Water, energy and food are key resources to sustain life, and are fundamental to national, regional, and global economies. These three resources are interlinked in multiple ways, and the term "nexus" captures the interconnections. The goal of the Nexus Approach is to provide a more holistic perspective for managing environmental resources. To manage resources sustainably, it is necessary to overcome barriers between individual sectors and scientific disciplines to develop integrated strategies. The approach is based on the understanding that individual environmental resources are closely linked. Through this course the principles and application of the Water-Energy-Food nexus at the local, national, regional and global scale and their inter-linkages will identified and explored. The student will learn quantitative frameworks to develop and assess sustainable tradeoffs of resources.

• Conceptualize and articulate cross-sector linkages and processes within the Water Energy Food Nexus
• Understand the Water Energy Food Nexus at local regional and global scales and identify interconnections at different scales
• Understand systems approaches to the FEW nexus
• Develop the capacity for interdisciplinary analysis of nexus issues and topics

On completion of this module, students are expected to be able to:

• Describe the global risks and the how the nexus can drive sustainability of the resources management and allocation
• Quantify the inter-linkages of the Water, Energy, Food systems
• Identify how environmental management interface with economics, policy and supply chain at local and global scale
• Devise nexus friendly solutions for a specific case study towards a more sustainable resource nexus

6 credits

1. Salam P.A.,‎ Shrestha S.,‎ Pandey V.P., Anal A.K. (eds.),‎ 2017. Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Principles and Practices, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
2. Stirling, A. 2015. Developing “nexus capabilities:” Towards transdisciplinary methodologies. The Nexus Network.
3. Dodd F. and J. Bartram, eds. 2016. The Water, Food, Energy, and Climate Nexus: Challenges and An Agenda for Action. London: Routledge