PERSPECTIVE

published: 26 May 2022

doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.820305

The WEF Nexus Journey

Rabi H. Mohtar 1,2,3,4*
1
WEF Nexus Research Group, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station,
TX, United States, 2 Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX,
United States, 3 Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, 4 Department of
Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States

This paper describes the beginning of the WEF Nexus Journey in the classroom and
shows how the Nexus emerged into the discipline that it is today. The paper offers
definitions, shares some success stories from around the world, reflects on future
opportunities, and provides a few concluding remarks.
Keywords: WEF Nexus, sustainability triangle, food security, Nexus tradeoffs, WEF analytics, WEF interlinkages,
hotspots, stakeholder engagement

THE JOURNEY
In late 1990, interest in agricultural engineering was declining among students entering colleges
of engineering and of agriculture. Departments across the nation changed their names to include
environmental, biosystems, and other natural resource terminologies. My own department at
Purdue was part of both colleges. I requested the department chair to include me in its student
recruitment team for our colleges of agriculture and engineering so that, as a member of the team,
I could work to recruit freshmen from both colleges into the agricultural engineering department.
Edited by:
My recruitment strategy was focused on including non-traditional students who typically did not
Olcay I. Unver, see agriculture as part of their future career. I introduced the department by focusing on the
Arizona State University, United States threatened, interconnected water, energy, and food systems; on how an agricultural engineer might
Reviewed by: contribute to this grand challenge of water, energy, and food security. My presentation introduced
Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, what I called the “sustainability triangle” (Figure 1). We witnessed a significant spike in interest
University of KwaZulu-Natal, around this grand challenge among rural and urban students of diverse ethnic backgrounds.
South Africa In 2008, as the inaugural director of Purdue’s Global Engineering Program, I had the opportunity
*Correspondence: to further develop these concepts and incorporated them into the academic programs we offered.
Rabi H. Mohtar In 2009, I was invited to join the Water Security Council of the World Economic Forum and
[email protected] discovered that term WEF (water, energy, food) for worked well for both the Nexus and the World
Economic Forum, where I further developed this systems approach to water security. The water
Specialty section: security council included members from public and private sectors, international organizations,
This article was submitted to
non-governmental organizations, and some academics. The WEF Nexus concept was adopted by
Water-Smart Food Production,
the Council in January 2011 at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos and
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems published for the first time (Mohtar, 2011).
Thus, the Nexus took off on the global stage. What began with the water security
Received: 01 December 2021
publication of the World Economic Forum (Davos, January 2011) was followed in November
Accepted: 18 April 2022
Published: 26 May 2022 with the Bonn 2011 Conference, focused on the interdependencies of water, energy, food
securities and explicitly identifying the role of decision making (Hoff, 2011). In June
Citation:
Mohtar RH (2022) The WEF Nexus
2012, the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development recognized and
Journey. highlighted the WEF linkages to nutrition, sustainable agriculture, sustainable cities, health,
Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6:820305. biodiversity, and desertification. At COP18, the United Nations Climate Change Conference of
doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.820305 Parties in Doha, the food-water-energy nexus was presented as describing the “human face”

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Mohtar WEF Nexus Journey

emerged from the need for better management of the primary

resources of water, energy, and food. Policy makers and industry
leaders endorsed the concept in high level discussions. We did
not need to convince them of the importance of the new concept:
they got it! However, after buying in, they needed guidance on
implementation, demonstration, and they needed success stories.

