Programme / The Energy/Water Nexus - Intelligent Management for Sustainability and Fairness

Future global security, prosperity and equality will depend in large part on how the world responds to pressures on natural resources. The global demand for food, water and energy is increasing at an unsustainable rate, due to a rapidly growing global population, inefficient resource management, and the impacts of climate change. Agenda 2030 accounts for these challenges across several Sustainable Development Goals but their interdependencies (both synergies and trade-offs) are not yet adequately understood. This is most acute in the host nation and its region when it comes to the “water-energy nexus”.

This session will examine the most acute resource challenges in the host region through the critical interdependency of water and energy security. Water scarcity in Jordan and the Levant has the potential to further compromise social and political stability of the region.  Scientists have a role to play in developing better management systems through enhanced cooperation, knowledge exchange and institutional strengthening; improving water conservation and energy efficiency; building local capacity in water and energy sectors; and working together on transboundary resource sharing to build regional resilience. Opening channels of communication between states where there is political tension can, in turn, help to build trust and promote cooperation on other issues.

The session will also give an account of governance systems, technological choices and investments, and social and human infrastructure that are being developed in other parts of the world, bringing in representatives of science, industry, policy and civil society, to share good practice and to exchange knowledge.