[2025] Workshop on Accelerating Progress on the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa
Documents
Concept Note and Agenda (updated as of 3 March 2025)
Background
The year 2025 marks a decade since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For many African countries, progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda and AU Agenda 2063 has been slow, necessitating greater international assistance to implement the SDGs, as highlighted in Action 1 of the Pact for the Future.
According to the 2024 Africa Sustainable Development Report, only 6% of SDG targets are currently on track in the region, compared to 17% globally. 55% of people living on less than US$2.15 a day, live in an African country. With most living in countries facing fragility, conflict and violence. The report also notes that there has been an alarming increase in the number of people facing hunger, undernourishment, and stunting, with the number of people experiencing hunger in Africa increasing to 281.6 million in 2022, from 270.6 million in 2021.
Africa is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change even though it remains the lowest per capita contributor of global carbon emissions, accounting for less than 4% of global carbon emissions. In this context, advancing sustainable development in Africa will require a well-coordinated, cross-cutting approach anchored in the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. Adopting a nexus approach can ensure coordination and coherence to realize multiplier effects, which the Pact for the Future and 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report note are essential for accelerated progress on the SDGs.
The water–energy–food–ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus is a multiplier for SDG progress
The water-energy-food-ecosystems (WEFE) nexus is an approach to strengthen governance and integrated progress to ensure human access to natural resources. It is rooted in sustainable development, transboundary governance, and systems thinking. Studies have shown that African countries are performing sub-optimally in the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus assessments due to water, energy and food insecurity.
The water–energy–food–ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus is an approach that moves away from siloed thinking towards more efficient and integrated management and governance, realizing co-benefits and minimizing trade-offs. A lack of cross-sector coordination on water use, between agriculture, industry, and energy production threatens the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those on food, energy, and life on land and underwater. Africa’s rapid rate of urbanization also presents additional challenges and opportunities. With regard to SDG 7 on energy, policies and investments in energy remain underfunded but critical to enable development, and essential to achieve SDG 6 ensuring available freshwater resources and food security, amid environmental constraints.
The SDGs and the WEFE nexus require a whole-of-government and systems thinking approach to identify leverage points for accelerated action. Accelerating progress on SDGs 6 and 7 is interlinked and interdependent with other goals related to sustainable food systems, poverty eradication, gender, institutions economic growth and infrastructure among others. While SDG 6 aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, it cannot be achieved without energy and the infrastructure necessary to provide such services. SDG 7 on Access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all, cannot be achieved without the essential water resources necessary to generate energy and meet rising demand, especially in line with recent policy commitments in the region related to green hydrogen. Despite the strong interlinkages, the synergies between the water, energy, food and ecosystems have not achieved their full potential as a nexus to support more efficient and accelerated progress towards sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Accelerating progress on the 2030 Agenda requires major transformations in different spheres to trigger structural changes capable of accelerating progress towards achieving the SDGs by 2030 and Agenda 2063. In that regard, the United Nations Sustainable Development Group identified six transformative transitions, namely food systems; energy access and affordability; digitalization (connectivity, artificial intelligence); education; jobs and social protection, and addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Within the context of WEFE, water and energy are key enablers for sustainable development at the national and sub-national levels. Water, energy and food security are underpinned by natural resources and ecosystem services and rely on good governance of these as common pool resources.
WEFE Nexus in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa
Increasing demand for water, energy, and food and the resultant ecosystem impacts underpin Africa’s growth potential. It is important to understand the interlinkages and scale-up WEFE success cases that can deliver multiplier effects. Africa and developing parts of Asia are the regions with the highest number of people without access to electricity . 80% of the unelectrified people on earth live in just 24 countries (20 of them in Africa and the remaining 4 in Asia). While Africa’s electricity access rate has increased from 44% to 59% since 2010, significant population growth has outpaced these gains, with the population lacking access to electricity in 2022 remains the same as in 2010 (591 million). Hydropower is the backbone of Africa's electricity supply, providing 40% of power in the region. However, almost 90% of potential remains untapped – the world's largest proportion of unexploited capacity. In addition, demand for electricity in Africa is expected to more than triple by 2040, due to factors such as rapid industrialisation, rising incomes, rural-urban migration, and climate change. In this vein, Africa is making progress on a Continental Master Plan for Electricity in Africa (CMP) aligning regional and national energy initiatives with the African Union's Agenda 2063 vision of a single electricity market (AfSEM).
