The project titled “The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Global, Basin and Local Case Studies of Resource Use Efficiency under Growing Natural Resource Scarcity“ (2015-2018), which was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany, and was undertaken as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. The project set out to develop research methodologies and insights globally as well as for the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Organization (ENTRO) of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to support efforts for enhanced water, energy and food security and environmental sustainability. The toolkit describes both qualitative and quantitative methods that have been used in the research project. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list of information and tools related to the analysis of the water, energy and food (WEF) nexus. The overall focus of the tools has been on economic analysis of the linkages across water, energy and food--to complement other studies and method developments that focus on biophysical linkages across the WEF nexus. The toolkit is aimed, primarily, at researchers interested in the analysis of the water, energy and food nexus. However, the studies summarized here also provide insights for practitioners implementing Nexus projects. | Non-PR | IFPRI1; CRP5; The Water Energy Food Nexus | EPTD; DSGD | CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

This study summarizes the concept of the food-energy-water security nexus (FEW nexus). The aim is to create awareness about the importance of the nexus and to enable stakeholders to consider interconnections between the sectors in their work. The FEW nexus is discussed in the context of Africa south of the Sahara (SSA)—using Malawi and Mozambique as case studies. Even though analyzing food, energy, and water security issues simultaneously is critical given the interconnections, summarizing interventions with the FEW nexus approach in Malawi and Mozambique, we found that there are only a limited number of interventions in place. Additionally, this study reviews macro- and microeconomic models that are able to analyze the FEW nexus. On the macrolevel, especially general equilibrium models are discussed, because they show trade-offs and synergies of nexus interventions at all economic levels. These models can help guide policymakers’ understanding of nexus effects ex ante and convince them to think beyond their respective political departments. On the microlevel, the impact of nexus interventions can be assessed with qualitative and quantitative approaches. There are specific challenges for nexus interventions when it comes to aggregation and planning of the targeting. A secondary data analysis of nexus interventions shows that existing data is not sufficient to conduct research specifically related to the FEW nexus. The results of this study will help research programs to reflect the key questions required to enhance adoption of FEW technologies and inform policymakers as they formulate policies that will exploit the strong synergies of food security, energy, and water investments. | Non-PR | IFPRI1; A.2 Sustainable Natural Resource Policies; A Ensuring Sustainable food production; CRP2; Land Resource Management for Poverty Reduction | EPTD; PIM | CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

World hunger, according to the 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI), has declined somewhat since 1990 but remains “serious.” The global average masks dramatic differences among regions and countries. Regionally, the highest GHI scores are in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. South Asia reduced its GHI score significantly between 1990 and 1996—mainly by reducing the share of underweight children— but could not maintain this rapid progress. Though Sub-Saharan Africa made less progress than South Asia in the 1990s, it has caught up since the turn of the millennium, with its 2012 GHI score falling below that of South Asia. From the 1990 GHI to the 2012 GHI, 15 countries reduced their scores by 50 percent or more. In terms of absolute progress, between the 1990 GHI and the 2012 GHI, Angola, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nicaragua, Niger, and Vietnam saw the largest improvements in their scores. Twenty countries still have levels of hunger that are “extremely alarming” or “alarming.” Most of the countries with alarming GHI scores are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (the 2012 GHI does not, however, reflect the recent crisis in the Horn of Africa, which intensified in 2011, or the uncertain food situation in the Sahel). Two of the three countries with extremely alarming 2012 GHI scores—Burundi and Eritrea—are in Sub-Saharan Africa; the third country with an extremely alarming score is Haiti. Its GHI score fell by about one quarter from 1990 to 2001, but most of this improvement was reversed in subsequent years. The devastating January 2010 earthquake, although not yet fully captured by the 2012 GHI because of insufficient availability of recent data, pushed Haiti back into the category of “extremely alarming.” In contrast to recent years, the Democratic Republic of Congo is not listed as “extremely alarming,” because insufficient data are available to calculate the country’s GHI score. Current and reliable data are urgently needed to appraise the situation in the country. | Non-PR | IFPRI2; GRP24 | COM; MTID; DGO; EPTD; PHND; WCAO

Harsh climate, characterized by low and erratic precipitation patterns, droughts, and poor soil fertility decrease cereal production in Sub-saharan Africa. Considering that soils in semi-arid west Africa are highly weathered with very low nutrient reserves, long-term sustainability of fertilizer microdosing techniques need to be studied. Research indicates that rain water harvesting (RWH) alone can increase yields of cereal crops by 30 – 50 % in semi-arid areas, due to reduced runoff and enhanced infiltration by RWH structures. Combined with micro-dosing technology, plus better access to credit, there is a high potential for farmers to address issues of poverty and food insecurity.

