Innovative tools and solutions for governing the water-energy-food-ecosystems NEXUS under global change

Project Information

GoNEXUS

Grant agreement ID: 101003722

DOI

10.3030/101003722

Project closed

EC signature date 7 May 2021

Start date 1 June 2021

End date 31 May 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 5 417 013,75

EU contribution

€ 4 999 813,75

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - GoNEXUS (Innovative tools and solutions for governing the water-energy-food-ecosystems NEXUS under global change)

Reporting period: 2024-06-01 to 2025-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The GoNEXUS project addresses a critical global challenge: how to manage water, energy, food, and ecosystems (the WEFE nexus) in a more sustainable and coordinated way. These sectors are deeply interconnected, so changes in one might impact the others. Apart from how to manage their bonds, climate change, population growth, and global economic shifts are putting increasing pressure on them, making it more urgent than ever to find solutions that carefully consider their linkages.

Traditional tools often look at water, energy, or food separately, and fail to capture the full complexity of their interactions, especially over time and across regions. This limits the ability of policymakers to design effective, long-term strategies. There is also a lack of practical tools and metrics to evaluate how well different solutions balance trade-offs and deliver benefits across the WEFE nexus.

GoNEXUS aimed to fill this gap by creating a new framework that connects advanced WEFE modelling tools at multiple scales with participatory stakeholder dialogues. These dialogues involved experts, policymakers, and local communities in co-designing scenarios, identifying solutions, and assessing their impacts. This inclusive approach helped ensure the proposed actions are realistic, fair, and supported by those affected.

GoNEXUS has shown that managing the nexus effectively requires integrated tools and participatory approaches that move beyond traditional sectoral ones. By combining advanced modelling with stakeholder dialogues, the project co-designed and tested strategies in Europe and Africa that anticipate trade-offs, build synergies, and strengthen resilience under climate change and global pressures. Its Model Toolbox, Sustainability Evaluation Framework, and catalogue of solutions provide transferable resources for policymakers and practitioners, while its capacity-building activities ensure continued impact. Overall, the project delivers a legacy of inclusive, science-based methods that support more coherent, sustainable, and future-proof governance of interconnected resource systems, contributing directly to EU and global sustainability goals.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

GoNEXUS developed local socio-economic and land-use scenarios aligned with downscaled CMIP6 climate projections and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). These scenarios supported multi-scale modelling and assessment of future WEFE (water-energy-food-ecosystems) challenges. Global and EU policies related to the nexus were reviewed to identify gaps, synergies, and challenges. At the same time, institutional frameworks were analysed to identify governance barriers and enablers. Major improvements were made to global and continental WEFE models, incorporating new processes and interlinkages. River basin models were finalised and tested under selected scenarios, generating detailed local and regional trajectories. A set of sustainability, efficiency, and equity indicators was developed, refined, and used to support modelling and solution evaluation. These indicators were co-designed with stakeholder input and applied across all scales.

Three rounds of Nexus Dialogues at global, EU, basin, and local levels gathered input from stakeholders, helped shape scenarios, validated models and indicators, and co-developed solutions. In the Senegal River Basin, the cultural role of migration was preliminarily analysed. Solutions were prioritised based on feasibility, sustainability, and policy relevance. A comprehensive catalogue of WEFE solutions — including technical, policy, and governance measures — was evaluated in diverse European and African case studies.

The GoNEXUS Model Toolbox, which integrates global, continental, and basin-level models, was developed to simulate feedbacks and trade-offs across sectors. The Sustainability Evaluation Framework and Coherence Assessment methodology further supported scenario and solution evaluation.

Key outputs include:

- 15 future climate scenarios and global and local land-use scenarios (D2.1 D2.2 D2.3)

- The WEFE Model Toolbox: Tier 2 runs for the Global model (D3.4) and river basin models complementarity (D4.4)

- A catalogue of innovative, stakeholder-informed WEFE solutions (D7.10);

- The Sustainability Evaluation Framework (D7.1);

-The Sustainable Assessment Framework (D5.1)

- Participatory Nexus Dialogues as a governance tool (D6.3 D6.4 D6.5 D6.7);

- Policy recommendations and briefs (D6.6 D6.8 D7.10 D7.11);

- Training materials: Winter School, Short Course, and an upcoming MOOC (Public: D8.5).

Dissemination was extensive, including scientific publications (Nature, Science...) a double-page article in the European Energy Innovation magazine, policy briefs, webinars, factsheets, and conferences. The project also launched a YouTube channel and collaborated with sister projects and networks like E-COST. GoNEXUS tools and knowledge are already being used in scientific research and policy processes, supporting improved and more inclusive WEFE governance in the context of climate and global change.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

GoNEXUS has provided improved and ground-breaking mathematical models to address the WEFE nexus at the river basin scale. It also enhanced the modelling capabilities of global and continental models through soft-coupling them. Moreover, it developed and tested a wide set of WEFE nexus indicators (GoNEXUS-SAF) to transform modelling outputs into useful evidence for stakeholders and policy-makers. Furthermore, GoNEXUS designed and applied an innovative methodology to combine nexus dialogues with mathematical models, drafting local land use and socioeconomic scenarios and ensuring alignment between model features and stakeholders' views and preferences. Finally, it has developed a novel WEFE solution evaluation framework (GoNEXUS-SEF) that enables a comprehensive analysis of solutions under a WEFE perspective and considers not only how impactful they are, but also how challenging their application would be.

The project provides policymakers and managers with tools and evidence to make informed investments and policy choices that enhance resilience and reduce costs from maladaptive decisions or conflicts among sectors. Through guidelines and policy briefs, GoNEXUS provides how-to documents to facilitate knowledge transfer and exploitation of their findings.

Also, strengthening institutional capacities and fostering more inclusive, transparent, and equitable governance by empowering stakeholders and integrating diverse perspectives into decision-making. GoNEXUS enhances public awareness and understanding of nexus interconnections, fostering societal trust in policies and plans, and building ownership of sustainable solutions.

Besides the previous impacts, the project delivers:

-Finalised MOOC and training materials to ensure knowledge transfer and capacity building.

-Additional scientific publications and policy briefs disseminating findings to academic, policy, and practitioner communities.

-Final refinements of the modelling results and documentation of solution evaluations.

-Wider dissemination and exploitation of the WEFE Model Toolbox, Sustainability Evaluation Framework, and catalogues of solutions.

-Follow-up activities to support uptake of recommendations in EU and international policy arenas, river basin organisations, and stakeholder networks.

The GoNEXUS team at the kick-off meeting in Valencia

First Nexus Dialogues in Senegal River

First Nexus Dialogue in the Zambezi Watercourse

The Jucar River Dialogue in Spain