Teaching the Trio: Using Examples from Hawaii to Incorporate the WEF Nexus into the Ecological Economics Curriculum Regina Ostergaard-Klem, PhD ISEE 2016, Washington DC June 27, 2016

Teaching Challenges

!  Keep current on literature and real world applications

!  Connect theory to practice

!  Build students’ sustainability competencies

!  Deliver concepts and associated student learning outcomes for ecological economics

Sustainability Competencies

!  Systems thinking

!  Future thinking

!  Values thinking

!  Strategic thinking

!  Collaborative competency

https://schoolofsustainability.asu.edu/what-you-will-learn/

Wiek, A. D., L. Withycombe and C. L. Redman. 2011. Key competencies in sustainability — A reference framework for academic program development. Sustainability Science 6(2):203-218. DOI: 10.1007/s11625-011-0132-6

Ecological Economics Concepts

!  Sustainable SCALE !  Economy as subset of

overall ecosystem !  Nature’s principles

!  Just DISTRIBUTION !  Intra- and inter-

generational equity

!  Efficient ALLOCATION !  Tradeoffs !  Market failures !  Policy instruments Daly, H.. (1996) Beyond growth: The economics of sustainable

development. Boston: Beacon Press.

Why the WEF Nexus?

!  Current appeal of the WEF nexus to both academic and development communities at global and local scales

!  A “mother lode” of opportunities to reinforce sustainability competencies and EE concepts

!  Rich, relevant, and readily available examples from Hawaii

!  Nexus concept is still immature and missing from teaching content (Bernhofer & Leidel 2014; UN-FLORES, 2015)

!  A “dream come true” for EE educators??

What is the WEF Nexus?

!  In response to global issues and crises (Hoff, 2011; IISD, 2013; UN-FLORES 2015; Smajgl et al., 2016; Grafton, 2016): !  water stress !  food scarcity !  energy security !  population growth and

increased consumption !  climate change !  urbanization !  loss of resilience !  post-MDGs, etc.

!  The demands for water, energy, and food are estimated to increase by 40%, 50% and 35%, respectively, by 2030 (USNIC, 2012)

!  The use of energy, food and water, and their management, is at the heart of human development and economic activity (Hoff, 2011).

!  Lifelines for society’s well-being (Chang, 2016)

What is the WEF Nexus?

Hoff, Holger. 2011. Understanding the NEXUS, Background Paper for the Bonn2011 Conference: The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute. http://www.water-energy-food.org/en/whats_the_nexus/background.html.

What is the WEF Nexus?

Chang, Y., Li, G. ,Yao, Y., Zhang L., Yu, C. (2016). Quantifying the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Current Status and Trends. Energies 2016, 9, 65; doi:10.3390/en9020065

Pros and Cons of WEF Nexus

Pros

!  Cross-sector collaboration

!  Minimize trade offs and enhance synergies

!  Identify externalities across sectors; realize efficiencies

!  Holistic, non-linearity

!  Stakeholder engagement

!  Scale (space, time, gov’t)

Cons

!  No single nexus definition

!  Complexity; uncertainty

!  Requires transdisciplinarity, but how to do that?

!  Continuum of models; are some better than others?

!  Criticisms (nothing new, forced onto LDCs)

Asia Pacific

Endo, A., Burnett, K., Orencio, M., Kumazawa, T., Wada, C., Ishii, A., Tsurita, I., & Taniguchi, M. (2015). Methods of the water-energy-food nexus. Water 7, 5806-5830; doi:10.3390/w7105806

East-Central Maui

King, C.W., (2014). A Systems Approach for Investigating Water, Energy, and Food Scenarios in East-Central Maui. A report of The University of Texas at Austin to the Ulupono Initiative.

Ho’opili West Oahu

!  1,600 acres; $4.6B project

!  20-25 year plan

!  11,750 housing units

!  3-4M sq ft commercial

!  5 public schools

!  Tech park

!  200 acres active farm

Ho’opili West Oahu

!  Population growth

!  Housing

!  Transportation

!  Food security

!  Jobs

!  Natural resources

!  Energy

Ho’opili West Oahu

• Energy to pump water • Energy to clean WW and runoff • Future desalinization • Micro-hydro?

