The Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Agricultural Investment: A sustainable development guidebook

The guidebook introduces a systems-based approach to the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus, arguing that agricultural investments are most sustainable when they protect underlying environmental determinants and social capital. It proposes a four-stage operational process: assessing the current WEF security system, envisioning future landscape scenarios, developing a specific investment strategy, and transforming the system through implementation and adaptive management. The framework emphasizes the use of watershed-scale analysis, stakeholder engagement, and quantitative modeling to identify synergies and trade-offs, ensuring that investments do not harm tenure rights or ecosystem services.

• The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus is characterized by critical interdependencies: water is required for food and energy production, while energy is necessary for water treatment, distribution, and food processing and transport.
• The guidebook proposes a four-stage operational process for WEF security: assessing the current system, envisioning future landscape scenarios, developing an investment strategy, and transforming the system through adaptive management.
• A watershed or catchment scale is recommended as the most effective geographic unit for WEF analysis because it represents the fundamental connections of the landscape through water bodies and allows for tracking both outputs and outcomes.
• Responsible agricultural investments should adhere to principles that include doing no harm, respecting human rights, safeguarding against the dispossession of legitimate tenure right holders, and ensuring transparency and accountability.
• The framework emphasizes that recognizing informal and customary property and tenure rights is a necessary precondition for direct negotiations with investors and is essential for empowering local communities.
• The guidebook suggests using quantitative tools, such as hydrologic models and the Integrated Valuation and Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model, to simulate water distribution and value ecosystem services to inform policy trade-offs.
• Effective implementation of WEF strategies requires a combination of outcome-based indicators (measuring physical and socioeconomic changes) and process-based indicators (ensuring procedures meet standards).

APA

Bizikova, L., Roy, D., Venema, H. D., McCandless, M., Swanson, D., Khachtryan, A., Borden, C., & Zubrycki, K. (2014). The Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Agricultural Investment: A sustainable development guidebook. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/WEF_guidebook.pdf

Chicago

Bizikova, Livia, Dimple Roy, Henry David Venema, Matthew McCandless, Darren Swanson, Avet Khachtryan, Carter Borden, and Karla Zubrycki. The Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Agricultural Investment: A sustainable development guidebook. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2014. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/WEF_guidebook.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bizikova |first1=Livia |last2=Roy |first2=Dimple |last3=Venema |first3=Henry David |last4=McCandless |first4=Matthew |last5=Swanson |first5=Darren |last6=Khachtryan |first6=Avet |last7=Borden |first7=Carter |last8=Zubrycki |first8=Karla |title=The Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Agricultural Investment: A sustainable development guidebook |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=March 2014 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/WEF_guidebook.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bizikova2014waterenergyfood, author = {Bizikova, Livia and Roy, Dimple and Venema, Henry David and McCandless, Matthew and Swanson, Darren and Khachtryan, Avet and Borden, Carter and Zubrycki, Karla}, title = {{The Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Agricultural Investment: A sustainable development guidebook}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2014}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/WEF_guidebook.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }