The Five Ws of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A Reflexive Approach to Enable the Production of Actionable Knowledge

The water-energy-food nexus is now a popular approach in the sustainability field. However, whereas calls for more holistic, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, research produced over past decade has been fragmented specialized. Furthermore, there still gap between as descriptive analytical concept its operationalization. Nexus needs shift from “thinking” to “action,” which we understand production of actionable knowledge. This paper delves into literature presents five “W” questions an iterative heuristic encourage reflexivity inter-and dialogue, while aiming at We draw on discuss nexus, namely: (i) Why , explore purpose knowledge; (ii) What material aspect interactions water, energy food systems; (iii) Where issues scale, scales, geographical context nexus; (iv) When consider temporal dimensions with particular emphasis intergenerational trade-offs, (v) Who focuses stakeholders importance understanding justice equity. Finally, connections dependencies Ws, reinforcing researchers reflect their decision-making engage debate enable action.