Assessment Framework for Food-Energy-Water Nexus Governance in Cape Town and Phoenix

Keywords: food-energy-water nexus, collaborative governance, case study, sustainability, South Africa, Arizona
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 56

Abstract

Food-energy-water nexus governance has been promoted as an approach to management and policy that considers and supports the three sectors and their associated interactions together. It has been argued to reduce unintended consequences, increase resource security, and lead towards greater sustainability of the resource system. However, the approach has been critiqued for being too conceptual and for having limited operationalization, as there are limited approaches to evaluate, assess, or measure the governance of the food-energy-water nexus. Assessment of the governance process is important to move the concept from conceptualization towards implementation and to understand the specific potential and limits of the nexus governance process. Therefore, this research presents a theoretical framework and associated indicator set to assess urban collaborative food-energy-water nexus governance in practice. It was created from the theoretical literatures of collaborative governance, the food-energy-water nexus, and sustainability indicators. This theoretical framework is then applied to two example cases: Phoenix, Arizona, USA and Cape Town, South Africa. The implementation to these case studies demonstrates a moderately-high level of collaborative nexus governance in Phoenix but a moderately-low level of collaborative nexus governance in Cape Town. These cases showcase the utility of this framework in assessing urban collaborative food-energy-water nexus governance.