsmittelsektor betrifft. Während Bewässerung in der Landwirtschaft den Wassersektor negativ beeinflussen und das Wasserkraftpotenzial im Energiesektor verringern kann, kann mit einer weiteren Übernahme von Bewässerung gerechnet werden, die Erträge und somit Ernährungssicherheit verbessert. Die zweite Studie in dieser Arbeit untersucht die Präferenzen von Kleinbauern für ein Geldtransferprogramm (CCT) sowie Düngergutscheinen. Ziel dieser Studie ist es, politischen Entscheidungsträgern in Malawi eine Alternative zum Düngersubventionsprogramm (FISP) zu präsentieren. Der enge Fokus des FISP, das beträchtliche Budget und umstrittene Auswirkungen deuten auf die Notwendigkeit einer alternativen, nexusorientierten Intervention hin. Die Konditionalität eines CCT bedeutet, dass es direkt auf bestimmte Sektoren ausgerichtet werden kann und weil die Begünstigten frei entscheiden, wofür sie das Geld ausgeben, werden die Auswirkungen auf alle Sektoren verteilt. Die dritte Studie untersucht die Zahlungsbereitschaft(WTP) von Kleinbauern für verbesserte Kochherde (ICS) und die sozioökonomischen Merkmale, die die WTP bestimmen, mit dem Ziel, die Förderung von ICS-Programmen mit Preisgestaltung und Targeting zu unterstützen. Eine nachhaltige Verbreitung von verbesserten Kochherden und die daraus resultierenden Treibstoffeinsparungen würden Nahrungsmittel- und Energiesektor direkt und den Wassersektor indirekt beeinflussen. Die hohen Morbiditätsraten, die durch die Abhängigkeit von Biomasse zum Kochen verursacht werden, würden mit anhaltender ICS-Übernahme und korrektem Gebrauch sinken, was zu Verbesserungen der menschlichen Gesundheit führt, die alle drei Nexusknoten betreffen. Es gibt weitere indirekte Auswirkungen auf alle drei Sektoren, die sich aus Fortschritten bei der Gleichstellung der Geschlechter und dem Klimaschutz ergeben. Während die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchungen interessante Implikationen für den FEW-Nexus haben, sollten die betreffenden Interventionen in einem gesamtwirtschaftlichen Modell angewendet werden, um die Nexus-Effekte zu bestimmen. Diese Koordination mikro- und makroökonomischer Forschung gepaart mit einer sektorübergreifenden Perspektive kennzeichnet den Nexusansatz sowie die Zukunft von Entwicklungspolitik.