7. Definitions

The Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFe) Nexus refers to the biophysical interdependencies (i.e., trade-offs and synergies) between the use and production of water, energy, and land resources, the production of food and protection of ecosystems. These interdependencies are associated with a particular practice of resource users (e.g., use of desalinated water which has implications for water, energy, and ecosystems) and are a fact of life. The nexus as such does not tell us how to govern or address them best. 

WEFe nexus Trade-offs refer to situations where an action targeting one component of the WEFE nexus—water, energy, food, or ecosystems—has a direct impact on another component, either decreasing (trade-off) or increasing (synergy) the benefits it provides. These trade-offs arise from the interdependencies and interactions between the four systems, highlighting the challenge of optimizing one without causing adverse effects on the others.  

A WEFe mismatch occurs when the interconnected demands and supplies of the WEFe components (water, food, energy, and ecosystem) are misaligned with the perceptions and preferences of actors involved in decision making, leading to inefficiencies, resource conflicts, and environmental degradation. This concept reflects the challenges of managing the WEFe components in an integrated and sustainable way, especially in the face of growing populations, climate change, and competing land use demands.

In the WEFe Framework 2.0, the focal area is the main area under assessment where a solution approach to WEFe nexus issues will be identified and implemented. The focal area is delimited by the social and/or territorial boundaries identified in this task and thus the outcome of this task. It can be a watershed, a specific landscape, an administrative region, or a farming community.

Stakeholder: Any person, group or organisation that has an influence on a policy, project or measure (including as an opponent) and is affected by it. These can be public, civil society or private actors.

Stakeholder analysis is a process for collecting information about groups or individuals who are affected by decisions, categorizing that information and explaining the possible conflicts that may exist between important groups and areas where tradeoffs may be possible. It can be undertaken simply to identify stakeholders or to explore opportunities for getting groups or individuals to work together.

Instrumental and commercial values: These values are rooted in market principles and monetary assessments within a tangible market context. They are embedded in market-centric ideologies and conservation programs that often involve some degree of commodifying nature and privatizing rights.

Intrinsic values: Intrinsic value pertains to the inherent moral rights of nature, biodiversity, and all species worldwide to simply exist. It emphasizes our recognition of nature’s intrinsic right to exist.

Relational values: Relational values encompass preferences, experiences, and virtues associated with human-nature interactions and human relationships within the natural world (as defined by Chan et al. in 2016). Some examples of relational values arising from the connection between people and nature include stewardship of the landscape, cultural identity, adherence to local traditions, the symbolic significance of the landscape, a sense of belonging, identity within the landscape, social ties etc. Relational approaches can inspire conservation efforts without ascribing a monetary “price tag” to nature, thereby sidestepping associated controversies and unintended consequences.

Dimensions of the Human–Nature Connectedness (HNC): These dimensions can be at the individual or community level, and are ordered from least to greatest depth:
(1) material, related to the extraction and use of resources;
(2) experiential, associated with activities carried out in contact with nature;
(3) cognitive, related to values and attitudes towards nature and knowledge about it;
(4) emotional, relating to emotional ties and affective responses towards nature; and,
(5) philosophical, concerning the deep ideas of what nature is and why it matters (Ives et al. 2017, 2018).

Context refers to the external environment in which the case is embedded, which is assumed to be relatively stable over a longer period of time.
The context is not amenable to change. It refers to the various conditions, circumstances, and environments that surround and influence actors, their interactions, and outcomes. It can encompass a wide range of factors, including social, cultural, economic, political, historical, and geographical elements.

- Provisioning: contributions or benefits to human well-being that are obtained directly from ecosystems (biotic and abiotic components), such as water, food, wood, materials, etc.

- Regulating: contributions or benefits that can modify and regulate the environment that affects human well-being, related to the regulation of the natural processes of ecosystems, such as climate regulation, water purification, flood control, etc.

- Cultural: intangible and immaterial contributions or benefits that can affect physical and mental well-being and that we obtain from ecosystems through our experience or interaction with them, such as aesthetic enjoyment, tourism, cultural heritage, etc.

ES Trade-offs – Synergies: Situations that arise when the use of one ES directly decreases (trade-off) or increases (synergy) the benefits provided by another. This may be due to a simultaneous response to the same driver of change or due to interactions between ES (Baró, Gómez-Baggethun, and Haase 2017).

In the context of the WEFe Framework, interventions are understood as local technical or organizational intervention, or a combination of both, aimed at improving the WEFe nexus. Technical interventions include, for example, solar irrigation, wastewater reuse, nature-based solutions (NBS), or energy-exporting solar greenhouses. Organizational interventions include, for example, payments for ecosystem services or command and control measures.

Interventions for agricultural water use: drip irrigation, treatment of wastewater, desalination, rainwater harvesting, hydroponics, energy efficiency technology, solar irrigation systems, ecological pond management, fertigation, solar-driven on-farm desalination plant for saline groundwater, constructed wetlands, …

Interventions for energy use in agriculture: photovoltaics, energy storage, geothermal energy production, …

Innovative farming practices: fertilizer reduction, no-tillage, crop rotation, cover crops, integrated pest management, fertilization with sewage sludge, integrating livestock and crops, agroforestry, soil conservation measures, integrating livestock and crops, or sharecropping arrangements.

In the context of the WEFe Framework, the performance of an intervention relates to how well it contributes to solving the WEFe nexus problem. This means whether the intervention helps to balance the use of water, energy and land, and protect ecosystems, while ensuring that food production and local livelihoods are maintained or improved (i.e., creating synergies). The performance refers to the ability of an intervention to achieve improvements across multiple interrelated indicators, considering the complexity of managing the interconnected resources, and ecosystem boundaries.

Marginal costs: the additional costs incurred by producing one more unit of a good or service.

Average costs: the total costs of production divided by the number of units produced, representing the cost per unit.

Capital costs: fixed, one-time expenses incurred during the design and construction of the intervention.