Agriculture is an important sector in Africa and a key source of water demand. For example, agriculture accounted for 80% of water withdrawals in Sub-Saharan Africa. As countries in the region gain increased access to electricity, it will be important to put policies in place to ensure that it does not result in inefficient water consumption in countries already facing water stress. Water stress and competing demands for water and energy resources will also grow in light of climate change as will climate vulnerability among those furthest behind. Climate vulnerability will also exacerbate gender inequality in water, energy, land, and food resources in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ecosystems within Africa and productive sectors such as agriculture are highly vulnerable to the intensifying effects of climate change, thus requiring a broader Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) nexus approach. Indeed, some countries have collaborated with UN DESA and UNECA to develop tools and capacities for policy coherence, institutional and intersectoral coordination, and integrated climate, land, energy and water systems (CLEWs) modelling to implement the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. , The effectiveness of these tools relies quality and disaggregated data, which can be a key challenge for modelling and planning the WEFE nexus.
As African countries advance towards continued progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and AU Agenda 2063 and submit Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement; the WEFE nexus offers an opportunity for integrated investments and programming for multiple gains in line with future climate finance. In addition to the AU Agenda 2063, the region has developed sectoral strategies and shared agendas that would benefit from a WEFE nexus perspective – among others these include the Continental Power Systems Master Plan (CMP), Africa Water Vision 2025, Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) as part of the Nairobi Declaration on climate change. A WEFE nexus can also ensure a climate-resilient future that advances energy, water, and food security based on renewables and net-zero goals; as the nexus often supports the adoption of renewable energy sources over fossil fuels with wind and solar significantly reducing water usage and GHG emissions in energy production. However, this necessitates scaling up investment in proven success cases.
While Africa is estimated to have 60% of the world’s solar resources — it has received only 2% of global investments in renewable energy over the last two decades. New commitments under the Paris Agreement on strengthening public finance for climate vulnerability can also accelerate the progress on the WEFE nexus. These investments must also integrate youth as entrepreneurs, beneficiaries and decisionmakers in designing and implementing WEFE nexus cases on the ground. Africa has the youngest population in the world, with 70% of Sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30. Such a high number of young people is an opportunity for the continent’s growth – but only if these new generations are fully empowered to realise sustainable development.
Goals and Objectives
Considering regional stocktaking progress for SDG 6 and SDG 7, as well as interrelated goals, targets, and indicators, and working on the WEFE nexus in the region, this workshop will highlight success cases and assess persistent barriers and gaps for accelerated progress. It will also show how African countries can leverage transformative transitions to accelerate progress towards the SDGs, particularly food systems, energy access, affordability, and addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Sessions will also assess gaps between urban-rural progress, including success stories and co-benefits with a WEFE nexus through potential proposals and scale-up projects.
In line with a whole-of-government approach to advance the WEFE nexus, the Workshop will present a mapping of inter-ministerial coordination bodies, public governance mandates in line with the WEFE nexus, and existing barriers, challenges and solutions from the region. The Workshop will further contribute to ongoing research informing programming strategies to strengthen future policy responses and capacity development to accelerate progress on the SDGs through the nexus, including through policy action and climate finance, especially in vulnerable urban and rural areas.
The objectives of the workshop are to:
- Strengthen the capacity of government institutions and relevant stakeholders in the Sub-Saharan African region to effectively apply the WEFE nexus and interlinkages with other SDGs to facilitate integrated planning and accelerated national-to-local implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063;
- Explore potential for strengthened coherence between regional policy to advance the nexus implementation through key regional strategies, such as the African Union Agenda 2063, the Continental Power Systems Master Plan (CMP), Africa Water Vision 2025, Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP) as part of the Nairobi Declaration on climate change, all in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
- Advance knowledge and practice on success cases for the water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus and inter-linkages with other SDGs and Agenda 2063 for accelerated implementation and local progress identifying leverage points for action; and
- Strengthening advocacy, cooperation and outreach in the areas of water and energy and their interlinkages, including through scenario modelling, linking to the broader socio-ecological system including especially sustainable food systems and ecosystems, including through potential follow up activities and policy support.
Methodology
The workshop opening sessions will review the current international and regional frameworks and stocktaking of regional progress related to WEFE. The rest of the Workshop will consist of several sessions reviewing progress on the nexus issues in line with SDGs 2, 6, 7, 15 and 17, as well as interlinkages with all other SDGs to implement the nexus for accelerated action in line with systems-thinking. The sessions will be composed of presentations by national representatives, international experts, scholars, practitioners, and actors, followed by Q&A and discussions. While most of the sessions will take place in plenary, group work and breakout sessions may also be used as needed. The Workshop will take place in person.
Target Audience
The Workshop participants will primarily include policymakers at all levels, as well as civil society, youth, academia, and private sector. Country delegations will be composed of inter-ministerial representatives and/or national focal points designated for WEFE nexus or SDG coordination. The Workshop will focus on Sub-Saharan African countries, with a particular focus on LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS, and countries emerging from conflict.
Dates and Venue
The Workshop will take place at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa (UNCC-AA) Conference Room 5, from 4-6 March 2024.
Language
The Workshop will be conducted in English with French interpretation.
