Search Climate Insights Directory

This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute describes the application of an integrated water-energy-food-ecosystems (WEFE) nexus modeling approach (LEAP-WEAP-MACRO) to the Syr Darya River Basin. It argues that integrated modeling provides more realistic results than siloed approaches and demonstrates that international cooperation among Central Asian countries can increase water availability, boost agricultural production, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to business-as-usual scenarios.

This report describes the development and application of an integrated water-energy-food-ecosystems (WEFE) and macroeconomic model for the Syr Darya River Basin. The model combines three software platforms—Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP), Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) with Next Energy Modeling system for Optimization (NEMO), and a macroeconomic model (Macro)—to simulate the interdependencies between water availability, energy production, and economic growth across Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan from 2010 to 2050.