Scale-related governance challenges in the water–energy–food nexus
Toward a diagnostic approach
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12950693 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Claudia Pahl‐wostl (0000-0002-2294-6521, Osnabrück University, corresponding author), Philipp Gorris (0000-0001-5966-9495, Osnabrück University), Nicolas W Jager (0000-0002-6706-6595, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg), Larissa Koch (0000-0002-2783-2451, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg), Louis Lebel (0000-0001-6187-6418, Chiang Mai University), Christian Stein (0000-0002-0564-9779, University of York), Sandra Venghaus (0000-0002-9352-6604, Forschungszentrum Jülich), Sisira Saddhamangala Withanachchi (0000-0002-9669-8508, University of Kassel) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 615-629 |
| Publication date | 2020-12-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sustainability Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1862-4057 • E-ISSN: 1862-4065 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11625-020-00888-6 |
| OpenAlex | W3111538106 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 28 |
| References cited | 106 |
The notion of a water–energy–food (WEF) nexus was introduced to encourage a more holistic perspective on the sustainable development of natural resources. Most attention has been directed at identifying potential synergies and trade-offs among sectors that could be addressed with improved technologies and management. The governance of the WEF nexus more broadly has received comparatively little attention, and the importance of scale in space and time has been largely ignored. Inspired by scholarship on multi-level governance in individual sectors, this paper identifies four scale-related governance challenges in the WEF nexus, namely: (1) scalar fit , which arises when planning and operating procedures work at different levels along the scales of space and time in different sectors; (2) scalar strategies , wherever the levels at which actors have influence and in which action takes place are contested and negotiated; (3) institutional interplay , where rules and norms in different sectors influence each other at different levels; (4) scalar uncertainty , arising out of the complexity of multi-level and multi-scale interactions. The relevance of these four challenges is illustrated with case studies from developed and developing countries. These examples show the importance of considering multiple levels and scales when assessing the likely effectiveness of WEF nexus governance mechanisms or proposals. The cases underline the need to pay close attention to issues of power, contestation, and negotiation, in addition to the analysis of institutional design. Thus, this paper recommends that nexus governance efforts and proposals be scrutinized for scale assumptions. The four identified challenges offer a suitable starting point for diagnosis
Business · Corporate governance · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental resource management · Geography · Management · Natural resource · Negotiation · Nexus (standard · Political science · Scale (ratio · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · Sustainability · Sustainable development · Engineering · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Water-Energy-Food Nexus Studies · Ecology
Qualitative methods for the water-energy-food nexus
Markets and misfits in adaptive water governance
Governing the water-energy-food nexus
The Water, Food, and Energy Nexus
Storying the FEW Nexus
No easy way out
Stakeholder engagement in water governance
Dealing with water extremes
Regeneration beyond growth
Mapping the evolving research landscape of sustainability science from 2006 to 2023
Water–energy–food–ecosystem nexus
Identifying leverage points for shifting Water-Energy-Food nexus cases towards sustainability through the Networks of Action Situations approach combined with systems thinking
A multi-case institutional analysis of water–energy–food nexus governance
Coproducing water-energy-food Nexus actionable knowledge
Pathways towards improved water governance
Evaluating the impacts of agricultural development and climate change on the water-energy nexus in Santa Elena (Ecuador)
Navigating cascading food-energy-water insecurities
Governing water in multi-functional landscapes
Understanding barriers to collaborative governance for the food-energy-water nexus
Building trust in environmental co-management
Assessing to act
Pathways towards enhanced capacity in water governance to deal with complex management challenges
Rethinking stakeholder engagement
A machine learning approach for optimizing the water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus
Learning from past coevolutionary processes to envision sustainable futures
Building knowledge infrastructure for diverse stakeholders to scale up co-production equitably
Introducing GoNexus SEF
Resource Nexus for decision-making
The Institutional Dimensions of Environmental Change
Governing Complex Systems
Global Risk Governance
A greener path for the EU Common Agricultural Policy
Transitions towards adaptive management of water facing climate and global change
The implications of complexity for integrated resources management
Environmental governance
Effectiveness of international environmental regimes
Adaptive Governance of Social-Ecological Systems
Knowledge, power, and international policy coordination
“Functional fit” versus “politics of scale” in the governance of floodplain retention capacity
Can national policy blockages accelerate the development of polycentric governance? Evidence from climate change policy in the United Kingdom
The black box of power in polycentric environmental governance
How institutions change
Water Governance in the Face of Global Change
Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma
Nexus approaches to global sustainable development
Decentralisation dynamics in energy systems
The integrated offshore grid in Europe
Rethinking the governance of energy infrastructure
Engaging stakeholders in research to address water–energy–food (WEF) nexus challenges
Nexus narratives and resource insecurities in the Mekong Region
Anatomy of a buzzword
Globalization and the water-energy-food nexus – Using the global production networks approach to analyze society-environment relations
Identifying governance gaps among interlinked sustainability challenges
Nexus thinking in current EU policies – The interdependencies among food, energy and water resources
Governance of the water-energy-food security nexus
Gender and household decision-making in a Lao Village
Unpacking the nexus
The capacity of water governance to deal with the climate change adaptation challenge
Multi-level governance and power in climate change policy networks
Closing the governance gaps in the water-energy-food nexus
Adaptation to climate change in Africa
A conceptual framework for analysing adaptive capacity and multi-level learning processes in resource governance regimes
Beyond the vertical? Using value chains and governance as a framework to analyse private standards initiatives in agri-food chains
Nora McKeon
Governing green industrialisation in Africa
The politics of multi-scalar action in river basin management
Collaboration or fragmentation? Biodiversity management through the common agricultural policy
Coping with resettlement
Integration, functional differentiation and problem‐solving in multilevel governance
Towards ‘hybrid accountability’ in EU biofuels policy? Community grievances and competing water claims in the Central Kalimantan oil palm sector
Political memories of conflict, economic land concessions, and political landscapes in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
A political ecology of scaling
Addressing the temporal fit of institutions
Governance and Complexity—Emerging Issues for Governance Theory
Governance and the Global Water System
Spaces of dependence, spaces of engagement and the politics of scale, or
Rescaling and Reordering Nature-Society Relations
Resilience
Reconfiguring environmental governance
Vertical Interplay among Scale-dependent Environmental and Resource Regimes
Global Water Governance in the Context of Global and Multilevel Governance
The Politics of Scale, Position, and Place in the Governance of Water Resources in the Mekong Region
Geographies of Knowing, Geographies of Ignorance
A relational framework for investigating nexus governance
Spatial Fit, from Panacea to Practice
Institutional Fit and River Basin Governance
Participatory Scenario Planning for Protected Areas Management under the Ecosystem Services Framework
The Political Economy of Cross-Scale Networks in Resource Co-Management
The Problem of Fit between Ecosystems and Institutions
Scale and Cross-Scale Dynamics
Managing Change toward Adaptive Water Management through Social Learning
Scale and Governance
State Restructuring and the Scale Politics of Rural Water Governance in Bolivia
Land and Water Institutions in the Blue Nile Basin
Unraveling the Central State, but How? Types of Multi-level Governance
Women, gender and protest
The formalization fix? Land titling, land concessions and the politics of spatial transparency in Cambodia
| Unique citing works | 28 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 26 |