Appraising the Water‐Energy‐Food Nexus From a Sustainable Development Perspective: A Maturing Paradigm?

The water‐energy‐food (WEF) nexus is a prominent approach for addressing today's sustainable development challenges. In our critical appraisal of the WEF, covering different approaches, drivers, enablers, and applications, we emphasize the situation across the Global South (Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean). Here, WEF research covers at least 23 focal domains. We find that the nexus is still a maturing paradigm primarily rooted in a physical and natural sciences framing, which is itself embedded in a neoliberal securities narrative. While providing insights and tools to address the systemic interdependencies between resource sectors whose exploitation, degradation, and sub‐optimal management contribute to (un)sustainable development, there is still insufficient engagement with social, political, and economic dimensions. Progress related to climate, urbanization, and resource consumption is encouraging, but while governance and finance are central enablers of current and future nexus systems, gaps remain in relation to implementation and operationalization. Harnessing the nexus for sustainable development across the Global South means recognizing that it is more than a biophysical system, but also a multi‐scale complex of people, institutions, and infrastructure, affected by history and context. Addressing this complexity requires alternative and possibly challenging perspectives to counter dominant narratives, and manage problems associated with policy integration, trade‐offs, and winners and losers. We outline 10 emergent research areas that we think can contribute to this endeavor and enable the nexus to be a stronger policy force. Plain Language Summary The sustainability of water, energy, and food systems, especially in the Global South, is one of the grand challenges of the 21st century. The water‐energy‐food (WEF) nexus provides a framework and an approach to help address these multifaceted issues. Although the WEF paradigm has evolved, experiencing rapid policy uptake, with encouraging applications in understanding climate change, urbanization, and resource consumption impacts, it is yet to achieve its full potential. Unfulfilled promise is evident in the failure to fully harness “nexus thinking” to enhance the implementation of WEF‐based policies and governance of WEF systems. Simultaneously, research on WEF systems remains largely the preserve of the natural and physical sciences, with much less critical attention received from the so