Agriculture Rural Development and Forestry

This section provides examples of nexus solutions and investments that have been implemented (or at least designed) through a nexus approach and are designed to bring about clear transboundary benefits. The examples are presented by typology of solution highlighting key success factors that supported implementation (see section 2.2). The aim is to illustrate the variety of possible solutions and investments.

In 2012 the sixth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Water Convention made a decision to incorporate into the work programme for 2013–2015 a series of assessments of the water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus in a representative set of transboundary basins. The Meeting of the Parties also decided to establish a Task Force on the Water-Food-Energy-Ecosystems Nexus to oversee these thematic “nexus” assessments. A methodology was developed for participatory assessment and then piloted and applied in the first basin assessments. In practice this involved analysis and intersectoral transboundary dialogue about trade-offs and synergies in managing water and other natural resources (i.e. energy land and food and ecosystems).

Since the nexus approach was first conceptualized in 2011 several projects have aimed to generate regional cross-sectoral cooperation for sustainable development. Some of these dialogues have focused specifically on transboundary basins such as the nexus assessments under the Water Convention and the dialogues organized within the framework of the BRIDGE project. Other dialogues have targeted broader geographic scales such as the Nexus Regional Dialogues Programme in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Central Asia the Niger River Basin and Southern Africa but incorporated issues of management and cooperation in relation to shared water resources. These multi-country dialogues provide an important source of information on the application of the nexus approach in different regions.

The first phase of the stocktaking exercise in 2020 used the survey questionnaire to gather the experiences of countries and basins stakeholders. These were then processed using the analytical framework presented in Chapter 2. Of the total of 36 case studies 21 were submitted in response to the survey with the other 15 drawn from a review of the literature. The case studies from the literature review provided significantly less information than those synthesized from the questionnaire and as such were processed using the analytical framework (to identify common problems and solutions) but were not subjected to further analysis (to determine root causes success factors financing schemes added value etc.).

Transboundary water resources account for over 60 per cent of global freshwater flows.2 Water energy food and environmental security depend on these waters. However demographic economic social and climatic changes are exerting increasing pressure on natural resources including through ever-growing energy food and water demands that threaten the well-being of ecosystems. To achieve more balanced and sustainable use of natural resources strategic decisions must be taken to ensure they are better valued and more responsibly managed.

The findings from this stocktaking exercise are largely illustrative of the experience of water institutions concerned with transboundary issues which responds to the need of taking stock of experience that is relevant for the main audience of this publication. However this experience does not fully reflect the potential of initiatives from other sectors (e.g. technical solutions for water and energy efficiency in industry nexus solutions in urban settings smallscale investments in sustainable agriculture and forestry etc.) that can be applied and upscaled in transboundary basins. More far-reaching intersectoral actions may be possible at local and national levels and may also be extended in terms of impact and shared experience at the transboundary level.

water resources – including agriculture energy domestic and industrial supply and environmental needs – and benefit land resources while positively impacting the status of shared waters. Following the formulation of the water-food-energy-ecosystem “nexus” concept two core objectives quickly emerged: to guarantee coherence in implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to provide “out-of-the-water-box” solutions to water management challenges in transboundary basins around the world.

Enabling nexus solutions means tackling constraints that stakeholders commonly experience when implementing nexus approaches (see section 3.2). The mobilization of new financial resources can represent an important stimulus for cooperation directly overcoming financial constraints and indirectly improving the technical capacity of institutions to plan “bankable” solutions involving different sectors. However no nexus solution can be found or implemented without greater coherence at the level of policy action and plans a requirement that encompasses political dialogue adequate institutional/governance frameworks and structures better information and the search for common objectives synergies and possibilities for benefit sharing. This is the key to build a common understanding and mutual trust.

As this report shows the potential value of coordination and integrated planning across sectors is receiving increasing recognition; however the obstacles to practical achievement can be significant.

En 2014 se extrajo de las aguas del lago Titicaca prácticamente intacta una arqueta de ofrendas incaica en piedra que llevaba cinco siglos sepultada bajo el agua a seis metros de profundidad. Dentro de ella se encontraron dos símbolos de la religiosidad y el poderío del Imperio Inca: una minúscula figura de una llama y una pequeña lámina de oro enrollada en forma de cilindro.