Water Energy Food: STEPPING UP

More and more people agree that current systems of water, energy and food provision are on an unsustainable course. Policy and decision makers are concerned that overuse of land, high levels of emissions, increasing inequality, unhealthy diets, more frequent extreme weather events and other challenges, threaten food, energy and water availability and security and place pressure on the economy. Moreover, with targets to cut carbon emissions and climate change impacts elevating uncertainty over how resilient our food, water and energy systems are, stakeholders from industry, government, and civil society, are looking for support and help to make 'good' decisions.

Typically, options for solving problems facing the food, water or energy sectors are assessed in isolation; e.g. exploring how to meet energy needs, whilst overlooking the implications for water use, or setting targets to change land-use, ignoring knock-on impacts for agriculture, water and energy. This 'siloed' mindset is unable to grasp interconnections between these systems, or explore the benefits or trade-offs apparent when exploring one or another issue. Whilst governance structures struggle to take more of a rounded, systems view, there exist real examples in the UK of low impact across water, food and energy systems - at the 'nexus' of Water-Energy-Food (WEF). These examples can be found operating at many scales - from household, community or small business, up to local authorities, catchment areas or large corporations. Although there are important technical reasons why any particular example succeeds, there are many other things that are important for innovation. It could be an unusual system for buying something, such as online marketplaces like the Gleaning Network, that offers farmers and consumers a way of bypassing conventional food supply networks. It could also be because of an inspirational leader or team of committed people.

Understanding what makes innovations have low-impact at the WEF nexus is the first aim of our project. The second is to find out if it is possible to reproduce the conditions for a low-impact WEF nexus at a larger scale, replicate them in other situations, or proliferate them more widely at a smaller scale. Amplifying or multiplying 'good practice' in this way is believed to have the potential to deliver a step-change in terms of impact and resource use. We will also dig deeper into the power structures, behaviours and other important components of governance that can lead to a transformation.

To achieve our aims, we bring together a team with expertise across water, food and energy with physical science, engineering and social science backgrounds. This team will build models of a few case studies that have achieved low-impact across the WEF nexus. These models will not only capture physical attributes such as the source of electricity or food supply chain, but also be able to model how governance, power and behaviour have influence. By considering what might change over time - e.g. rainfall - the model will not only test if an innovation can operate at another scale, but also if it works under changing conditions. The data gathered will involve building solid relationships with stakeholders involved with our case studies, as well as a wider set of policy and decision makers. These stakeholders will be involved directly in the research through workshops and interviews. They will also have an opportunity to work with researchers to build a tool that uses both the findings from the modelling exercise and stakeholder views, to provide assistance with strategic decision making of relevance at different scales. The research will deliver a package of robust numerical and descriptive insights alongside a formal decision support tool and findings will be shared widely with academic as well as government, industry and civil society audiences.

A wide range of stakeholders will benefit from the outcomes of this research. Examples are listed below with reference to particular groups.

Policymakers
With relevance across water, food, energy, environment, in addition to well-being, mobility and industry, many UK government departments can benefit from this research. Those most closely aligned include: the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Transport and the Department of Business Innovation and Skills. Other government-linked advisory groups or tiers of government who will receive evidence and advice based on our research, or engage directly as key stakeholders at appropriate points in the project, include the UK Committee on Climate Change, devolved administrations, local government and the agencies of the above (e.g. Environment Agency). And at a higher level of governance, the European Commission's DG Environment and DGs with interests across the nexus. These stakeholder groups will benefit through access to workshops, participating in decision-making research processes, and being able to co-produce the Decision Support Tool that will be an important output for decision makers across stakeholder groups. Furthermore, research findings will be 'used' as the team submits formal evidence to Select Committee inquiries, informing processes around, for instance, the UK's low-carbon transition, future-proofing infrastructure or improving community well-being. With a track record in engaging in this way in the past, this type of policy impact is an important element of our remit.

Industry and business
It is essential for STEPPING UP that we seek examples of the low-impact nexus within industry as well as at a community or higher governance scale. Recognising that all industries and businesses are different, it is also the case that many of these actors are already seeking advice on long-term strategic decision making, given their perception of future uncertainty, resource depletion and economic instability. By bringing these actors into our research programme, the pathway to achieving our results will be more readily accessible. Furthermore, the tools developed will be aimed at many audiences, with industry and business an essential stakeholder. Our decision support tool will be co-developed to meet the needs of those engaged in the process, and as a result provide much greater benefits than interventions designed in isolation from the user.

Civil society organisations
This research project goes directly into communities and groups/organisations to explore what constitutes, drives and supports a low-impact WEF nexus. Relevant stakeholders will be invited to participate in the research, and as a result have the benefit of seeing first hand how the findings develop. Moreover, they will be able to directly shape the kind of decision support tools that can assist them and other groups in up-scaling or replicating good practice. Such benefits are envisaged within the timeframe of the project itself. In particular, NGOs will both benefit from and assist with the impact of research that chimes with their own interests. The broad scope of this work will have appeal across many interest groups, but perhaps core amongst them will be Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Academic researchers
There is already a growing group of researchers engaged in WEF nexus thinking, including the ESRC's Nexus Network, but also large projects and networks that will have interest in our research outcomes, such as the Adaptation and Resilience to a Changing Climate Coordination Network (ARCC-CN) and the Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC). Increasingly, information about each others' research projects can be gleaned from alternative forms of communication such as networking events, workshops and virtual communications such as Twitter and ResearchGate.