Rapid assessment of the water–energy–food–climate nexus in six selected basins of North Africa and West Asia undergoing transitions and scarcity threats

Abstract

Existing strategies for management of water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa negotiate a complex system of trade-offs between water, energy, and food production. The effects of rural households' green water management practices on basin-level water, energy, food and carbon stocks and flows are sketched qualitatively in six basin agro-ecosystems. The case for increased strategic support for green agricultural water management practices appears stronger when weighed from the nexus perspective, rather than purely from the point of view of water balance and food production. Trade-offs under critical transitions affecting agricultural water use are explored, and the scope for quantitative monitoring is discussed.

Keywords::

• water-energy-food-climate nexus
• North Africa
• West Asia
• scarcity
• water balance
• ecosystem accounting

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Martin Keulertz, Eckart Woertz and the organizers of the international conference, The Water-Food-Energy-Climate Nexus in Global Drylands, for supporting the preparation of this article. We also wish to thank Dr Ahmed Al Falahi and several anonymous reviewers, who provided helpful and constructive reviews. The work by researchers at National Agricultural and Extension Systems referred to in the article was partially supported by USAID through ICARDA's Water and Livelihoods Initiative. Backgrounds of figures in the online supplementary material were derived from a base map available from Esri (http://goto.arcgisonline.com/maps/World_Topo_Map).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2015.1026436