The Resource Nexus Community
In a world of interconnected resources, isolated solutions are no longer sufficient.
Explore the Nexus ApproachImagine a future where a decision to expand farmland doesn't cripple a city's water supply, where investing in clean energy doesn't compete with food production, and where environmental policies don't unintentionally harm public health.
This is the promise of the Resource Nexus—an integrated approach to managing the complex interconnections between natural resources like water, energy, food, land, and ecosystems 2 .
Traditional resource management has often operated in isolated silos, with water experts, energy specialists, and agricultural researchers working in parallel, sometimes at cross-purposes. The consequences of this fragmented approach are increasingly apparent: well-intentioned policies in one sector creating unforeseen problems in another, and pressing global challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss outpacing our disciplinary solutions 1 .
The answer, according to a growing global movement of scientists and practitioners, lies in establishing a Resource Nexus Community of Science and Practice—a collaborative network that brings together formal and non-formal scientists, policymakers, technology providers, and civil society members concerned with the integrated management of our planet's life-support systems 1 9 .
Traditional resource management operates in isolated sectors, leading to unintended consequences and inefficient solutions.
An integrated approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of water, energy, food, health, and ecosystems.
At its core, the Resource Nexus represents a fundamental shift in how we understand and manage environmental resources. Rather than examining water, energy, and food systems separately, it focuses on the critical interdependencies between them 2 .
Consider the production of a simple loaf of bread. Traditional analysis might track the agricultural water use for growing wheat. A Nexus approach, however, would also account for:
The energy required for irrigation, harvesting, processing, and transportation
The ecosystem impacts of agricultural runoff on water quality
The health implications of agricultural chemicals
The economic and social dimensions of food distribution and access
Recent advancements in Nexus thinking have expanded the traditional water-energy-food framework to include health and ecosystems explicitly. Physical resources like food, energy, and water are essential determinants of human health, while ecosystem integrity provides the foundation for all resource systems 1 .
This expanded view transforms health from an "implicit burden" on resources into a manageable resource in its own right, leading to the more comprehensive Water-Energy-Food-Health-Ecosystems (WEFH) Nexus framework 1 .
Establishing a Resource Nexus Community represents a social and scientific experiment in collaboration. The American Chemical Society's 2022 symposium, "Toward Creating a Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Community of Practice," brought together 25 cross-disciplinary speakers and served as an important test case for this community-building endeavor 1 9 .
The symposium organizers employed a structured yet flexible approach to foster interdisciplinary dialogue:
The conference was organized around five critical themes: state-of-the-art models and approaches, WEF Nexus initiatives and case studies, WEF governance and stakeholder engagement, chemical processes and the WEF Nexus, and WEF education, community, and practice 1 .
Participants included engineers, chemists, public health experts, governance specialists, and agricultural scientists, ensuring that multiple dimensions of resource challenges were represented 1 .
The proposed community adopts a bottom-up approach with a distributed organizational structure. A core leadership group provides vision and orientation, while an executive team facilitates dialogue among all members 1 .
The symposium yielded several critical insights about what it takes to build a successful Nexus community:
While young professionals are needed to propel interdisciplinary Nexus work, they are often held back by academic systems that reward disciplinary specialization and tenure requirements within traditional departments 1 .
Chemical processes and principles are fundamental to understanding Nexus interlinkages, particularly in the circularity of food and agriculture systems, cleaner energy production, and water treatment technologies 1 .
As the geography, geology, space, and time of resource challenges vary, so must strategies and solutions. A universal approach cannot address context-specific Nexus issues 1 .
| Challenge Category | Specific Challenges | Potential Mitigation Strategies |
|---|---|---|
| Academic & Disciplinary | Tenure requirements favoring specialization; Limited funding for interdisciplinary work | Develop interdisciplinary metrics; Create Nexus-focused funding streams |
| Methodological | Difficulty validating complex system models; Data gaps across sectors | Combine quantitative and qualitative methods; Enhance data sharing |
| Governance & Policy | Sectoral silos in government; Lack of policy coherence | Develop Nexus-informed policy frameworks; Champion cross-agency collaboration |
| Communication | Terminology barriers between disciplines; Difficulty maintaining stakeholder engagement | Use advanced visualization techniques; Develop common terminology |
Recent research from Malawi illustrates the very real consequences of ignoring Nexus principles. A 2025 study documented dramatic land cover changes between 1994 and 2024, including significant declines in forest cover, cropland expansion, and urbanization 5 .
