Ensuring water, energy, and food security has become one of the most pressing issues for countries that are suffering from limited natural resources, resource depletion, extreme climate change, water shocks, and ecosystem degradation. Typically, across the world, water, energy, food and the environmental ecosystems are managed and governed in silos, each with its own institutional structures and priorities. This fragmented approach is increasingly proving insufficient for addressing today’s complex challenges. The Water-Energy-Food- Ecosystems (WEFE) Nexus approach provides an integrated framework for sustainable resources management by addressing the interdependencies to enhance resilience and maximise cobenefits while reducing trade-offs.
The Imperative for a WEFE Nexus Approach
Water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the global population, with approximately 80 percent of those affected residing in the West Asia North Africa (WANA) region.a,[1] The region is characterised by chronic water deficits, where freshwater demand already exceeds renewable supply, and it is projected to worsen due to population growth, urbanisation, economic development, and the continued depletion of both surface and groundwater resources. The agriculture sector remains the dominant water users, consuming more than 80 percent of WANA’s freshwater withdrawals.[2]
The agri-food system relies on both water and energy inputs across its value chain, including production, processing, transport, and storage. Concurrently, water supply systems are highly energy-intensive for abstraction, pumping, distribution, desalination, and wastewater treatment. Energy systems, in turn, depend on water for cooling, fuel processing, and power generation. These strong interdependencies across sectors increase system vulnerabilities and underscore the importance of complementarity.
The Jordan Context
Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, with annual renewable freshwater availability estimated at less than 65 cubic metres per capita,[3] far below the absolute scarcity threshold of 500 cubic metres. The country imports 74 percent of its energy needs,[4] making it vulnerable to international market fluctuations and geopolitical disruptions. Although the country has made strides in expanding renewable energy, particularly solar and wind, its energy system remains carbon-intensive and dependent on external suppliers. Food security is equally strained, with limited arable land and high production costs, Jordan relies on imports for more than 85 percent of its food.[5]
Global supply chain disruptions, such as those witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine crisis, have underscored the vulnerability of such import-dependent systems. Overlaying these structural challenges is the demographic pressure caused by multiple waves of refugees—Jordan hosts one of the world’s largest numbers of refugees per capita, adding the compound effect of climate change.
In Jordan, water and irrigation, energy, agriculture, and environment fall under separate ministries, each with their own management and governance approaches, budgets, and strategic priorities. For instance, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation prioritises supply and demand management through the expansion in utilisation of non-conventional water resources such as treated wastewater and desalination that needs energy as well, and reduction in the non-revenue water which is already over 40 percent,[6] while the Ministry of Agriculture aims to enhance food security, economic growth, and sustainability by promoting climatesmart practices, digital transformation, and improved resources management. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy is working on green energy transition, and the Ministry of Environment is giving priority to the green economy through climate action. Moreover, Jordan’s current legal frameworks do not explicitly mandate nexus-based planning and coordination.
In such a context, the Jordanian government recognised that nexus becomes a must and started planning for the integration of the WEFE Nexus concept into strategies and national planning. The water-energy nexus was first officially acknowledged in 2017, driven by the financial and operational challenges faced by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, particularly in relation to rising energy costs associated with groundwater abstraction, conveyance, treatment, and desalination. Subsequently, the nexus approach was expanded to encompass food and environmental dimensions within the framework of Jordan’s Economic Modernisation Vision in 2023. This was also pushed by Jordan’s low grade of 42.7 in the WEF Nexus Indexb value in 2023, placing the nation in the 152nd position out of 181 countries assessed by the index.[7] The Modernisation Vision explicitly recognised the need for integrated resource governance and recommended the establishment of a Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) Council to enhance cross-sectoral coordination and strategic alignment.
In practice, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC) took under its umbrella the responsibility to manage the WEFE nexus. The recommendation of establishing the WEFE council evolved into the establishment of a WEFE Technical Coordination Committee, composed of representatives from the ministries of Planning and International Cooperation, Water and Irrigation, Agriculture, Energy and Mineral Resources, and Environment.
Unlike previous sector-based coordination mechanisms, this structure shifted WEFE governance from ad-hoc inter-ministerial consultation to a formalised, mandate-driven decision-making platform, directly linked to national planning and processes under MoPIC’s leadership.
The Technical Coordination Committee is mandated to facilitate inter-ministerial coordination and stakeholder consultation, support evidence-based decision-making, and advance the operationalisation of the WEFE nexus across policies and programmes by gathering and analysing data, identifying and prioritising new initiatives, and overseeing the implementation and monitoring of the nexus roadmap. The Committee reports to a high-level Steering Committee, represented by senior officials as well as the Higher Council for Science and Technology. The committee serves as key decision-maker for managing and overseeing WEFE Nexus initiatives, leading institutional and regulatory reforms, securing funding, and supporting proposal development. It also endorses strategies, plans, and projects, thereby ensuring political oversight, institutional accountability, and alignment with national priorities. The committee reports to the Minister of MoPIC, who in turn reports to the prime minister of Jordan. This arrangement has enhanced accountability by clearly defining reporting lines, strengthened budget alignment through MoPIC’s planning mandate, and reduced fragmentation by institutionalising cross-sector coordination within a permanent national structure rather than temporary project-based platforms.
