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Operationalizing water-energy-food nexus research for sustainable development in social-ecological systems: an interdisciplinary learning case in Central Asia

Operationalizing water-energy-food nexus research for sustainable development in social-ecological systems: an interdisciplinary learning case in Central Asia

Год: 2022

Разделы: Исследовательская работа

Темы: Вода, Устойчивое развитие, NEXUS, Стратегическое управление водными ресурсами, Трансграничные водные ресурсы

Авторы: Ahmad Hamidov, Katrin Daedlow, Heidi Webber, Hussam Hussein, Ilhom Abdurahmanov, Aleksandr Dolidudko, Ali Yawar Seerat, Umida Solieva, Tesfaye Woldeyohanes, Katharina Helming

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Источник: Ecology and Society

This article focuses on the operationalization of the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus concept as a framework for promoting sustainable development in Central Asia. The researchers examine the application of the Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) protocol as a tool for interdisciplinary analysis of five different environmental systems across the region. The findings demonstrate that a systems-based approach helps experts identify critical trade-offs between water resource management, energy production, and soil conservation. The authors emphasize that the SIA framework is effective in addressing interdisciplinary complexity; however, it requires further development in areas related to ethics and stakeholder engagement. Overall, the study highlights that regional cooperation and the integration of scientific approaches are essential for mitigating the impacts of environmental degradation, including challenges such as the desiccation of the Aral Sea. The article therefore provides a methodological foundation for translating theoretical nexus concepts into practical strategies for natural resource management and sustainable development.

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In social-ecological systems, natural resource management can be characterized by trade-offs across sectors and sustainability targets. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus concept makes explicit various trade-offs in order to maximize synergies of interventions. However, there are few successful examples of its operationalization in research settings. Here, we explore in a learning setting if sustainability impact assessment (SIA) protocols can be a useful process to be used to adopt a systemic, interdisciplinary perspective to operationalize WEF nexus in research for sustainable development. The process and method adopted of SIA protocol, evaluated for five exemplary WEF nexus cases in Central Asia during a week-long international workshop, adequately addressed the complexity of WEF interrelationships and associated sustainability issues, and facilitated a comparative case study analysis across scales. Results within this process highlight that water governance was critical for large-scale transboundary WEF nexus management, while land and soil management were decisive for minimizing trade-offs at local levels. Issues of interdisciplinarity, complexity, uncertainty, and reflection on impacts were adequately addressed, but challenges remain in the consideration of ethics and the design of transparent, multi-actor cooperation. Most importantly, this exercise showed that employment of the process of SIA protocol supported disciplinary experts to work across disciplines and take a systemic approach for analyzing WEF nexus.

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