These changes had profound Nexus implications: declining forest cover reduced water regulation capacity, diminishing hydropower generation at key power stations. Simultaneously, agricultural intensification failed to ameliorate food insecurity within local communities, revealing significant inefficiencies in resource allocation and profound underlying socioeconomic disparities 5 .
This case demonstrates how gains in one sector (agricultural land expansion) created losses in others (energy production, water security), precisely the type of trade-off that Nexus approaches seek to identify and address.
The growing shift toward electric vehicles in Sub-Saharan Africa provides another compelling Nexus case study. Research shows that this transition creates a strong Energy-Climate-Waste Nexus with mutual interactions across multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 .
While e-mobility reduces air pollution (supporting SDG 3 on health) and greenhouse gas emissions (SDG 13 on climate action), it introduces new challenges around electricity supply reliability and end-of-life battery management 7 . Notably, researchers found that industry professionals were not using the formal Resource Nexus concept, highlighting a gap between academic frameworks and practical implementation 7 .
| Resource Sector | Synergies (+) | Trade-offs (-) |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | Reduced fossil fuel dependence; Smart grid development | Increased electricity demand; Unreliable power supply |
| Environment & Climate | Lower vehicle emissions; Reduced greenhouse gases | Battery production impacts; Mining for minerals |
| Waste Management | Battery recycling opportunities | Hazardous waste from end-of-life batteries |
| Urban Systems | Reduced local air pollution; Quieter cities | Congestion from private vehicle growth |
Navigating the complexity of Resource Nexus challenges requires a diverse methodological toolkit. Researchers in this field employ multiple approaches to understand and model the interconnected systems.
Different modeling approaches offer unique strengths for Nexus analysis:
Particularly valuable for teaching systems concepts and exploring scenarios, these models allow students and practitioners to examine interactions and design sustainable interventions 1 .
Useful for identifying the most efficient allocation of resources across sectors under various constraints.
Important for understanding the fundamental chemical, biological, and physical processes underlying resource systems 1 .
Advanced visualization techniques have emerged as particularly important for communicating complex scientific information in accessible terms and maintaining citizen engagement 1 .
The United Nations University Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources (UNU-FLORES) has developed a comprehensive Research Programme on Resource Nexus Analytics, Informatics, and Data (AID) with three key pillars 4 :
Facilitating data exchange and filling data gaps for analyzing resource nexus in coupled human-environment systems.
Building capacity for computing and processing resource nexus data through state-of-the-art tools and best practices.
Developing analytical tools and frameworks to extract information from data and inform decision-making 4 .
| Tool Category | Specific Tools & Methods | Primary Functions |
|---|---|---|
| Modeling Software | System Dynamics Tools; Optimization Algorithms; GIS | Simulating interactions; Identifying efficient solutions; Spatial analysis |
| Data Management | Open Data Platforms; Integrated Databases | Facilitating data exchange; Filling data gaps across sectors |
| Stakeholder Engagement | Focus Group Discussions; Citizen Science Platforms; Delphi Methods | Incorporating local knowledge; Maintaining engagement |
| Visualization | Interactive Dashboards; Spatial Mapping Tools | Communicating complex information; Supporting decision-making |
As the Resource Nexus community continues to evolve, several critical opportunities and challenges will shape its development and impact.
The proposed Community of Nexus Practice envisions an advisory role with a core leadership group providing vision and an executive team facilitating dialogue among members 1 . Like many communities of practice, it aims to practice sustainable development—addressing current and future needs without compromising later generations economically, socially, or environmentally 1 .
The Resource Nexus approach is increasingly recognized as critical for implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As governments struggle to implement all 17 goals without compromising progress on any single goal, the Nexus framework helps identify synergies and manage trade-offs 1 7 .
Future success will depend on identifying policymakers ready to champion the necessary policy changes and developing integrated national plans that reflect Nexus thinking 1 .
The establishment of a Resource Nexus Community of Science and Practice represents more than an academic exercise—it is a vital response to the interconnected challenges of our time.
By fostering collaboration across traditional boundaries, this community aims to develop solutions that are not only scientifically sound but also socially equitable and environmentally sustainable.