WHAT IS THE NEXUS? HOW CAN WE

DEFINE IT CLEARLY?
The Nexus offers a platform for a system of systems connecting
the water-energy-food subsystems. It builds on, but does not
replace, existing disciplines (Mohtar and Daher, 2012). The
Nexus elements include the interlinkages, hotspots, and tradeoffs.
Nexus builds on the water productivity concept familiar in
agriculture, and on integrated water resources management,
FIGURE 1 | The sustainability triangle (Mohtar, 2002).
energy efficiency, and others. It connects government policy,
society, and business supply chains (Figure 2; Mohtar and Daher,
2016).
of and solution to climate change. The conferences of the The Nexus does not stop there, but continues beyond analytics
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the German to create a platform or framework that connects the science to
Development Agency (GIZ) both focused on these issues. In the politics and to the political economy of the Nexus. It is the
2014, the InterAction Council and the East-West Institute (EWI) dialogue that moves the needle from conflict into cooperation.
presented the WEF nexus as a global security threat in their The two concentric circles in which the Nexus operates are the
WEF risk report of 2012; EWI did the same in 2014. Also, supply chain and the political economy, which comprise the
in 2014, the G-20 Clean Energy Ministries launched its WEF defining factors of the resource availability and the portfolio of
workstream (World Economic Forum, 2012; EastWest Institute, our resource nexus.
2014). In 2015 G-20 Clean Energy Ministries launched its WEF Building the WEF Nexus system using the food supply chain
workstream (IISD 2015) and the 7th World Water Forum in includes: (1) defining the components of the food supply chain,
South Korea and the SDGs Post 2015 Agenda were highlighted (2) establishing the water, energy, food resource portfolios, (3)
in Paris at the SDGs post 2015 Climate summit. The Nexus quantifying the resource footprint (very important for modeling
mushroomed again in Bonn, in North Carolina, and in a and existing data), (4) identifying the interventions that need to
joint workshop in Washington DC through a Global Water be studied (important crops, increasing self-sufficiency of other
System Project and grant from the Belmont Forum (Lawford crops), (5) building the tool and doing the tradeoff analysis
and Mohtar, 2015). The World Bank launched its Thirsty for various scenarios, (6) the sustainability index, and (7) the
Energy Initiative (Rodriguez et al., 2013) and the Department of dialogue. Two types of dialogue are needed: one with the
Energy, in its 2017 Report to Congress, acknowledged that the scientific community alone, and a second with the entire society:
dependence of energy on water is a risk to both water and energy scientific, decision makers, and others involved in the resource
security (US Department of Energy, 2017). Later that same year, nexus (Mohtar and Daher, 2016).
the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched its INFEWS This brings us to the seven questions for setting up a nexus
program: Innovations in Food Energy Water Systems. platform or solution (Daher et al., 2017). We must define the
Thus, was the progression and development of the Nexus. system, starting with the critical question to be answered and
From its very early stages, the principles were those of a holistic, the scale at which this question is relevant. Not an easy task: the
multiscale, multistakeholder nexus. First that the integrative view system must be defined so that anything beyond the boundary
of water, energy, and food resources management must prevail at is excluded and everything within that boundary is included.
all levels and be based on inclusiveness for all sectors: governance, Who are the stakeholders? What type of data is needed? What
academic, civil society, and private. The second principle is assessment tool can best asses the proposed interventions? How
to define and quantify the interconnectivity among the W-E- do we communicate with the stakeholders, involve them in the
F resources, creating a basis for use in policy and planning. process, and assess their interaction with and acceptance of
Third: to better engage the private sector for its role in supply the process?
chain management, mobilization of resources, conservation, and
responsible investment, including research and development for IMPLEMENTATION
enhanced business opportunities and technology development.
The early discussions focused on the Nexus approach as The WEF Nexus Research Group at Texas A&M University
holistic and multiscale, involving multiple stakeholders, and the has been active in many regional and international partnerships
stated principles. Unlike other academic disciplines, the Nexus to assess different aspects of the Nexus. The research group

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Mohtar WEF Nexus Journey

FIGURE 2 | Connectivity of the nexus elements (Mohtar and Daher, 2012).

