The Challenges of the Food, Water, and Energy Nexus and Potential Interlinkages with Instruments to Tackle Climate Change: Cases of Brazilian Cities
This chapter examines innovative governance approaches for managing the food, water, and energy nexus in Brazilian cities. Case studies from São José dos Campos, Florianópolis, Recife, and Fortaleza highlight how climate action plans, environmental protection, and sustainable food systems can strengthen integrated urban planning, resilience, and resource management.
Subject Tags
- Climate adaptation
- Climate mitigation
- Community-based conservation
Abstract
The key actions to advance knowledge about sustainable and resilient urban governance are identifying and analyzing innovative initiatives for managing the food, water, and energy nexus (FWEN) in cities. Rapid urban changes in the world’s cities are placing unprecedented demands on energy, water, food, and other systems, as each of them offers multiple life-supporting services. Identifying intersections across a diverse set of social actors and institutions represents a relevant agenda that can influence priority outcomes to urban communities, city regions, and their supporting ecosystems. It can be seen as a relevant strategy to advance toward a more integrated territorial planning in cities to strengthen actions to promote sustainable use of natural resources. These drivers have the potential to foster collaborative, functional, and transformative responses in the contexts of an institutional interplay, aiming to encourage co-management, bridging organizations, and social entrepreneurship among other stakeholders. From this background research, the chapter then presents the cases of the Brazilian cities of São José dos Campos and Florianópolis within the context of the “IFWEN – Understanding Innovative Initiatives for Governing Food, Water and Energy Nexus in Cities” project – as a basis to discuss this integrated perspective. The cases of São José dos Campos and Florianópolis illustrate, respectively, how actions on the FWEN for environmental protection and organic food production can contribute to the debate regarding innovation in urban governance and potential nexus enhancement. Due to the need to keep improving municipal planning, governance, and implementation of effective measures, a discussion is conducted regarding the potential of Local Climate Action Plans to increase the integration among sectors and actors. These insights arise from the cases of Recife and Fortaleza and their experience to tackle climate change and indicate that it might be possible to also foster the FWEN and enhance integrated governance at the municipal level. Moreover, this chapter also addresses insights from the cities of Recife and Fortaleza in Brazil regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation, focusing on their Local Climate Action Plan update under the “Urban-LEDS Phase II” project. These plans might be a strategic tool to foster FWEN and more integrated governance.
Citation
Jacobi, P.R., Picarelli, S.B.N., Heinisch, L.M., de Almeida Sinisgalli, P.A. (2022). The Challenges of the Food, Water, and Energy Nexus and Potential Interlinkages with Instruments to Tackle Climate Change: Cases of Brazilian Cities. In: Lazaro, L.L.B., Giatti, L.L., Valente de Macedo, L.S., Puppim de Oliveira, J.A. (eds) Water-Energy-Food Nexus and Climate Change in Cities. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05472-3_16
TNC Authors
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Sophia Picarelli
Global Adaptation & Resilience Lead for Latin America. Tackle Climate Change
The Nature Conservancy
Email: sophia.picarelli@tnc.org