Can we use indicator-based farm sustainability assessment tools for the WEFE Nexus?

Abstract

Fair and safe allocation of natural resources for the Euro-Mediterranean area, especially for semi-arid regions, strongly relies on the adoption of WEFE (Water Energy Food Ecosystem) Nexus strategies. Transitioning to WEFE Nexus requires novel quantifiable assessment for interlinked analysis of the four WEFE sectors. Several indicator-based tools exist for agricultural sustainability at the farm scale. This contribution investigates on the application of such tools in relation for WEFE Nexus approaches. The IDEA method was selected for extending its applicability as a novel WEFE Nexus indicator toolkit and the following challenges are identified: (1) some WEFE aspects need to be reinforced in order to expand the scope beyond the actual agro-ecological focus; (2) the application at the farm scale needs to be articulated with larger scales where the WEFE Nexus displays emerging consistencies; (3) Nexus interactions, trade-offs and synergies could be further accounted for. These three challenges help identify how the IDEA indicator-based tool could be adapted to assimilate the WEFE Nexus approach, and so to allow applications in new agro-hydrological contexts.