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Coordination of policies in different sectors and at multiple levels is a major task for governing the water-energy-food nexus. Nexus governance has to deal with plurality of policies that are in place (e.g., interaction of policies across levels). Based on an overview of governance challenges, this report provides insights into policy instruments and experiences in their application at the global, national, regional and local levels. Institutional innovation is needed to develop democratic and participatory approaches that address the water-energy-food nexus. Another requirement is the development and implementation of binding environmental targets (e.g. water quality standards, land use distribution) which should be set at national or supranational levels. However, context-specific pathways should be established for different regions to achieve those targets. Various examples are provided to illustrate challenges and solutions to the implementation of a nexus governance approach.

Groundwater-dependent ecosystem services provide benefits to human well-being and play a key role in regulating ecosystem processes and functions. Improving groundwater management is of fundamental importance to reduce ecological trade-offs and to avoid long-term negative consequences for societies. In this context, local groundwater policies as well as multi-level governance processes play a key role. This article provides an improved understanding of how local policies change in response to social-ecological drivers and how these changes contribute to the sustainable provision of groundwater-dependent ecosystem services. Within this context, we analyze recent changes in local groundwater policies in the Sandveld region (South Africa) and the Spreewald region (Germany) from a multi-level governance perspective. In both cases a combination of drivers - in particular ecological degradation experienced at the local level and socio-political transformation - led to changes of local groundwater policies. A positive impact of these changes is expected, but not yet visible. The studied policies consider the complexity of groundwater functions and the different users depending on them. However, they do not explicitly mention ecosystem services and ignore important ecological processes and functions. Therefore, we conclude that groundwater management could become more sustainable by taking ecosystem services and stakeholder interests more explicitly into account in local policy processes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term population growth and economic development are placing ever-increasing pressure on South Africa's freshwater supply. On the basis of the current climate change predictions, which often entail uncertain consequences for aquifer systems and the associated groundwater goods and services, it is expected that the stress on water will increase even further. Currently, South Africa's groundwater governance regime does not provide the capacity to assure effective and sustainable resource regulation and allocation. To date, the management of groundwater is hampered by a variety of uncertainties, such as global climate change and socio-economic growth, as well as ineffective governance structures affecting resource use, regulation, protection and the implementation of alternative strategies needed to achieve sustainable management. This paper presents the results of a qualitative assessment of interviews conducted with experts in South Africa. Four key challenges are identified to the development of adaptive and sustainable groundwater management and the successful implementation of current water legislation in South Africa. These are: the undervaluation of groundwater importance and significance; the need for expertise and information at all scales; the centralisation of power; and the disregard of ecosystems and the associated goods and services. As a means to tackle these challenges, it has been assumed that the concept of adaptive water management represents a suitable approach to governing groundwater resources, by taking into account complex system linkages between hydrogeological, political, socio-economic and environmental domains. Supporting principles, such as tools for cooperation, participation and information networks, have been developed to facilitate the implementation of adaptive water management approaches and hence to achieve institutional change in the political arena of groundwater management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]