Ways to Walk the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Talk: The Water Perspective

_{Photo Credits: Riccardo Zennaro/UNEP}

This training is organized in the context of acquiring a better understanding of the integration among “Water-Energy-Food” (WEF) Nexus that are essential for human well-being, poverty alleviation and achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Projection in Africa indicates that by 2030 its population will increase and reach to more than 2 billion hence entailing a significant increase in water consumption by 283%; and demand of energy - by 70 % - and food by 60%. (RES4Africa, 2019)

In order to address these gaps and challenges to achieve the goals of global and continental development policy processes s (SDG 2030), the African Union Agenda 2063, as well as the Paris Agreement 2015 on climate action, innovative, integrated environmental solutions and business models, are required.

It is against this backdrop that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Africa Office Energy Unit and the Ecosystem Division (Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities) together with various international partners are joining forces to organize a series of online webinar training on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. This second training will focus on the theme of water.

Water is key to produce electricity, for example through hydropower, or even used for cooling in nuclear energy production. It is also required to extract fossil fuels and for the production of biofuels. At the same time, energy is required for the desalination of seawater and highly brackish groundwater.

In Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions of the world, including parts of Asia, the population grows and will continue to grow in the future. These are also the regions most affected by water scarcity and where lack of electricity is still a reality for many. Moreover, agriculture is an important sector in these regions and a key source of water demand. For example, agriculture still accounts for 80% of water withdrawals in Sub-Saharan Africa. All this clearly demonstrates that the increasing population immediately translates into increasing demand for food, energy, and water.

The main objective of this online training is to strengthen and enhance a better understanding of the contribution of water to the implementation of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. In this training, emphasis will be given to explore the threats and the opportunities related to water and its management using the nexus approach. The webinar will also provide an introduction to the third training that will be focusing on the aspect of food. 

Join the webinar on Thursday, 16 April 2020, from 3:00-4:30 PM Nairobi time (EAT). Please register here.

Recording of the webinar: https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/32090.