In this section, you may find new materials that have been published on the topic of ” The Land-Water-Energy nexus “, since the date of the event. We continually select major new publications and articles that add up to the policy points discussed in this briefing.
Achieving Abundance: Understanding the Cost of a Sustainable Water Future
WRI; January 2020
Population and economic growth, as well as climate change, have pushed water crises to the top of the global agenda. Given the scale of the issues, delivering sustainable water management requires rapid mobilization of funding for water-related improvements and more effective use of existing resources. The Achieving Abundance Working Paper proposes a method whereby any decision-maker can calculate the cost required to deliver sustainable water management to a geography. The working paper calculates the cost of action required to close the gap between current conditions and desired conditions to financially compare and prioritize different water-related challenges or different targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6. The paper also estimates the costs of delivering sustainable water management for all countries and major basins—estimated globally as US$1.04 trillion (2015$) annually from 2015 to 2030.
Corporate water management and stewardship: signs of evolution towards sustainability
ODI; 2019
Water stewardship aims to promote shared responsibility in water management through dialogue and collaboration between water users, for greater water security. Private firms and companies are asked to participate in multi-stakeholder processes so as to be part of the solution to water problems, including those beyond just their own premises and operations. In November 2016, the authors of this briefing note published a broad-based survey of water stewardship, focusing on the ‘drivers’ of corporate ‘water behaviour’. Now, three years later – based on further research and many new conversations with representatives of corporates and other actors – they return to the subject to consider what experience and knowledge has been acquired and what advances made in water management and stewardship. They ask which elements or aspects of business models relevant to water management are coming together, and what pieces of the water stewardship ‘puzzle’ are still missing. The note identifies tentative signs of evolution towards sustainability by leading companies and offers a working hypothesis for the food and beverage sector as a positive guide to the future. At the same time, it cautions against corporate plans for growth that do not take account of water availability limits in water-stressed catchments for example, as well as the risk of misleading use by companies of volumetric water accounting tools that conceal water realities in the individual catchment context.
Change in water-use efficiency over time (SDG indicator 6.4.1)
fao; 2019
The purpose of this document is to provide suggestions for the interpretation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator 6.4.1. In particular, it focuses on the concept of economic decoupling from water-use, and its application in policy making. The evolution in water-use and water-use efficiency in four selected regions: Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, is discussed. Particular attention is given to the evolution in water-use, water-use efficiency and related drivers in two groups of countries, including major developed economies and newly industrialized countries, and in different economic sectors. The relation of water-use efficiency with economic growth and access to safe drinking water is analyzed and discussed in the context of the literature on the Environmental Kuznets Curve applied to water resources. A country-based example is presented to illustrate some aspects of these issues and a few concluding remarks are provided.
African Development Bank lends €60 million to develop value chains through improving water supply
afdb.org; 19/07/2019
On Wednesday 17 July in Abidjan, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank approved a loan of €87 million to the government of Senegal, to implement its Project to Improve the Water Supply for the Development of Value Chains (PROVALE-CV). For this project, valued at an estimated €122 million, the Bank will provide €60.8 million, while the “Africa Growing Together Fund” (AGTF) will provide €26.8 million. Developed with the support of the Bank, PROVALE-CV is the first project under Senegal’s small-scale Local Irrigation National Development Programme (PNDIL). It operates in three agro-ecological areas in the country: Les Niayes, the groundnut basin, and Casamance, and covers eight administrative regions: Kaolack, Fatick, Kaffrine, Diourbel, Thiès, Ziguinchor, Sédhiou and Kolda. The project will run for 5 years – November 2019-October 2024 – and aims to sustainably increase agricultural production, employment and incomes in rural areas through the use of surface and underground water. It comprises the management of 12,730 hectares including 7,950 hectares fed by retention dams, 3,980 recovered hectares, 800 hectares of borehole-fed market gardens, production roadways, warehouses and pastoral infrastructure.
SDG Progress Report: Tracking progress on food and agriculture – related SDG indicators
FAO; 18/07/2019
Eradicating hunger and food insecurity, as well as ensuring sustainable agriculture and natural resource management, is a central pillar of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and a prerequisite for the achievement of the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. FAO plays an important role in measuring progress towards its achievement.The most recent evidence available for such targets, however, paints a grim picture. The world is not on track to meeting the overwhelming majority of SDG targets related to sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition. Four years into the 2030 Agenda, regression is the norm for almost all related indicators, with only a few areas reflecting some progress.
