Climate changes and the examination of barriers to decision-making with the fuzzy AHP method in the areas of water, food and energy

Introduction and Background: The connections (Nexus) among Water, Food and Energy respresent a number of interdisciplinurt and multi-sectoral complexities and challenges. These complexities are not limited merely to one sector and one or more other sectors are affected by the shocks to one of these resources. Aims: These resources are shaped by climate change; there fore, given the complexities between them, decisions will be required to be made. There are barriers to making decisions, in the future, on the climate shocks, thus these shocks have to be identified and prioritized so that appropriate decisions are made. Methodology: The relational approach promoters our understanding of the mutual interdependencies among the three sectors noted above. The policies in other areas of concern including biodiversity and climate conditions are also affected by such perspective. A questionnaire was desingned based onthe fuzzy AHP method and made available to the experts. Conclusion: The results suggest that water resource is put in the first priority with the normal weight of 0.591, food with the normal weight of 0.304, and energy with the normal weight of 0.105 are in the second and third priority respectively. Furthermore, a new approach to the integrated management of sustainable development is recognized as the most important barrier to making decisions on the measures of water, food and energy with the normal weights of0.256, 0.261 & 0.292. The last important barriers are identified as cooperation and communication, the nature of response to communicational shocks, and cooperation and communication with the normal weights of 0.069, 0.087 and 0.071, respectivelly. With respect to the final prioritization, the new approach to the integrated management of sustainable development and the measure of cooperation and communication are acknowledged as the most and least important barriers, respectively, with the normal weights of 0.292 and 0.071.