On November 16, 2016, the Hollings Center for International Dialogue held a panel entitled, “The Middle East Water-Energy-Food Nexus.”

The Middle East is faced with a set of complex interrelated problems related to the water, energy, and food sectors. Understanding the dynamics and linkages between these three sectors is needed to understand potential opportunities, trade-offs, and synergies and to develop integrated solutions to the growing demand for resources. The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus approach is not without criticism, but such multi-disciplinary solutions are increasingly considered the best strategy to deal with issues of water, energy and food security. These dynamics were the focus of an expert roundtable to explore government, civil society, and private sector policy solutions to these dynamic challenges, and the outcomes of that conversation were compiled in a recent report. Please watch below for a follow-on conversation exploring the Nexus approach and the recommendations.

Speakers:
Dr. Thomas L. Crisman, Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida

Dr. Afreen Siddiqi, Research Scientist, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Moderator:
David Dumke, Director, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Program for Strategic Research and Studies, University of Central Florida

Introductions by Michael Carroll, Executive Director, Hollings Center