The Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems nexus (WEFE-Nexus) is a concept that highlights the interlinkages of these critical sectors. Changes in one area inevitably impact the others, making it essential to consider their interactions when pursuing sustainable development. This nexus approach emphasizes that effective and sustainable management of water, energy, food, and ecosystem demands integrated and well-coordinated strategies across all sectors.

Key Interlinkages:

• Water and energy: Water is essential for energy production—it is used in hydropower generation, cooling thermal power plants, and extracting energy resources. In turn, energy production and transportation also require significant amounts of water.

• Water and food: Agriculture is the largest consumer of water globally, with irrigation vital to food production. In addition, food production relies on energy for processing, transportation and storage.

• Energy and food: Food production is energy-intensive across all stages, including soil tillage, planting, harvesting, processing and transportation.

• Ecosystems and all sectors: Ecosystems provide essential services such as water supply, plant pollination and climate regulation, which underpin water, energy and food systems. However, these sectors can also negatively impact ecosystems through water and air pollution, land degradation and biodiversity loss.