Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(f)
Implementation mechanisms
: Reporting norms, processes that link changes in
interventions to human behaviour and outcomes in terms of achievement of
policy objectives
(g)
Nexus index
: Explore how indices can help design policy relevant research
related to management of environmental resources
Expected Impact
If adequate attention is paid to creating robust linkages between
the science and policy domains, then the Nexus Observatory could result in enhanced
capacity for evidence-based decision-making. Strengthen capacity for drought risk
forecasting, monitoring and rapid response in peri-urban regions of Africa, Asia and
South America covering sectors such as irrigation, water supply and wastewater.
Mainstream use of remote sensing and data visualization techniques within govern-
ment ministries and departments to facilitate sustainability of water sources and
prevent their contamination through appropriate wastewater management/treatment
interventions. Evidence-based decision-making facilitated by nexus observatory
through partnerships for data, information and knowledge sharing involving public
and private sectors and community groups in Asia, Africa and South America.
5 Conclusions
The chapters contained in this volume address important issues at the intersection of
science and policy. These concerns strike at the heart of the UNU system in its role
as a think tank of the United Nations system. Sustainability is a key concern of the
UNU system given the magnitude of global changes that are currently underway in
developing and emerging economies. This volume is an attempt to outline key
elements of transdisciplinary approaches for management of environmental
resources considering global processes of demographic and climate change and
urbanization. This volume, by drawing upon the combined expertise of profes-
sionals from multiple disciplines and use of case studies from both the developed
and developing world attempts to forge trans-disciplinary perspectives on man-
agement of environmental resources: water, soil and waste.
This topic addresses important lacunae in current debates on the nexus approach.
First, the topic attempts to relate the debate on Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus to
the debate on nexus of water, soil and waste resources. Second, the topic distin-
guishes between the policy and science questions that can shape discussions of key
nexus concepts of trade-offs, synergies and equity. Third, the chapters in this volume
highlight some of the contradictions inherent in discussions of concepts such as
equity and ef
ciency that are very often shaped by disciplinary biases or blind spots.
Fourth, this volume is emphatic that analysis of the nexus approach to management
of environmental resources will be incomplete without an integrated view of the
biophysical and institutional domains. Finally, this chapter proposes a rudimentary
framework for integrated analysis of biophysical and institutional perspectives in the
hope that such a project will clarify the poverty-environment nexus.
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