• Groundwater for commercial and community agriculture • Groundwater household use • Virtual water for food

• Energy for commercial & community agriculture • Land for energy generation (microgrids) and food (biofuels)

Ho’opili: Sustainability

Ho’opili: EE Concepts

Policy Memos

Smith, C. (2012). Writing public policy: A practical guide to communicating in the policy making process. (3rd edition). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Stakeholder Assessment

http://svprojectmanagement.com/wp-content/uploads/stakeholder-analysis-template.jpg

Conflict Analysis Matrix

http://dev.change-management-toolbook.com/mod/book/view.php?id=74&chapterid=46

Power/Interest Matrix

https://knowhownonprofit.org/organisation/strategy/directionsetting/stakeholdermatrix.jpg/image_view_fullscreen

Scenario Planning

IISD (2013). The Water–Energy–Food Security Nexus: Towards a practical planning and decision-support framework for landscape investment and risk management

WEF Nexus: A Dream Come True?

!  Yes, a dream come true for EE educators, but within reason; can be too broad, complex AND too limiting

!  Next Steps:

!  Identify and document other case studies in HI

!  Investigate range of tools and methodologies

!  Crosswalk sustainability competencies with EE concepts to develop EE competencies

Thank you!

Regina Ostergaard-Klem, PhD Hawaii Pacific University

rostergaardklem@hpu.edu

References

!  Baumgartner, S., Becker, C., Frank, K., Muller, B., & Quaas, M. (2008) Relating the philosophy and practice of ecological economics: The role of concepts, models, and case studies in inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability research. Ecological Economics 67:13, p 382-393.

!  Bernhofer, C. & Leidel, M. (2014) Capacity development for research and education: Teaching and training programmes addressing the nexus. In White Book

!  Chang, Y., Li, G. ,Yao, Y., Zhang L., Yu, C. (2016). Quantifying the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Current Status and Trends. Energies 2016, 9, 65; doi:10.3390/en9020065

!   Endo, A., Burnett, K., Orencio, M., Kumazawa, T., Wada, C., Ishii, A., Tsurita, I., & Taniguchi, M. (2015). Methods of the water-energy-food nexus. Water 7, 5806-5830; doi:10.3390/w7105806  

!  Endo, A., Tsurita, I., Burnett, K., Orencio, P. (2016). A review of the current state of research on water, energy, and food nexus. UHERO. Working paper 2016-7.  

!  Faber, M. (2008). How to be an ecological economist. Ecological Economics Volume 66, Issue 1, 15 May 2008, pp 1–7

!  Global Water Systems Project (2014). Call to action for implementing the water-energy-food nexus. 19-20 May, 2014 in Bonn, Germany. http://wef-conference.gwsp.org

References

!  Grafton, R.Q., McLindin, M., Hussey, K., Wyrwoll, P., Wichelns, D., Ringler, C., Garrick, D., Pittock, J., Wheeler, S., Orr, S., Matthews, N., Ansink, E., Aureli, A., Connell, D., De Stefano, L. Dowsley, K., Farolfi, S., Hall, J., Katic, P., Lankford, B., Leckie, H., McCartney, M., Pohlner, H., Ratna, N., Rubarenzya, M.H., Raman, S.N.S., Wheeler, K., & Williams, J. (2016). Responding to global challenges in food, energy, environment and water: Risks and options assessment for decision-making. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 275–299. doi: 10.1002/app5.128

!  Hoff, Holger. 2011. Understanding the NEXUS, Background Paper for the Bonn2011 Conference: The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute. http://www.water-energy-food.org/en/whats_the_nexus/background.html.

!  IISD (2013). The Water–Energy–Food Security Nexus: Towards a practical planning and decision-support framework for landscape investment and risk management 

!  King, C.W., (2014). A Systems Approach for Investigating Water, Energy, and Food Scenarios in East-Central Maui. A report of The University of Texas at Austin to the Ulupono Initiative.

!  Ringler, C., A. Bhaduri and R. Lawford. (2013). The nexus across water, energy, land and food (WELF): Potential for improved resource use efficiency? Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, vol. 5, pp. 617–624. 

!  Smajgl, A., Ward, J., Pluschke, L., (2016). The water-food-energy nexus – realizing a new paradigm. Journal of Hydrology. 533, 533-540.

!  United States National Intelligence Council (USNIC). Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds; US NIC: Washington, DC, USA, 2012; p. 137.

!  UNU-FLORES. (2015). The Nexus Approach to Environmental Resources Management: A definition from the perspective of UNU-FLORES https://flores.unu.edu/about-us/the-nexus-approach/

!  Wiek, A. D., Withycombe, L., & Redman, C.L. (2011). Key competencies in sustainability — A reference framework for academic program development. Sustainability Science 6(2):203-218. DOI: 10.1007/s11625-011-013