Integrating Climate-Smart Agriculture and the Water, Energy, and Food Nexus Approach to Address Sustainability Challenges Under a Changing Climate

The availability of water, energy, and food (WEF) resources is essential for sustainable well-being. The WEF Nexus directly correlate life-changing Sustainable Development Goals-SGD-2 (zero hunger), SGD-6 (clean water and sanitation), SGD-7 (affordable and clean energy), SGD-9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), and SGD-12 (responsible consumption and production). Whereas climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach to address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. CSA correlates to SGD-13 (take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts). Climate change threatens people with food insecurity, water scarcity, flooding, infectious diseases, extreme heat, economic losses, and displacement. Traditionally, global challenges, though interconnected, have been addressed singly, at times reducing one problem while exacerbating the others. In an idealized form, the nexus approach seeks to look at all three elements, i.e., food, energy, and water as an interrelated system. Hence, the nexus approach simultaneously examines interactions and trade-offs and assesses accomplishments. The nexus approach focuses on strengthening synergies and reducing trade-offs among these sectors. SDGs are obliging us to work in an integrated way and not in silos. This chapter aims to hold a discussion on adopting CSA in the context of the progress on multiple sustainable development goals covering the WEF nexus while at the same time mitigating the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture. The chapter also focuses on identifying the knowledge gaps and discusses the interlinked roles of institutions, infrastructure, and information on developing policies by countries and international agencies. It is important to identify an array of tools and resources essential for stakeholders in decision-making. This work has implications for research, innovation, and policy design.