Unpacking the WEF Nexus Index: A Regional and Sub-Regional Analysis of Northern Canada

The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has emerged as a leading tool for assessing integrated resource management strategies and for monitoring progress towards the WEF-related Sustainable Development Goals. A notable outcome of WEF nexus research has been the calculation of the global WEF Nexus Index, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability
Main Authors: Shawn Ingram, Ana-Maria Bogdan, Tayyab Shah, Xiaojing Lu, Meng Li, Michaela Sidloski, David Natcher
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021
Subjects:
WEF nexus
northern Canada
arctic
Sustainable Development Goals
water security
energy security
Environmental effects of industries and plants
TD194-195
Renewable energy sources
TJ807-830
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Arctic
Nunavut
Yukon
Northwest Territories
Nunavik
Canada
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313338
https://doaj.org/article/cfd05e5f04484fea915f83792e08b06e
Description
Summary:The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus has emerged as a leading tool for assessing integrated resource management strategies and for monitoring progress towards the WEF-related Sustainable Development Goals. A notable outcome of WEF nexus research has been the calculation of the global WEF Nexus Index, which provides a quantitative ranking of country-level WEF security for 170 nations. As valuable as this ranking is, the aggregation of country-level WEF data obscures regional differences, particularly in remote regions that are sparsely populated and differ in geography, economy, and climate. This has proven to be the case for northern Canada, which despite representing 40% of Canada’s total land area, accounts for less than 1% of the Canadian population, most of whom are Indigenous. Whereas Canada ranks 5th globally in their WEF security, northern Canada, if treated independently, would rank 67th on the global WEF Nexus Index rankings. Evaluating each WEF sector independently, northern Canada would rank 22nd in water security, 90th in energy security, and 113th in food security. Our results further reveal that considerable inter-regional variability exists between northern territories and provinces, where Nunavik would rank 54th, Northwest Territories 67th, Yukon 69th, Labrador 80th, and Nunavut 107th on the global index. By highlighting these differences, we hope that this research can aid decision-makers in developing informed, regionally specific, and integrative resource policy responses that remedy rather than amplify existing WEF-related inequalities.

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