Launched in June 2021, the European Horizon 2020 project GoNEXUS will come to an end this May, with signifi cant progress being made in establishing a governance system based on the Water-Energy- Food-Ecosystem Nexus (WEFE Nexus) approach. In a world where economic prosperity and well-being are closely tied to the efficient and sustainable management of natural resources, the increasing demand for water, energy and food, and its impacts on ecosystems, must be considered. These four sectors are interlinked and interdependent, which raises food and energy security challenges and the need for mutually beneficial responses across borders.
Today, migration pressure, food price shocks, water shortages and energy market imbalances are real risks that need to be anticipated and effectively managed. Through eight in-depth case studies focused on river basins in Europe and Africa, GoNEXUS addressed efficient and sustainable governance of the WEFE Nexus, fostering synergies to achieve long-term resilient economic, environmental, and social goals.
"Governance of the WEFE Nexus is essential for achieving sustainable resource management by acknowledging the interconnections among these vital sectors", noted Manuel Pulido Velázquez, GoNEXUS coordinator, director of the Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), and director of the Climate Change Chair at the Technical University of Valencia (UPV), Spain. He went on to point out that "effective governance in the WEFE context fosters coordination across sectors, minimises resource conflicts, and strengthens resilience to climate change and socio-economic challenges".
Enhancing energy efficiency and security
In the energy sector, the WEFE's governance is particularly transformative, as it promotes the integration of renewable energies by ensuring that water availability is considered in hydroelectricity, bioenergy and cooling systems for thermal power plants. It also contributes directly to enhancing energy security.
According to Manuel Pulido Velázquez, addressing demands for land and water for energy production is key to reducing vulnerability to resource shortages: "Effective governance enhances efficiency by encouraging innovations such as wastewater reuse for cooling power plants, integration of solar energy in irrigated agriculture, and encouraging cross-sector collaboration by facilitating partnerships between public services, policymakers, and industry for more sustainable energy production."
GoNEXUS activities highlighted the need to expand the adoption of renewable energy sources in Europe, including bioenergy, solar photovoltaics and biomass from agroforestry waste. This diversified energy mix will support the transition to a circular bioeconomy, encouraging alternative energy solutions to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and contributing to the EU's decarbonisation efforts.
Encouraging stakeholder participation,/strong>
Over the past three years, GoNEXUS activities have been designed to follow a collaborative approach through a series of "Dialogues" targeting stakeholders on the global, European, and river basin scale. "The Nexus issues are highly complex and require the mobilisation of diff erent types of knowledge, knowledge of stakeholders in the energy, water, environment, agricultural production and food sectors, etc., in addition to scientific knowledge", explained Laura Seguin, GoNEXUS partner at the BRGM, the French geological survey.
Stakeholder participation played a crucial role in defining, refining and validating scenarios, models, and solutions for decision-making from global to local/basin level. During the Dialogues, stakeholders explored the projections outlined in the scenarios to discuss risk management across the Nexus sectors. They also helped the GoNEXUS team better understand existing conflicts and trade-off s within the WEFE Nexus; misaligned sectoral policies, synergies, and uncertainties: "Simulating the evidence of the WEFE Nexus and the impact of solutions through models are like virtual laboratories", spotted Kyra Baumann, analyst at adelphi. Furthermore, "stakeholder involvement and engagement play a signifi cant role in policy formulation. When implementing solutions, there is a need to involve everybody", underpinned Gerald Mundonwa from the Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM) and GoNEXUS partner.
Based on existing data and the results of the Dialogues, a Solutions Evaluation Framework (SEF) was developed to ensure that the solutions are technically, socially and politically feasible, efficient, and sustainable. Additionally, it serves as a guide for processing raw scenario data and model toolbox results – a set of analytical tools to assess the current situation and project future challenges related to climate change.
Focus on the Zambezi Watercourse
In early February 2025, the third and final round of Dialogues took place in Livingstone, Zambia. This was an essential milestone in the ongoing discussions on sustainable water and energy development in the Zambezi watercourse, providing valuable insights and fostering stakeholder collaboration. The eight riparian states sharing the watercourse (Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) have already established a Zambezi Strategic Plan, and the value was to align this regional policy document with the WEFE Nexus analysis and approach.
One of the key findings of research by Polytechnic University of Milan (POLIMI), one of GoNEXUS partners, is the impact of a recent rapid reduction in the cost of renewable energy technologies, which presents both opportunities and challenges. A critical point raised by the POLIMI team during the Dialogue deliberations is the vulnerability of hydropower to hydroclimatic variability.
Like many other regions, the Zambezi River Basin is experiencing an increase in current and forecast extreme weather events that pose significant risks to hydropower infrastructure. These climate change impacts require anticipatory action to ensure the resilience and sustainability of energy systems. The study highlights the importance of re-operating existing systems and carefully considering the design or construction of new infrastructure capable of adapting to these environmental challenges.
GoNEXUS partner ETH Zurich conducted high-fidelity modelling of the Zambezi water catchment, accounting for changes in the balance of inflows and outflows due to a climate change and the policies on reservoir operation and irrigation allocation provided by the POLIMI system optimisation model.
The main conclusions of these Dialogues are that the higher frequency and number of days of low flows will increase; extreme flows, including floods, will occur and the development of reservoirs may lead to a reduction in flows in the Indian Ocean.
The Zambezi case study highlights the importance of implementing WEFE Nexus governance. While climates, geographies, socio-economic and political contexts vary globally, managing resources in the face of climate change remains a major challenge that requires anticipation and a coordinated plan of action.