Outputs and Follow-up
The Workshop will develop key messages that participants would like to convey to the international community regarding the successes, lessons learned and good practices they identified concerning the implementation of the selected SDGs, as well as the main theme of the Workshop. In addition, a Workshop Report documenting the workshop will be produced. Both the key messages and the report will be published on UNOSD’s Website (www.unosd.un.org).
Programme and Agenda
Day 1 (4 March)
Opening of the Forum
Welcome and Keynote remarks
- H.E. Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, Resident Coordinator, United Nations Ethiopia
- H.E. Mr. Jung Kang, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Ethiopia and Mission to the African Union
Opening Remarks
- Mr. Chun Kyoo Park, Head, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development, UN DESA
- Mr. Amson Sibanda, Chief, National Strategies and Capacity Building Branch, Division for SDGs, UN DESA
- Ms. Rita Bissoonauth, Director, Liaison Office, UNESCO
- Mr. Ahmed Eldaw, Water and Climate Advisor, African Union
Session 1: Setting the scene – progress on integrated approaches and a Whole-of-government approach for the WEFE nexus
Chair: Mr. Amson Sibanda, Head of Branch, National Strategies and Capacity Building Branch, DSDG, UN DESA
- Mr. Okechukwu Daniel Ogbonnaya, Country Representative, Ethiopia, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
- Mr. Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, Lead, Water, Energy, Food, and Environment (WEFE) Nexus, UNU-INWEH and UNOSD, DESA
- Country case: Mr. Abera Endeshaw, Senior Advisor, Ministry of Water and Energy, Ethiopia
Session 2: Importance of modelling for WEFE nexus and leveraging the six transformative transitions, with a focus on food systems, energy access and affordability, and addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution
Chair: Mr. Amson Sibanda, Chief, National Strategies and Capacity Building Branch, DSDG, DESA
Presenters
- Overview of tools and methods for modelling the WEFE Nexus in policy and planning – Mr. Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, Lead, Water, Energy, Food and Environment (WEFE) Nexus, UNU-INWEH
- “Leveraging the six transitions” for local progress on WEFE – Mr. Jurgen Gafke, Senior Programme Management Officer, DSDG, UN DESA
Session 3: WEFE nexus, NDCs and climate finance commitments
Chair and introductory presentation: Ms. Sara Castro-Hallgren, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD, DESA
Presenters
- Mr. Tumaini John, Doctoral Fellow, IHE-Delft, UKZN and UNU-INWEH
- Mr. Kamlesh Dookayka, Regional Programme Officer – Sub-Saharan Africa, IRENA (video)
- Mr. Steven Donaldson, Advisor, Global Green Growth Institute - Ethiopia
Day 2 (5 March)
Session 4: Challenges and Opportunities in Implementing the WEFE Nexus: Regional success cases
Chair: Ms. Sharone Molly, Climate Technology Specialist, Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN)-UNEP
Presenters
- Mr. Djibrilla Mohamadou, Regional Coordinator - Central Africa, Global Water Partnership
- Ms. Caroline Ouko, Policy and Governance Specialist, CETRAD, Kenya
- Ms. Meron Teferi Taye, East Africa, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
Session 5: Realizing co-benefits and reducing trade-offs in urban and rural success cases and for advancing gender equality
Chair: Mr. Okechukwu Daniel Ogbonnaya, Country Representative, Ethiopia, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
Presenters
- Ms. Sharone Molly, Climate Technology Specialist, Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN)-UNEP
- Case: Mr. El Hadji Djibril Diop, Centre for Renewable Energy Research and Studies (General Manager Conseil Patronal des Energies Renouvelables du Sénégal (Coperes)/TERRA Technologies)
- Case: Mr. Sadiq Abubakar Gulma, Executive Director/CEO Green Habitat Initiative
- Case: Mr. Seunghyun Bahn, CEO, 02&B Co., Ltd.