The Nile is the lifeblood of northeastern Africa, and its roles for and interdependency with the national economies it traverses and binds together grow as it moves from source to sea. With rapid economic development—population growth, irrigation development, rural electrification, and overall economic growth—pressures on the Nile’s water resources are growing to unprecedented levels. These drivers of change have already contributed to stark changes in the hydropolitical regime, and new forms of cooperation and cross-sectoral collaboration are needed, particularly in the Eastern Nile Basin countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan. As direct sharing of water resources is hampered by unilateral developments, the need has increased for broader, cross-sectoral collaboration around the water, energy, and food sectors. This study is conducted to assess and understand the challenges of and opportunities for cooperation across the water-energy-food nexus nationally in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, as well as regionally across the Eastern Nile. To gather data, the paper uses an e-survey supplemented with key informant interviews geared toward national-level water, energy, and agriculture stakeholders, chiefly government staff and researchers. Findings from the survey tools suggest that most respondents strongly agree that collaboration across the water, energy, and agriculture sectors is essential to improve resource management in the region. At the same time, there is ample scope for improvement in collaboration across the water, energy, and food sectors nationally. Ministries of water, energy, and food were identified as the key nexus actors at national levels; these would also need to be engaged in regional cross-sectoral collaboration. Respondents also identified a wide range of desirable cross-sectoral actions and investments—both national and regional—chiefly, joint planning and operation of multipurpose infrastructure; investment in enhanced irrigation efficiency; joint rehabilitation of upstream catchments to reduce sedimentation and degradation; and investment in alternative renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar energy. | Non-PR | IFPRI1; CRP5; E Building Resilience | EPTD; DSGD | CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)

The household survey was carried out in the Nile River Basin in Ethiopia. The household sampling frame in Ethiopia was developed to ensure representation for the Nile River Basin at the woreda (district) level regarding level of rainfall patterns in terms of both annual total and variation; the four classes of traditionally defined agro-ecological zones (AEZs) found in the basin; vulnerability of food production systems (through the proxy of frequency of food aid in the past ten years); and irrigation prevalence. All data used for the sample frame is from the Atlas of the Ethiopian Rural Economy (Benson et al., 2006).; Each woreda was classified based on : agroecological zone (Kolla, Weynadega, Dega, and Bereha), the percent of cultivated land under irrigation (no data, 0-2%, 2-4%, 4-8%, and 8% or greater), average annual rainfall (0-854mm, 854-1133mm, 1133-1413mm, 1413-1692mm, 1692mm or greater), rainfall variability (coefficient of variation for annual rainfall), and vulnerability (number of years of food aid received in the past 10 years). ;Twenty woredas were selected such that across each of the above dimensions the proportion falling into each class for the sample matched as closely as possible the proportions for the entire Ethiopian Nile basin. Peasant associations (administrative units lower than districts) were also purposely selected to include households that irrigate their farms. One peasant association was selected from every woreda for a total of 20 peasant associations. Random sampling was used in selecting 50 households from each peasant administration within the 20 woredas. Thus, the final dataset contains 1,000 observations from 20 woredas in 5 regional states in Ethiopia (Tigray, Amhara, Oromiya, Benishangul Gumuz, and Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP)). | The survey was conducted by the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Funding for the survey was provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany). The project forms part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)’s Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF).; Dataset Citation: Food and Water Security under Global Change: Developing Adaptive Capacity with a Focus on Rural Africa— Ethiopia Nile Basin Climate Change Adaptation dataset. 2010. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) (datasets).; Data file format(s): STATA, EXCEL; Principal contact: Yan Sun; Principal researcher: Claudia Ringler | EPTD | IFPRI1

