Understanding water-energy-food inter-linkages and managing them holistically is critical to sustainability in the sector. But while some private enterprises in the agrifood sector understand the significance of the nexus – and some have already seen competitive advantages in nexus-driven solutions for sustainable crop management, processing, distribution and retailing - most do not.
REEEP has since 2012 put special emphasis on tackling the nexus, focusing in particular on the agrifood sector – the most prominent single subsector within the nexus, alone accounting for some 80% of total freshwater use, 30% of total energy demand, and 12-30% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. With global food production expected to increase 70% by 2050, the sector is facing unprecedented resource pressures, with more on the horizon.
The cornerstone of these efforts is the nexus portfolio of the 9th Call – nine projects that demonstrated the new thinking among small and medium-sized enterprises about how nexus thinking can be both profitable and sustainable. Building upon those projects is an in-house study, commissioned by the FAO, on nexus-driven business cases within the agrifood sector. The new 10th Call specifically targets clean energy enterprise development in the sector. Please find the report on "how agrifood firms are building new business cases in the water energy food nexus".
Read more: http://www.reeep.org/nexus.
