Water Security and Nexus

A global initiative by UNU-INWEH that supports decision makers and development community in applying water security agenda.

The Challenge

Safeguarding water resources for human and environmental needs is one of the major concerns globally. This challenge is aggravated by the volatile geopolitical environment, changes in demography, increasing urbanization and climatic variability, and other factors associated with globalization. Availability and access to water are critical factors and key global priorities for ensuring peace and sustainability. The challenges governments and development partners’ face on water management for political stability include:

• tradeoffs in inter-sectoral water allocation;
• finding solutions to complexities in transboundary water management;
• alleviating pressures on freshwater ecosystems;
• better understanding and quantifying reasons, trends and impacts of water-driven migration, and;
• the need to resolve water-energy-food nexus in specific geographical settings.

The Solution

Assessing key gaps and needs to improve global Water Security require a clear understanding of the drivers, trends and patterns of collective action, and of the newer dimensions of the Water Security Nexus. These include human migration/displacement issues, nature-based solutions (NbS), green infrastructure, and other factors. The Water Security (WS) agenda addresses a wide range aspects of the water nexus: drinking water, ecosystems, climate change, water supply for food and energy production, governance, transboundary cooperation, political stability and financing. The agenda also presents innovative aspects of water as a vehicle for peace in conflict resolution, and how this helps address trans-boundary water-related challenges. This initiative will provide national stakeholders and international decision makers with new and useful data, information and knowledge that they can use to address critical aspects of water management that affect the Water Security Nexus, but are typically overlooked.