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6581167 
Book/Book Chapter 
The Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus 
Bidoglio, G; Vanham, D; Bouraoui, F; Barchiesi, S 
2019 
Elsevier 
Oxford 
Encyclopedia of Ecology (Second Edition) 
459-466 
Demand for water, energy and food, driven by a rising global population, rapid urbanization, changing diets, economic growth and climate change is increasing. A failure to balance water supply and water demand from competing sectors can trigger dangerous disparities in access to natural resources for billions of people and generate substantial economic costs. The Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus is the repurposed realization that acting from the perspective of individual sectors cannot suffice to tackle the challenges facing our sustainable and secure futures. Reducing disparities and enhancing access to water services as well as energy and food is a multigoal optimization process accounting for the sectoral integration of these three key natural resources and their association to health, poverty, education and equity. Adding ecosystem services as fourth pillar of the Nexus reconciles the interests of decision makers, people and nature because it can maximize the net social benefits from the use of water ecosystems by the different economic sectors. The ultimate objective of the WEFE Nexus approach is to develop practical guidance to allow the identification of a portfolio of measures accounting for synergies and tradeoffs that are needed for the integrated achievement of the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Achieving this objective calls for engaging a broad range of societal actors, improving institutional arrangements, implementing alternative technologies, and developing smart indicators for monitoring progress. 
Agriculture; Ecosystem services; Green–blue infrastructure; Sustainable development goals; WEFE Nexus 
Fath, Brian