With the global population increasing and our climate changing, now more than ever we need to halt the overexploitation of natural resources which supply us with water, energy and food, and manage these resources sustainably.

For smallholder farmers across the developing world, this need is perhaps most critical, for without a secure food supply, access to clean water and sources of energy, their livelihoods are threatened.

But sustainability cannot be achieved by managing water, energy, food and the environment in isolation. Policies and decisions need to be integrated across these sectors if they are to fully benefit humans and the environment.

The international conference Sustainability in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus from 19-20 May 2014 in Bonn, Germany is expected to discuss how linkages across key natural resource sectors can provide a win-win strategy for human development and environmental sustainability.

“A new way of doing business that integrates agriculture, livestock, forests, trees and water, and the sectors connected to each, is essential if we are going to meet the demands for food and energy tomorrow,” stresses Tony Simons, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre.

According to Ramni Jamnadass, who leads the Centre’s research program on Tree Diversity, Domestication and Delivery, agroforestry is a prime example of where connections between water, energy and food production can be managed in an integrated way.

“Trees not only provide goods such as timber for fuel but also feeds and foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, and oils) for nutrition,” explains Jamnadass. “Trees also support environmental services such as water quality, carbon storage and biodiversity conservation.”

“Integrating trees into crop and livestock production can go a long way towards helping farmers – especially smallholder farmer in the developing world - achieve sustainability.”

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, firewood and charcoal from trees are crucial for the survival and well-being of an estimated 2 billion people. This fuelwood enables households to cook food to make it safe for consumption and palatable, and to release the energy within it.

The vast majority of fuelwood comes from forests and remnant patches of vegetation. When smallholders practice agroforestry, less fuelwood needs to be purchased and there is less reliance on collecting from natural stands which means less time and energy is expended on the long treks required for collection. This leaves more time for income-generating activities, especially for women who are usually the major fuelwood collectors.

The contribution of agroforestry to food and nutritional security was documented in a 2013 working paper by Jamnadass and colleagues from the World Agroforestry Centre. The paper outlines how agroforestry directly provides tree foods, increases farm incomes, supplies cooking fuel and provides ecosystem services that maintain other food sources. Indirectly, agroforestry supports staple crop and animal production, and improves soil fertility.

Fertilizer trees that capture nitrogen from the atmosphere and transfer it to the soil provide a low cost way for farmers to improve soil fertility and boost crop yields. In Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Niger, Burkina Faso and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, fertilizer trees are doubling and tripling average maize yields.

Growing tree commodity crops, such as coffee, palm oil, cacao, tea and rubber can significantly increase farmers’ incomes and enable them to purchase food.

Trees in agroforestry systems provide important ecosystem services including: soil, spring, stream and watershed protection; animal and plant biodiversity conservation; and carbon sequestration and storage, all of which ultimately affect food and nutritional security.

The Sustainability in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus conference will take an ecosystem approach to discussing policy and management approaches that can achieve sustainability across sectors. It builds on an initiative in 2011 that brought together diverse stakeholders to explore the nexus approach and resulted in the WEF Nexus resource platform which is supported by a wide range of partner organizations, and exchanges information and raises awareness of systemic thinking in the area.

The CGIAR, which is supporting the conference, has recognized the need for integrated solutions in sustainable agriculture. In its Rio+20 call to action, the CGIAR outlined the need for "vision and courage to transcend conventional sectoral approaches and apply integrated thinking to the management of agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, forests and water”.

As Tony Simons said at the time, “Governments can play a key role in guaranteeing food security by making use of evidence-based knowledge that spans across individual sectors. Governments need to be aware of the scientific knowledge that exists and they also need to understand it.”

Photo by Albert Gonzalez Farran, UNAMID.

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See also:

Jamnadass R, Place F, Torquebiau E, Malézieux E, Iiyama M, Sileshi GW, Kehlenbeck K, Masters E, McMullin S, Weber JC, Dawson IK. 2013. Agroforestry, food and nutritional security. ICRAF Working Paper No. 170. Nairobi, Kenya: World Agroforestry Centre.

The website of the Water, energy and food security nexus resource platform