looked at thematic and geographic applications, beginning with export, which competes for local resources in the region
the launch of Qatar’s National Food Security Program in 2011. (Degirmencioglu et al., 2019). In Lebanon, we took a health
When Qatar was struggling to find a solution to its food security centered approach that places health at the center of the Nexus
challenges, our application allowed an analytical platform that (Bachour et al., 2020).
considered the implications of achieving food security in Qatar Morocco’s phosphate industry posed a special challenge in
(Mohtar and Daher, 2014). water-scarce Morocco: phosphate production has a high-water
In Abu Dhabi, the group worked with the International footprint. We looked at the tradeoffs between the water used
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to help produce a by the industry vs. the water used by other sectors, such as
comprehensive study on the steps needed for promoting agriculture (Lee et al., 2020). In Morocco, we also looked
renewable energy as part of the energy portfolio mix and how it at the tradeoffs between Nexus and the different sustainable
interfaces with other energy sources, conditions, and limitations development goals (SDGs) for water, energy, and food as part of
to this energy (International Renewable Energy Agency, 2015). the national plans for resource management (Daher and Mohtar,
There are additional examples of energy deployment, 2021).
including the sustainable energy portfolio of Texas, where the In two unpublished studies, one in the Mekong Basin and the
group worked on the projected water gap, critical when hydraulic second in Nigeria, we looked at the Nexus tradeoffs between the
fracturing was at its peak and the water needed for this process hydropower industry (hydraulic energy), agricultural irrigation,
was taken from other sectors, mainly domestic and agriculture community livelihood, and food security. Each of these case
(Daher et al., 2019). This work focused on the tradeoffs between studies shares a common element of quantification of the
energy, water, and transportation. The transportation lifeline for interlinkages and the tradeoffs that exist in the analysis and
water used in the hydraulic fracturing process are the roads, validates the conclusion that the Nexus systems approach can
which also provide the transportation lifeline for communities offer economic benefits to multiple sectors.
and impact traffic and the safety of transport (Mohtar et al., 2019).
As addressed more specifically below, the research group also
considered the WEF Nexus in the San Antonio region (Mohtar, A WEB BASED WEF NEXUS TOOL
2019), and a specific issue in Matagorda County, which neighbors
Houston and has a large nuclear power plant whose need for The tool developed for implementing these concepts was first
cooling water competes with water needs of other sectors (Kulat released in Qatar (Mohtar and Daher, 2012) and provided a user
et al., 2019). interface that allows entering the portfolios and questions about
A comprehensive study conducted in the Gediz Basin of scenario components (food self-sufficiency, water sources and
Turkey looked at the tradeoffs between planting food for quantities, energy sources) and impact (import countries and

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Mohtar WEF Nexus Journey

the relative risks of importing commodities from that country). so are both energy demand and the financial burden. In
An administrative interface and a science component provide a conclusion, the tradeoffs that we identified and quantified must
“behind the scenes” look at local data characteristics. The Tool’s be considered before making the appropriate decisions presented
output is the entire footprint of water, energy, land, carbon in these national plans. The Nexus framework and Tool allow
emission, financial constraints, and other elements. Combined, identification of these issues and is essential for such analysis to
the policy and the science allowed us to produce a sustainability be accomplished.
index, which, in turn, allowed comparison and ranking of various The second version of the Tool, released to assess food
scenarios. Further development of the tool was later completed security in Qatar (Mohtar and Daher, 2012, 2014; Daher and
and published (Daher and Mohtar, 2015). Mohtar, 2015), allows users to create scenarios for a given
location by defining the inputs of the water, the food, and the
Implementation of the SDGs energy portfolios. Users create scenarios and the Tool generates
The Tool allows us to look at the tradeoffs of implementing a the sustainability index for each and quantifies the tradeoffs.
series of interventions. The interconnected SDGs 2, 6, and 7 This index is a measure of how sustainable the scenario is
(zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean based on water, energy, land, environmental footprint and
energy) represent our first attempt to create a consortium considering user preferences. For example, Qatar does not have
promoting the use of Nexus within the SDG community. sufficient land to independently ensure complete food security,
Texas A&M led the effort in collaboration with World so solutions requiring extensive land resources will not rank
Wildlife Fund (WWF), International Union for Conservation high on the sustainability index. The WET Tool (water-energy-
of Nature (IUCN), Swedish Environmental Institute (SEI), transportation) used scenarios related to oil price, natural gas,
The World Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute and lateral drill length. We quantified tradeoff analysis for
(IFPRI), Global Water Partnership (GWP), Deloitte, Asian the scenarios and determined which is most site-specific and
Development Bank (ADB), International Water Management appropriate scenarios (Daher et al., 2019).
Institute (IWMI), and the OCP Policy Center. The take-away The San Antonio case studies focused on Region L of the
lessons showed that improving access to electricity can negatively Texas Water Plan (Mohtar, 2019) and used a system of systems
impact ambient water quality, water availability, and ecosystem approach. Thematic teams (Energy for Water, Water for Food,
health. Ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, modern and Water for Energy) worked with stakeholders to collect data
energy services means substantially increasing the share of for modeling, governance, financing, and tradeoff analysis. A
renewable energy in the global energy mix, doubling the circular approach that circled some data back to stakeholders
global rate of improvement in energy efficiency, enhancing improved decision making. The goal was to better understand the
international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy Texas water gap projected over the next 20 years. By focusing on
research and technology (including renewable energy, energy three subregions, each representing a distinct hotspot, we used a
efficiency, and advanced, cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and holistic systems approach to identify ways to bridge the projected
promoting investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy 40% water gap for Texas.
technology). This would be done by expanding infrastructure and We discovered that solutions are different for each zone
upgrading the technology to supply modern, sustainable energy or hotspot. In the Lubbock area, which has a declining water
services for all those living in developing countries, particularly table due to over pumping by farmland, we encouraged dryland
the least developed countries, in accordance with their respective farming: different sources of water and fresh investment in the
programs of support. sector were needed for agriculture. In San Antonio, a growing
First in Morocco, we looked at the analytics of how water, area with high demand for municipal water, solutions included
energy, and food are interconnected in the national plan and then implementation of low impact development solutions, which
identified the associated tradeoffs. Morocco’s green water plan requires investment and could carry potential for both ground
sets targets for introducing income such as increasing production water recharge and urban agriculture. The Eagle Ford shale
of olive, citrus, fruits, and vegetables. The effort to generate region produces a lot of energy and developing shale production
income resulted in reducing cereals production by 20% and increases ground water consumption. One unique aspect of shale
moves from a self-sufficiency model into an economic model for gas production is its very intense consumption of water, in both
agriculture. Morocco’s 2030 water strategy includes desalination space and time. The wells are very localized and require a lot of
and treated wastewater (TWW); its energy strategy includes water at certain peaks, which presents a particular challenge that
increasing renewable energy by up to 42%. After quantifying must be addressed in terms of total quantity of water needed and
the interlinkages, we realized that these three plans compete for in terms of the spatial location and time so as not to coincide
the same resources, mainly those needed for capital resources. with other peak demand times for water, whether for agriculture
Thus, if one looks at food, the tradeoff involves increasing or municipal.
the water-land-energy factor at the expense of food security.
Regarding energy: reduced emissions come at the expense of
finance, land, and water. Increasing the quantity of renewable IMPACT OF WEF NEXUS SOLUTIONS
energy means changing the allocation of land and water from
agricultural production into energy production. Additionally, Three tools can highlight the impact of WEF Nexus solutions.
while water security is improved with added water and TWW, The Water-Energy-Transportation (WET) Tool, designed to