In parallel to the willingness to adopt the nexus approach as reflected at the strategy and governmental levels, there are different national initiatives at the projects and programme levels the country is conducting to enhance its resilience toward resource security. These include the national conveyer where water to be desalinated from the Red Sea south of Jordan utilises green energy and is transferred to the central part of the country in an attempt to meet water demand while the variation in elevation will be utilised to generate energy.
Water authorities are also integrating photovoltaic (PV) systems into pumping stations, wells, and treatment facilities. These efforts have demonstrated up to 30-40 percent reductions in operational energy costs for the water sector,[8] which directly decrease the water-energy bill at the ministry level, enhance the financial sustainability and free resources that can be redirected toward infrastructure upgrades, service expansion, or social support mechanisms, while simultaneously reducing sectoral carbon emissions. In the agriculture sector, Jordan has one of the highest treated-wastewater reuse rates in the region, with more than 90 percent of treated wastewater being used for agricultural purposes.[9] This decreases the pressure on freshwater resources and increases its portion for domestic usage, thereby enhancing water security. Moreover, adopting solar irrigation at the farm level has reduced both water and electricity consumption, incentivising water-saving technologies and climate-smart agriculture while increasing food production, reducing import vulnerabilities, and enhancing farmers’ income and resilience.
From a policy perspective, the recent national strategies, such as the Jordan Water Strategy 2023-2040, the updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), the Green Growth Plan, and sectoral action plans, have begun incorporating nexus principles. These frameworks highlight the need for cross-sector coordination, resource efficiency, and climate resilience. This momentum provides a critical window to institutionalise nexus planning across ministries.
Conclusion
Jordan’s experience provides a useful example of how resource-scarce countries can leverage the WEFE Nexus to strengthen national resilience. While institutional, technical, and financial challenges persist, the country has recorded progress through its renewable energy expansion, wastewater reuse systems, agricultural modernisation, and national-level policy reforms.
Jordan’s WEFE Nexus experience reflects both context-specific and transferable elements. The central role of MoPIC as the institutional anchor for WEFE governance is closely linked to Jordan’s strong national planning architecture and may not be directly replicable in countries where planning authority is decentralised. Similarly, Jordan’s high dependence on imported energy, its large burden of hosting refugees, and extreme water scarcity, shape a unique policy urgency that influences national prioritisation of the nexus approach.
A number of components of Jordan’s WEFE model offer high transferability to other resourcescarce and climate-vulnerable countries. These include the establishment of formal interministerial coordination mechanisms with clear reporting lines, the integration of nexus principles into national strategies and budgeting processes, the use of renewable energy to reduce water-sector operational costs, large-scale treated wastewater reuse for agriculture, and the alignment of climate, water, energy, and food policies under a shared resilience framework. Most importantly, Jordan demonstrates that institutionalising the WEFE Nexus does not require the creation of entirely new ministries, but rather the strategic reconfiguration of governance, planning, and accountability structures.
As such, Jordan’s experience provides a practical governance and policy blueprint that can be adapted, rather than replicated, by other countries facing similar resource constraints, offering valuable lessons on how to operationalise the the WEFE Nexus beyond conceptual frameworks.
Enhancing the adoption of the WEFE nexus, first as a concept and framework, and ultimately as a practical approach embedded in national planning and strategies, is essential to ensuring resource security, improving productivity, and sustaining livelihoods in resource-scarce and climate-vulnerable contexts.
Endnotes
[1] Maria Hernández Lagana and Patricia Mejias, Aquastat Water Data Snapshot 2025, FAO, 2025, https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/b2c3a989-c199-4f82-baf0-369e32a227ab/ content.
[2] “Aquastat Water Data Snapshot 2025.”
[3] Ministry of Water and Irrigation, National Water Strategy 2023–2040, 2023, https://www.mwi.gov.jo/ EBV4.0/Root_Storage/AR/EB_List_Page/national_water_strategy_2023-2040.pdf.
[4] Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Energy Balance Data 2024, 2024, https://memr.gov.jo/ ebv4.0/root_storage/ar/eb_list_page/memr_facts_&_numbers_2024_-_14.8.2025.pdf.
[5] International Trade Administration, “Jordan – Agricultural Sectors,” 2025, https://www.trade.gov/ country-commercial-guides/jordan-agricultural-sectors.
[6] Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Jordan Water Sector: Facts and Figures, 2022, https://www.mwi.gov. jo/ebv4.0/root_storage/ar/eb_list_page/jordan_water_sector_-_facts_and_figures_2022.pdf.
[7] IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, The WEF Nexus Index, https://wefnexusindex.org/JOR.
[8] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Energy Efficiency for Water Utilities,” https://www.epa.gov/ sustainable-water-infrastructure/energy-efficiency-water-utilities.
[9] Ministry of Water and Irrigation, National Water Strategy 2023 – 2040 Summary Jordan, 2023, https://www.mwi.gov.jo/EBV4.0/Root_Storage/AR/EB_Ticker/National_Water_Strategy_2023-2040_ Summary-English_-ver2.pdf.
