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Article
Positive-Sum Water-Energy-Food Nexus Governance
Troy Rule
31 New York University Environmental Law Journal 117 (2023)
 
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Abstract:

This Article introduces the distinction between zero-sum and positive-sum water-energy-food (“WEF”) nexus interactions and argues for a greater policy focus on promoting interactions that are positive-sum. Most WEF nexus governance research has historically centered on promoting more integrated management of scarcity-driven tradeoffs among nexus resources. Such research tends to presume that increasing the security of any one nexus resource necessarily diminishes the security of at least one of the others. In contrast, a small but growing subset of the WEF nexus governance literature focuses on what this Article calls “positive-sum” nexus interactions—synergistic nexus resource relationships unleashed by innovation and targeted capital investment. Unlike zero-sum nexus interactions, positive-sum interactions increase the security of at least one nexus resource while also maintaining or improving the security of the other nexus resources. Although effectively managing zero-sum nexus resource interactions is an important part of WEF nexus governance, a greater emphasis on policy strategies that leverage positive-sum nexus resource interactions could ultimately spare communities and nations from facing as many resource tradeoffs in the coming decades. This Article outlines core differences between zero-sum and positive-sum WEF nexus resource interactions and argues that much more policy attention on positive-sum nexus strategies will be needed to build low-carbon, sustainable water, food and energy systems across the world.
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