In the twenty-first century, the world´s demand for natural resources is more pressing and deeply interconnected than ever before. The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus has gained growing interest as a promising concept for complex resource management challenges.
I studied two WEF nexus cases in Switzerland with upstream hydropower reservoirs, water-bound biodiversity, and emerging downstream agricultural irrigation needs. The results show a coordination gap between the different sectors and that not all sectors were considered equally. This leads to a prioritization of energy production over water-bound biodiversity and food production. The root causes for this outcome are a focus to mitigate climate change and awareness of biodiversity but much less awareness of the impacts of climate change on Swiss water bodies. The study identifies deep leverage points for interventions, which are expected to ensure a shared systemic problem understanding and more balanced coordination between different sectors resulting in the sustainable and equitable provision and utilization of WEF resources.
Agricultural irrigation in the Seeland region, Canton of Bern, Switzerland (Photo: Elke Kellner)
Own publications
Kellner, Elke; Martin, Dominic A. (2023): Learning from past coevolutionary processes to envision sustainable futures: Extending an action situations approach to the Water-Energy-Food nexus. In Earth System Governance 15, p. 100168. DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2023.100168.
Kellner, Elke (2023): Identifying leverage points for shifting Water-Energy-Food nexus cases towards sustainability through the Networks of Action Situations approach combined with systems thinking. In: Sustainability Science. 1170. DOI: 10.1007/s11625-022-01170-7.
Kellner, Elke (2021): The controversial debate on the role of water reservoirs in reducing water scarcity. In WIREs Water, e1514. DOI: 10.1002/WAT2.1514.
Kellner, Elke; Stähli, Manfred; Unterberger, Christian; Olschewski, Roland; Thür, Angela; Björnsen Gurung, Astrid (2021): Herausforderungen der Governance sowie der ökologischen, landschaftlichen und ökonomischen Auswirkungen von Mehrzweckspeichern. Hydro-CH2018 Projekt. Im Auftrag des Bundesamts für Umwelt (BAFU), Bern, Schweiz, 82 S. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4680488.
Kellner, Elke; Brunner, Manuela I.; Björnsen Gurung, Astrid; Stähli, Manfred (2019): Verhandelbar? Neue Ansprüche an Schweizer Wasserspeicher. pp. 37-40. In: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL (Hg.): Schweiz erneuerbar. Birmensdorf, Switzerland (WSL Berichte, 84).