Session 6: Monitoring progress – Data and statistics for evidence-based policies and integrated national planning and budgeting
Moderator and introductory presentation: Mr. Seifu Kebede, GeoHydrology, Professor, South Africa Center for Water Research, University KwaZulu Natal
Presenters
- Mr. Anderson Kehbila, Programme Leader, Natural Resources and Ecosystems, Stockholm Environment Institute in Africa
- Mr. Patrice Kabeya, Senior Program Officer for Water, South African Development Community (SADC)
- Country case – Ms. Rachelle Ida Yapo Epse Yapo, Director, Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development and Ecological Transition, Cote D’Ivoire
Session 7: Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Youth Engagement for scaling success cases
Moderator and introductory presentation: Ms. Wendy Geza, Doctoral Fellow, University KwaZulu Natal / UNU-INWEH
Presenters
- Ms. Hazir Farouk A. Elhaj, Associate Professor, Sudan University of Science and Technology, and Founder & Managing Director, ESTIDAMA EnerCycle
- Mr. Samson Tsegaye, Boardmember, Ethiopian Solar Energy Development Association (ESEDA) and Country Director, Solar Energy Foundation
Session 8: Group Exercises – Scenarios and Action Planning for readiness and follow up
Moderator: Mr. Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, Lead, Water, Energy, Food and Environment (WEFE) Nexus, UNU-INWEH
- Introductory presentation on scenario planning, potential futures for the WEFE nexus - Mr. Cuthbert Taguta, Doctoral Fellow, University of KwaZulu Natal
- Breakout groups on scenario planning for 2030, 2063 and action plans
Day 3 (6 March)
Session 9: Group discussion on key findings and next steps for bridging the science-policy-action divide
Moderator: Mr. Jurgen Gafke, DSDG, DESA
Presenters:
- Mr. Hyungsoo Kim, Officer, Environmental and Climate Policy Division, Environmental Bureau, Incheon Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea
- Next steps for Technology Facilitation Mechanism in the region and WEFE Nexus - Ms. Sharone Molly, CTCN-UNEP
- LEAP WEAP SWIM REVUB Integrated tools and scaling capacity – Mr. Anderson Kehbila, Programme Leader, Natural Resources and Ecosystems, Stockholm Environment Institute in Africa
Session 10: Development of actions plans by Member States and Key Institutions
Moderator: Ms. Sara Castro Hallgren, UNOSD, DSDG, DESA and Mr. Huiyong Kim, UNOSD, DSDG, DESA
Session 10 (continued): Finalization and presentation of action plans
Moderator: Mr. Huiyong Kim, UNOSD, DSDG, DESA and Ms. Jane Wambui, UNESCO
Wrap-up (The Way Forward) and Closing Remarks
Moderator: Ms. Sara Castro Hallgren, UNOSD, DSDG, DESA
Rapporteurs statement - Mr. Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, Lead, WEFE Nexus
Closing Remarks
- Ms. Sharone Molly, Climate Technology Specialist, Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN)-UNEP
- Mr. Chun Kyoo Park, Head, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD), UN DESA
Organisers
The Workshop is organised by the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) of UN DESA, Division for Sustainable Development Goals (UN DESA-DSDG) in cooperation with UNESCO and the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), UNEP-Climate Technology Centre and Network (UNEP-CTCN) and in coordination with the UN Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia, and the UNECA Opportunities and Issue-based Coalition 4 (OIBC4) on climate change in the region, and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). The host government of Ethiopia through its Ministry on Water and Energy is also a partner.
The UN Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD), under the Division for Sustainable Development Goals of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), contributes to building, exchanging and facilitating the use of knowledge in support of evidence-based policymaking to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. UNOSD specialises in mapping, assessing and improving the exchange of knowledge resources, advising Member States and the broader policy communities on sharing and applying such resources, and conducting research and capacity development. As a part of its capacity strengthening and knowledge-sharing plans, UNOSD’s objective is to explore the water-energy interlinkages in the context of advancing SDG 6 and 7, encompassing implications on food and ecosystems in line with SDGs 2 and 15, as well as other goals.
UNESCO is the Scientific arm of the United Nations family and uses Science, Technology, and Innovation to support Member States achieve sustainable development and enhance their resilience to climate and global change effects. Through its Intergovernmental Scientific Programmes like the Man And Biosphere (MAB), its Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) and its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, among others, UNESCO leads groundbreaking initiatives that integrate water management, energy systems, food security, and ecosystem health, while fostering international cooperation and scientific excellence in natural resources management across diverse global contexts. UNESCO facilitates strategic partnerships between decision / policy makers, research institutions, and local communities to implement sustainable resource management strategies that promote synergies across these sectors while minimizing trade-offs and maximizing efficiency.
IHE Delft Institute for Water Education is the largest international graduate water education facility in the world. Based in Delft, the Netherlands, it is a UNESCO Category II centre and confers fully accredited MSc degrees and PhD degrees in collaboration with Dutch partner universities. The Institute conducts research and supports capacity development to address the world's water challenges and SDGs with the WEF Nexus a research focus and a dedicated profile within its MSc programme.
The Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) is the implementation arm of the Technology Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and is hosted by UNEP. The Centre promotes the accelerated transfer of environmentally sound technologies for low carbon and climate resilient development at the request of developing countries. The CTCN provides technology solutions, capacity building and advice on policy, legal and regulatory frameworks tailored to the needs of individual countries by harnessing the expertise of a global network of technology companies and institutions.
Contact Information
- Ms. Sara Castro de Hallgren, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD, DSDG, UN DESA, sara.castrohallgren@un.org
- Mr. Huiyong Kim, Administrative Assistant, UNOSD, DSDG, UN DESA hui.kim@un.org
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