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Mohtar WEF Nexus Journey

quantify the relations and tradeoffs between the water, energy, FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
and transportation sectors for different scenarios, using factors
like increased oil and gas production, market prices, lateral Future opportunities begin with a sustainable business model for
lengths of wells, and input amounts of water. The tool allows us agricultural systems: the current food and agriculture system is
to look at the scenarios and promote the best options as we move not sustainable. While food production has provided real success
forward (Daher et al., 2019; Mohtar et al., 2019). stories in terms of producing enough food globally for the world’s
The Matagorda County Tool shows that annual income could population, some questions have been ignored such as nutritional
increase by as much as $32 million dollars above the current value relative to water and energy use, as well as air quality
“business as usual” scenario, mainly in the agriculture sector that and impact on soil health. In the future, we will not have the
is currently suffering from a lack of water (Kulat et al., 2019). same quantity of water allocated to agriculture, thus, we need a
The Energy Portfolio Assessment Tool (EPAT) allows options different model. One that allows the use of multiple and different
for the energy portfolio and shows that some energy policies sources of water; one that considers the human and ecosystem
can mitigate carbon emissions, even after capacity increase, by values of this water. Here is where the Nexus can contribute.
decreasing water withdrawal volume by almost 10% and, that A second future opportunity lies in the circular food and
CPP technology policy increases water consumption by 5%, land agriculture system. Inputs to such a system include renewable
use by 143%, and cost by 18% (Mroue et al., 2019). water, renewable energy, and nutrients. A circular system would
have reduced carbon emissions, reduced chemical and biological
pollutants, and reduced food wastes and loss. If we look at the
Tradeoffs of Wastewater Reuse in tradeoffs in the outcomes of such a model, keeping in mind the
Agriculture human and ecosystem resource nexus, the choices for a circular
The benefits of wastewater reuse in agriculture are clearly food and agriculture system changes and are site specific. Making
translated into economic growth, coastal and riparian protection, such a transition requires appropriate technologies and policies
reduction of climate variability and risk, and food security (Dare but more importantly behavioral changes.
et al., 2013, 2017). Trade-offs carry some negative aspects: farmer Another future opportunity is the water-food-health nexus,
and consumer perceptions, carbon emissions, treatment and where “one health” is promoted through the interconnections of
conveyance costs, public, and environmental health risks. The water and human health. Drinking water, sewage, seas, and rivers
tradeoffs need to be facilitated through supportive public policy, are considered with their interconnections among water, animals,
good governance, and viable economic models. The potential and food. This includes irrigation water, farm aquaculture, food
of water reuse for agriculture must consider all the principles poisoning, and especially antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. All
identified in a water-energy-food nexus approach and then these lead to a “one-health” system that allows real focus on the
simulate these to begin assessing the different scenarios and human ecosystem and animals in the food supply chain, i.e., the
their tradeoffs. food system as a single unit.

