Abstract The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus is increasingly perceived as promising approach to overcome governance failures in dealing with complex and interconnected resource management challenges. Are such expectations warranted and what is required to mobilize the transformative potential inherent in this approach? The paper addresses these questions and argues in favour of developing a nexus paradigm which guides processes of purposeful design and of self-organization of nexus governance systems. Such a paradigm could be anchored in addressing water, energy and food security from a nexus perspective if such a security concept is appropriately defined and operationalized. To develop the argument, governance challenges arising from the different logics of the concepts of water, energy and food security are addressed with a definition for WEF security from a nexus perspective. An analytical framework using a network and ecosystem services perspective is introduced. The power of the approach introduced is illustrated for a typical case to identify coordination failures and persistent sustainability problems but as well leverage points for transformative change. The paper concludes by elaborating on the transformative potential of the SDGs and on the role of a WEF nexus approach in realizing such a potential.

中文翻译：

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水-能源-粮食安全关系的治理：多层次的协调挑战

摘要 水-能源-粮食 (WEF) 关系越来越被视为克服治理失败的有效方法，以应对复杂且相互关联的资源管理挑战。这样的期望是否有必要？需要什么来调动这种方法固有的变革潜力？本文解决了这些问题，并主张开发一种关系范式，以指导有目的的设计和关系治理系统的自组织过程。如果这样的安全概念得到适当的定义和操作，这种范式可以立足于从关系的角度解决水、能源和粮食安全问题。为了发展这一论点，水概念的​​不同逻辑引起的治理挑战，能源和粮食安全是从关系的角度通过对世界经济论坛安全的定义来解决的。介绍了使用网络和生态系统服务视角的分析框架。通过一个典型案例说明了所引入方法的力量，它可以识别协调失败和持续存在的可持续性问题，但也可以利用点进行转型变革。本文最后详细阐述了可持续发展目标的变革潜力以及世界经济论坛关联方法在实现这种潜力方面的作用。