Maximizing water–food–energy nexus synergies at basin scale

Abstract

In this short paper, we show how solutions for mitigating resource security in one sector can be found in another. We demonstrate—by means of a case study in Burkina Faso and Ghana—how investing in the electricity grid in the south leads to increase food security in the north. A new nexus framework was developed (‘MAXUS’) which was built to understand, simulate and optimize intersectoral (and international) development strategies in the water, food and energy sectors. We believe this new type of geospatial integral resource management, supported by the exponential increase of data availability of the twenty-first century, could finally turn nexus models into decision support tools.