AUB Success Stories

In Lebanon, The American University of Beirut (AUB) launched CONCLUSION
The Water-Energy-Food-Health Nexus Renewable Resources
Initiative (WEFRAH) in 2018. The WEFRAH community is one We must take a step back and look beyond the tradeoffs and zero-
of the largest in the region working on the interconnectedness sum resources allocation model. Today we are at a place where
of resources. WEFRAH encompasses over 100 members and 60 the projected requirements for primary resources have gaps in
researchers spread over 9 research clusters. Community members providing the water, energy, and food needed. We have low
represent policy, business, agriculture, health care, technology, resilience to climate change, as is manifested through wildfires,
physical sciences, engineering, social sciences, natural sciences, record temperatures, and reduced agricultural productivity in
arts and design, nutrition, public health, nature, ecosystems, many parts of the world. We have inequity and variability in
and more. The goals of the WEFRAH community include distribution. We have tradeoffs among possible interventions.
understanding system complexities, reducing interdependencies Looking at the tools that allow work with technologies, social,
of primary resources, increasing community resilience, and political, and economic levers and into the platform created to
promoting ecosystem and human health and wellbeing. Adding bring in the private sector, the public sector, and civil society, it is
the health component into the Nexus places additional possible to make a leap into the future. A leap that increases the
complexity in the system. Nine projects are being developed, resource base by creating synergies, reducing interdependencies,
which impacts include: a digital framework for detection of plant improving equity and distribution, to achieve the sustainable
pests, an optimized air distribution system for poultry houses, development goals (SDGs) and improve overall resilience.
anaerobic digestion to head poultry houses, data on uptake
of antibiotics by plants, technology based on the movement
of antibiotics in water, a prototype to identify and promote AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
healthy sustainable diets, prototypical solutions in humanitarian
engineering, and circular aquaponics systems. We are looking RM is the sole author of this manuscript and wholly accountable
into various venues to publish the work. for its contents.

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Mohtar WEF Nexus Journey

FUNDING control principles, and that this discipline can go beyond military
applications and be applied to natural and human systems.
The papers referenced in this overview cite specific award And to all those at the American University of Beirut for their
numbers for given projects; nevertheless, the author would inspiration and early career mentorship. I gratefully acknowledge
generally express appreciation for support from the following those who have joined the journey of the last 20 years, from
organizations: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Purdue University, to Qatar, Texas A&M, and most recently, the
Nations (UN-FAO), National Academy of Sciences, National American University of Beirut. Without their contributions we
Science Foundation, Texas A&M Energy Institute, Texas A&M would not be here today. Likewise, the WEF Nexus Research
Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Resource Nexus Initiative, Texas Team who helped make this happen through their dedicated
A&M University System, and the International Renewable hard work, including Eric Braudeau, Bassel Daher, Amjad
Energy Agency. Assi, Adnan Degirmencioglu, Sandra Yanni, Martin Keulertz,
SangHyun Lee, and the many, many students whose dedicated
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS work over the years produced the results we see. Special thanks
to Mary Schweitzer, the WEF Nexus Research Group program
I gratefully acknowledge Dr. Sharma for spearheading the effort manager for her dedication and tireless effort to support all
of the ACS Symposium, and its organizers: Drs. Daher, Sharma, members of the team over the last 15 years. Mary has been
Laspidou, and Kim. Thank you, Colleagues, for acknowledging editor, administrator, and friend to all of us. She has been the
the work we are doing. Special thanks to my mentors for the glue for the team over all these years. Finally, I offer a special
inspiration that has contributed to my professional journey. acknowledgment to the soul of my mother, for grounding me and
From Michigan State University: Dr. Larry Segerlind, for instilling her values; and to my life partner Samia, whose love,
instilling my love of analytics and systematic thinking, and the support, sharing the joy, tears, and satisfaction of the journey are
late Dr. Thomas Menetsch, for teaching me systems theory, immeasurable.

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Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems | www.frontiersin.org 7 May 2022 | Volume 6 | Article 820305