A method for classifying interrelation between sectoral regulatory laws and the ‘water-energy-agriculture nexus concept’ in Brazil

Abstract

We propose a method to classify the level of interrelation between the water, energy and agriculture sectoral regulatory laws and selected main characteristics of the nexus concept. This method was created to be applied with sectoral regulatory laws so a study case was conducted in Brazil. The results show that all analysed legislations have low to medium interrelation with the criteria intrinsic to the nexus concept; the policies that stood out the most, regarding the number of criteria present in their scopes, were the national irrigation policy and the desertification policy; and in order to operationalize the nexus concept in management models in the Brazilian context, adjustments and a restructuring of regulatory laws are necessary. The proposed method was able to investigate the interrelation between regulatory legislations with the characteristics of the nexus concept as well as their strengths and weaknesses. HIGHLIGHTS The method allows the classification of the level of interrelation between sectoral regulatory laws and the main characteristics present in the nexus concept in an innovative approach.; A simplified structure was applied based on criteria and scales that can be implemented for other spatial scales and countries.;

Keywords

• methodological proposal
• policy analysis
• water-energy-agriculture nexus