Tools for tackling the water-energy-food nexus

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners have developed many tools to study the water-energy-food nexus at a variety of scales and perspectives in order to aid decision-making. However, there is a recognised lack of tools that consider these interdependent and complex interactions in an integrated fashion. Whether to connect and federate wellestablished modelling systems and approaches, which may be challenging, or to design truly integrated tools for holistic consideration of the nexus issues, is also debated. This paper discusses four distinctly different approaches which appear to have wide-scale applicability, although demonstration of these approaches in multiple cases (besides the Polestar model which is already regional/ global) is yet to be applied. Sustainable implementation of any tools will require greater accessibility such that they may be more widely deployed by practitioners. Harmonisation of results and insights between different scales, so that decision-makers may consider global-local impacts, also remains a challenge.