The survey was conducted by the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA), University of Pretoria, in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Funding for the survey was provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany). The project forms part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)’s Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF).; Dataset Citation: Food and Water Security under Global Change: Developing Adaptive Capacity with a Focus on Rural Africa. South Africa Limpopo Basin Climate Change Adaptation dataset. 2010. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) (datasets).; Data file format(s): STATA, EXCEL; Principal contact: Yan Sun; Principal researcher: Claudia Ringler | This household survey was conducted as part of a project aimed to provide policymakers and stakeholders in South Africa with tools to better understand, analyze, and form policy decisions to adapt to global change. The survey was conducted in the Limpopo River Basin in South Africa during 2005. A total of 794 households from 19 districts, in 5 Water Management Areas (WMAs), across 4 provinces of South Africa were sampled. The South Africa sample was designed to capture the diverse agricultural patterns in the basin area: farming strata, type of cultivation (dry land and irrigation), major and minor crops and livestock, and all the sub-catchment areas in each of the 5 WMAs. Topics covered include household roaster including background information, farm and non-farm activities, assets, basic services, disease, shocks; land ownership and land holdings; farm machinery, farm buildings, wells and pumps, and wage rates; crop production including production cost and income for seasonal crops and for perennial crops; crop water use; livestock production; access to extension, markets and credit; expenditures on food and income; and climate change and adaptation options. | External publication used this dataset: Oyekale, Abayomi Samuel; and Vutela-Tekana, Sibongile Sylvia. 2012. A factor component analysis of the sources of income inequality in the Limpopo River Basin of South Africa. Life Science Journal 9(3): 720-725. http://www.lifesciencesite.com/lsj/life0903/101_8983life0903_720_725.pdf | EPTD | IFPRI1

De acuerdo con el Índice Global del Hambre (GHI, por sus siglas en inglés) de 2012, el hambre a nivel mundial ha disminuido algo desde 1990 pero continúa siendo “serio”. El promedio global enmascara diferencias dramáticas entre regiones y países. A nivel regional, los mayores puntajes del GHI se encuentran en Asia meridional y en el África Subsahariana. Asia meridional redujo sus puntajes de GHI de forma significativa entre 1990 y 1996 —principalmente a través de una reducción en la proporción de niños con bajo peso— pero no pudo mantener este rápido progreso. Y aunque el África Subsahariana progresó menos que Asia meridional en la década de 1990, ha logrado reducir la brecha a partir del nuevo milenio, con un puntaje del GHI en 2012 apenas por debajo del obtenido por Asia meridional. | Non-PR | IFPRI2; GRP24 | COM; MTID; DGO; EPTD; PHND; WCAO

Book | COM; MTID; DGO; EPTD; PHND; WCAO | De acuerdo con el Índice Global del Hambre (GHI, por sus siglas en inglés) de 2012, el hambre a nivel mundial ha disminuido algo desde 1990 pero continúa siendo “serio”. El promedio global enmascara diferencias dramáticas entre regiones y países. A nivel regional, los mayores puntajes del GHI se encuentran en Asia meridional y en el África Subsahariana. Asia meridional redujo sus puntajes de GHI de forma significativa entre 1990 y 1996 —principalmente a través de una reducción en la proporción de niños con bajo peso— pero no pudo mantener este rápido progreso. Y aunque el África Subsahariana progresó menos que Asia meridional en la década de 1990, ha logrado reducir la brecha a partir del nuevo milenio, con un puntaje del GHI en 2012 apenas por debajo del obtenido por Asia meridional. | IFPRI2; GRP24 | Non-PR

Over the coming decades, global change will have an impact on food and water security in significant and highly uncertain ways, and there are strong indications that developing countries will bear the brunt of the adverse consequences, particularly from climate change. This is largely because poverty levels are high, and developing-country capacity to adapt to global change is weak. Furthermore, the rural populations of developing countries—for whom agricultural production is the primary source of direct and indirect employment and income—will be most affected due agriculture’s vulnerability to global change processes. The agricultural sector is the largest consumer of water resources, and variability in water supply has a major influence on health and welfare in poor areas. With water scarcity and extreme weather events expected to increase under climate change, water security could decline significantly in rural areas. Consequently, it is important to understand the impacts of global change (in terms of climate, demography, technology, and so on) on agriculture and natural resources in developing countries and to develop adaptive capacity to respond to these impacts. Moreover, there is a need to develop informed and effective adaptation measures and investment options that can be taken now to alleviate adverse impacts of global change in the future. | Non-PR | IFPRI1; GRP38 | EPTD