The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Complex Global Challenges - Governing the Nexus: Water, Soil and Waste Resources Considering Global Change - page 22

leading to uncertainty. Systems theory emphasizes that uncertainty can be
addressed in part by understanding inter-dependence and inter-connectedness of
social and bio-physical systems. Robust feedback loops between policy/programme
interventions, structural changes within communities of resource users and bio-
physical processes are key in regulating the effects of uncertainty (Berkes 2002 ;
Scoones 1999). Systems that respond effectively to uncertainty are usually sup-
ported by flows of information on biophysical and institutional processes. Infor-

mation able, disaggregated and more amenable to decision-making

processes (Kurian and Turral 2010 ).
The notion of adaptive management can resonate with decision-makers in
developed economies who are confronted with challenges of a loss of capacity to
exploit a system

flows are veri

s potential for novelty (examples include rigidly interconnected
water and energy infrastructure), declining redundancy of critical components (e.g.
sole-source dependence on groundwater for irrigation in water-scarce regions), and
the risks of cascading failure arising from heightened connectivity (e.g. energy-
dependence of urban water supply systems). On the other hand the concept of
adaptive management in the context of developing and/or emerging economies can
relate to building capacity for dispersed problem solving. The

'

first generation
debate on political decentralization furthered the idea of dispersed problem solving
by emphasizing autonomy. The second-generation debate on fiscal decentralization

should emphasize issues of political accountability (Kurian and McCarney 2010).
The goal of adaptive management should not be limited to the highest biological or
economic yield but on furthering our understanding of how accurately socio-eco-
logical systems can predict by using feedback from management and

institutional outcomes to shape policy and programme interventions at appropriate
scales, thus contributing to enhanced autonomy and accountability in decision-
making processes and structures (Kurian and Dietz 2013 ).

' uncertainty '

2.2 Governance Challenges for the WEF Nexus

Environmental governance in developing and emerging economies suffers from
fragmented approaches to planning and policy implementation. Fragmented
approaches arise from competition among urban and rural local governments for
central

fiscal transfers, overlapping jurisdictional boundaries and inadequate man-
agement coordination among line departments and ministries. In many instances
fragmentary approaches are supported by a poor evidence base on the relationship
between infrastructure construction and environmental outcomes. For example,
absence of disaggregate, reliable and more frequent information at appropriate
scales makes it dif cult to predict the environmental outcomes of constructing

dams, tube wells or storm drains in terms of sediment capture, aquifer recharge and
wastewater reuse respectively. Institutional fragmentation is also supported by weak
feedback loops between legal and policy formulation, spatial and temporal variation
in biophysical environment and socio-economic change within communities of