An Assessment Framework for Integrated Food-Energy-Water Nexus Governance: Application to the Cases of Phoenix and Cape Town

Abstract

Food-energy-water nexus governance has been promoted as an approach to integrate the management and policy of the three sectors together for coordinated governance. However, 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 toward implementation and to understand the specific potential and limits of the nexus governance process. Therefore, this study presents a theoretical framework and associated indicator set to assess urban collaborative food-energy-water nexus governance in practice. This theoretical framework is then applied to two example cases: Phoenix, Arizona, USA and Cape Town, South Africa. The implementation of this framework provides recommended factors needed for improved collaborative FEW nexus governance in cities. These cases showcase the utility of this framework in assessing urban collaborative food-energy-water nexus governance.

Keywords:

• Collaborative governance
• food-energy-water nexus
• integrated resource management
• natural resource management
• assessment

Acknowledgements

This research is based on the following dissertation: Jones, J. Leah. 2021. “Understanding collaborative governance of the food-energy-water nexus: The cases of Phoenix and Cape Town [dissertation].” Arizona State University. Available from: https://keep.lib.asu.edu/items/161313

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [grant number CNS-1639227, INFEWS/T2: Flexible Model Compositions and Visual Representations for Planning and Policy Decisions at the Sub-regional level of the food-energy-water nexus] and by Morrison Neely Foundation Food and Agriculture Sustainability Research and Martinson Sustainability Solutions Grants at Arizona State University.