Data_Sheet_4_The Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index: A Tool to Support Integrated Resource Planning, Management and Security.pdf

The call for measuring synergies and trade-offs between water, energy, and food is increasing worldwide. This article presents the development and application of a country-level index that has been calculated for 181 nations using open databases. Following an assessment of 87 water-, energy-, and food-related indicators, 21 were selected to constitute the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Index. In this article, the WEF Nexus Index is utilized to assess the Southern African Development Community, where it demonstrates that food security is an area of concern, while the potential for beneficially exploiting water resources and energy projects exists in several countries. Water for agriculture could be achieved through the drought-proofing of rainfed agriculture and systematic irrigation development, with energy as the critical enabler. Neither the composite indicator nor the WEF nexus approach is the panacea that will solve all the significant development or environmental challenges facing humanity. However, they could contribute to integrated resource management and policy-making and are complementary to the Sustainable Development Goals. In this study, the methodology set out by the Joint Research Centre's Competence Center on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards has been followed. A set of visualizations associated with the WEF Nexus Index have been compiled in an interactive website, namely www.wefnexusindex.org.

全球范围内，测算水、能源与粮食三者间协同效应与权衡关系的呼声日益高涨。本文介绍了一款国家级指数的开发与应用情况，该指数依托开放数据库完成了181个国家的测算工作。研究团队先对87项与水、能源、粮食相关的指标开展评估，最终筛选出21项指标，构建了水-能源-粮食（Water-Energy-Food, WEF）纽带指数（WEF Nexus Index）。本文利用该水-能源-粮食纽带指数对南部非洲发展共同体进行评估，结果表明该区域的粮食安全问题亟待关注，同时部分国家具备合理开发水资源与能源项目的潜力。农业用水保障可通过雨养农业抗旱改造与系统化灌溉建设实现，而能源是其中的关键支撑要素。无论是该综合指数还是水-能源-粮食纽带关系研究方法，均无法解决人类面临的所有重大发展与环境挑战，但二者可助力资源综合管理与政策制定工作，对可持续发展目标（Sustainable Development Goals）形成有益补充。本研究严格遵循了欧盟联合研究中心（Joint Research Centre, JRC）综合指标与记分牌能力中心所提出的方法论框架。研究团队还围绕该水-能源-粮食纽带指数搭建了交互式可视化网站www.wefnexusindex.org，整合了一系列相关可视化成果。