Impact of COVID-19 on Water, Energy, and Food Resources and the Role of Engaged Research in Implementation of SDGs

A dialoging and collaborative link is missing between research in institutions of higher learning and local communities that are supposed to be the immediate beneficiaries of such research results. The urban nexus of water, energy, and food (WEF) is one of such researches that is shelved and need not be ignored. For example, the global pandemic COVID-19 seriously disrupted the supply and demand and exacerbated the already deteriorating water, energy, and food services especially in developing countries, compromising the ability of countries to meet sustainable development goals. Sources of basic resources are under threat and adaptive responses are not always environmentally friendly. While climate change is considered the biggest disrupter of WEF resource availability, the COVID-19 pandemic is probably a significant setback where meeting WEF-related Sustainable Development Goals is concerned, especially in urban areas in developing countries where there is so much reliance on grid network resources. There is also limited awareness, capacity, and technical know-how of environmentally friendly mechanisms to cope with resource challenges at household level. This chapter highlights pre-existing WEF challenges, exacerbated by COVID-19 and proposes for engaged scholarship as one way to enhance community resilience to cope with disasters or find alternatives conducive for the environment. The study also recognizes that most WEF nexus research is documented in scientific journals and is shared at academic conferences, platforms that are outside the reach of local communities.