Chapter 3: Measuring the Sustainability of Water, Energy and Food Resources in the Context of the WEF Nexus

As the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a call to action by countries to promote prosperity while protecting the planet, the 17 goals aim to monitor 169 targets that collectively describe the progress towards achieving a sustainable future. This was necessitated by global challenges in resources degradation and depletion due to population growth, urbanization, migration, and improved living standards, demographic shifts, changing lifestyles, a burgeoning middle class, and the growing influence of climate change on the demand and supply chains of mainly water, energy, and food. As the SDGs were formulated in the context of challenges related to resource insecurity, climate change, and human wellbeing, and are designed to recognize the inter-linkages between human wellbeing, economic prosperity, and a healthy environment, this chapter establishes the linkages between resources. It provides pathways to assess progress towards sustainability. The principal question addressed in the chapter is whether the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus is an appropriate approach for linking and monitoring progress towards related SDGs, particularly Goals 2, 6, and 7, as reflected in the pursuit of water, energy, and food security.