| Sumario: | Water, energy, food, and the environment are deeply interconnected and essential for economic development, environmental sustainability, and human well-being.
Energy is required to manage water resources and to support the growth, processing, and distribution of food. At the same time, the environment regulates the water cycles and energy stores necessary for agricultural production. Water – both blue water, the “visible” water extractable from rivers, lakes, and aquifers, and green water, the moisture stored in soils and vegetation – underpins energy production, food security, and healthy environments. Without water, these interconnected systems cannot function.
Disruptions to one system, whether to water, energy, food, or the environment, can have rebound effects across the others. For instance, decreased precipitation and overextraction of water will harm both crop yields and power generation, while energy shortages can disrupt water supply systems and food processing chains. With that, environmental degradation, due to extractive production and land use change, for example, can weaken the very ecosystems that sustain the water, energy, and food production.
The Water-Energy-Food-Environment (WEFE) nexus approach has emerged as an integrated framework that recognizes and optimizes the interdependencies between water, energy, food, and the environment. Utilized as a tool, it encourages cross-sectoral synergies, so that policymakers and other decision-makers may effectively address significant global challenges, such as food security, climate change, and resource scarcity, without creating conflicting outcomes.
The Global Commission on the Economics of Water’s recommendations – which include transforming food systems, conserving and restoring natural ecosystems, and promoting a circular water economy – acknowledge the interdependence of the WEFE dimensions and recognize blue and green water as foundational pillars for advancing a resilient WEFE approach.
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