Paper short abstract:

The use of information technologies in the food-energy-water nexus is growing with uncertain implications for governance. In this paper we draw upon governance capabilities scholarship to better conceptualise the role of information infrastructures and governance in the food-energy-water nexus.

Paper long abstract:

The food-energy-water (FEW) nexus presents us with a 'wicked' problem similar to climate change adaptation. The nexus cannot be precisely formulated or solved due to widely divergent understandings of the FEW nexus as well as inherent complexities associated with their monitoring and evaluation. At the same we are witnessing a proliferation of information technologies (ITs) in FEW nexus governance. Examples include, the Internet and mobile phones as a means of communicating agricultural market information to farmers or as tools for monitoring water and sanitation services. Many of these "small infrastructures" have taken place with strong public private sector partnerships and involve large investments. It remains uncertain however how these ITs will become (or are already) embedded in increasingly messy and complex FEW governance arenas. Drawing upon scholarship on governance capabilities we explore new theoretical avenues with the aim to better understand this entanglement of information infrastructures with nexus governance. We further draw upon a literature survey that has helped us identify IT cases and has helped us contextualise our analysis of the main five governance capabilities of reflexivity, resilience, responsiveness, revitalisation and rescaling. A conceptual framework linking ITs with FEW governance is proposed that takes much better into account the rapidly evolving nature of information infrastructures.