How do cities deal with challenging interdependencies between food, water, and energy? On Thursday 12 May 2022, Closer Cities organises an international conference on 'Water-Energy-Food nexus in cities' in close collaboration with a team of experts. The event is all about solving urban challenges together, in line with the philosophy of the Netherlands.
Between April and October 2022, the world horticulture expo Floriade is organised in the city of Almere, the Netherlands. The theme of the Floriade World Expo 2022 is Growing Green Cities. In line with this theme, Closer Cities organises a one-day conference on 12 May around the topic of the Water-Energy-Food nexus in urban environment. This conference is organised in close collaboration with several partners and experts from organisations such TU Delft, TNO, Deltares, Wageningen University & Research, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Aeres University of Applied Sciences, and many more. The experts represent various WEF-nexus related projects, such as adaptive horticulture in Dubai, UAE; farm of the future in Lelystad, Netherlands; training of farmers in Kumasi, Ghana; city-region food systems approach related to water, energy, food.
The WEF-nexus challenges and opportunities will be related to the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals. Participants represent the public sector, the private sector, knowledge institutes, NGOs, and civil society.
The conference is an expert meeting by invitation only. The format consists of three rounds of round table discussions, networking opportunities, and a visit to the Floriade (world horticulture exposition).
Cities around the world deal with this WEF-nexus in various ways. During the one-day international conference on Water-Energy-Food nexus in cities, the focus lies on how improved urban knowledge sharing regarding the WEF-nexus can contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Experts and participants will focus on the exchange of effective local approaches and discuss questions like: how can we scale up good practices? What role do context variables – like climate, city size, geography, governance – play in the exchangeability of effective approaches? What can stimulate the co-creation of effective approaches? The experts of the conference present and discuss various WEF-nexus related topics, such as water, food and/or energy related challenges, intersectoral (nexus) issues as well as specific solutions.
According to the United Nations: “The water-food-energy nexus is central to sustainable development. Demand for all three is increasing, driven by a rising global population, rapid urbanization, changing diets and economic growth. Agriculture is the largest consumer of the world’s freshwater resources, and more than one-quarter of the energy used globally is expended on food production and supply. The inextricable linkages between these critical domains require a suitably integrated approach to ensuring water and food security, and sustainable agriculture and energy production worldwide.”
Our organisations and knowledge institutes of the conference
Go to our information sheet for more details on the conference, the creative format of the roundtable sessions, and the programme.
If you have an inspiring WEF-nexus project you would like to share with the online platform, please do so via the button you find below.
On our WEF-nexus page, you can find all Water-Energy-Food related projects, share your own WEF-nexus project, join forum discussions, and find more information on the topic of the Water-Energy-Food nexus.
The conference is by invitation only. For any questions, please contact the Closer Cities team: info@closercities.org