To Improve Water Management, Start Local
climatelinks.org; 17/07/2019
Rivers are the world’s main source of clean drinking water, and their economic and environmental value are fundamental to the health of people and ecosystems. However, river basins face interrelated challenges — population growth, industrialization, urbanization, land use changes (including deforestation and land degradation), and changes in water quantity and quality. Climate change acts as a stress multiplier, altering water availability and increasing water requirements as temperatures rise. To safeguard water resources in a world with a growing population and a changing climate, governments, citizens, and the development community will need to work together to improve water management and strengthen coping mechanisms.
New research outlines 5-course ‘Menu of Solutions’ to achieve sustainable food future
unenvironment.org; 17/07/2019
With the world’s population expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, a major new report shows the global food system must undergo urgent change to ensure there is adequate food for everyone without destroying the planet. The World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future reveals that meeting this challenge will require closing three gaps: a 56 percent “food gap” between what was produced in 2010 and food that will be needed in 2050; a nearly 600 million-hectare “land gap” (an area nearly twice the size of India) between global agricultural land area in 2010 and expected agricultural expansion by 2050; and an 11-gigaton “greenhouse gas mitigation gap” between expected emissions from agriculture in 2050 and the level needed to meet the Paris Agreement.
Angola: New World Bank Projects will Support Inclusive Growth, Water Services, and Social Protection
worldbank.org; 16/07/2019
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved today a package worth $1.320 billion from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to support the government of Angola in its efforts to promote more inclusive growth, improve water services, and strengthen the national social protection system. The Angolan economy is at a critical point as it moves from a growth model based on oil wealth, which has left the country highly vulnerable to external shocks, to one that is more open and inclusive. These three projects support the government in its ambitious and urgent development strategy.
The Nexus Solutions Tool (NEST): An open platform for optimizing multi-scale energy-water-land system transformations
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA); 16/07/2019
The energy-water-land nexus represents a critical leverage future policies must draw upon to reduce trade-offs between sustainable development objectives. Yet, existing long-term planning tools do not provide the scope or level of integration across the nexus to unravel important development constraints. Moreover, existing tools and data are not always made openly available or are implemented across disparate modeling platforms that can be difficult to link directly with modern scientific computing tools and databases. In this paper, we present the Nexus Solutions Tool (NEST): a new open modeling platform that integrates multi-scale energy-water-land resource optimization with distributed hydrological modeling. The new approach provides insights into the vulnerability of water, energy and land resources to future socioeconomic and climatic change and how multi-sectoral policies, technological solutions and investments can improve the resilience and sustainability of transformation pathways while avoiding counterproductive interactions among sectors.
UN Begins Support for Coherent Climate, Land, Water and Energy Strategies
AllAfrica; 9/07/2019
New models and tools to help government services pre-empt unproductive competition between food, water, energy and climate change policies and strategies are being introduced in Cameroon thanks to joint efforts of United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In response to a request from Cameroon’s Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), the three UN bodies have convened a two-day workshop to support the Government in transitioning from sectoral to integrated policy-making in Climate, Land, Energy and Water systems (CLEWs), which started this morning in Yaounde. It is an integral part of the UN project titled “Enhancing policy coherence for the SDGs through integrated assessments and institutional strengthening in Africa.”
Green Climate Fund pours $18.6 million towards water resilience in the Marshall Islands
adaptation-undp.org; 07/07/2019
At its 23rd Board Meeting the global Green Climate Fund has today approved US$18.6 million in financing to the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), supporting the low-lying atoll nation in adapting to increasing climate risks, particularly more frequent and extreme droughts which impact the country’s freshwater supply. “RMI, as with many small island developing states (SIDS), has had little if anything to do with causing global climate change, yet we must now cope with the consequences,” said RMI’s Director Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination, Clarence Samuel. “With the support of the Green Climate Fund we will address one of our key priorities – water resilience.” Currently, the people of RMI still do not have year-round access to safe freshwater supply for drinking, cooking and sanitation. Intensifying droughts, driven by climate change, are worsening the situation.
Connecting the SDGs through resilient water management
siwi.org; July 2019
The 2030 Agenda is a complex and intertwined framework with a diverse set of goals and targets. One trait that is common to most of the SDGs’ goals and targets, is their dependence upon sustainable water resources. Sustainable water resources form the basis of a resilient, thriving society. We will not deliver on the 2030 Agenda without considering and enhancing the role that water can play in achieving the SDGs. Water is the blue thread that can connect and lend coherence to the 2030 Agenda and serve as a link also to other global processes such as the Paris Agreement.
