'Opening up' the governance of water-energy-food nexus: Towards a science-policy-society interface based on hybridity and humility

Author(s)

Urbinatti, Alberto Matenhauer ; Dalla Fontana, Michele ; Stirling, Andy ; Giatti, Leandro Luiz

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Science of The Total Environment; v. 744, p. 10-pg., 2020-11-20.

Abstract

The governance of the nexus between water, energy, and food (hereafter, 'the nexus') is permeated by complex interactions of knowledge at a science-policy-society interface. This paper starts from a literature review to find the main narratives that allow us to understand what is at stake in this interface. By thematically synthesising 19 select articles, we reached three layers of knowledge interaction: 'knowledge application', 'knowledge integration', and 'knowledge transformation'. To avoid misleading simplifications, we discussed the constraints on this debate and some pressures for what we consider as 'closing down' knowledge about the nexus. We then developed a conceptual framework based on the 'technologies of humility' proposed by Jasanoff (2003, 2007) to create opportunities to 'open up' the nexus approach. Finally, we illustrated the four pillars proposed by some studies to describe what we have termed 'nexus of humility': framing, vulnerability, distribution, and learning. These foci seek to enable a humbler appreciation on all sides of the persistent sources of uncertainty, divergence, and conditionality in sustainability governance. This framework also contributes towards necessary transformations of knowledge about nexus and its challenging implementation. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/25375-5 - Resilience and sustainability nexus in metropolitan contexts: intersectoral synergies from public policies
• Grantee: Alberto Matenhauer Urbinatti
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 19/12804-3 - Participatory research reconnecting diversity: knowledge democracy as a pathway for sustainability and health
• Grantee: Leandro Luiz Giatti
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• FAPESP's process: 18/21362-1 - Globally and locally-sustainable food-water-energy innovation in Urban Living Labs, sustainable urbanisation global initiative - GLOCULL – project: local dynamics and conflicts around the multiple interests and uses in the Billings Reservoir from nexus approach
• Grantee: Michele Dalla Fontana
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 18/12155-2 - The rationality of water-energy-food nexus: uncertainties in urban governance
• Grantee: Alberto Matenhauer Urbinatti
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 15/03804-9 - Environmental governance of macrometropolis paulista in face of climate variability
• Grantee: Pedro Roberto Jacobi
• Support Opportunities: Research Program on Global Climate Change - Thematic Grants