Nexus Conference opens in Bonn
At the invitations of the German government, discussions got underway in Bonn today among high-level decision-makers and international experts seeking solutions to key global challenges. The three-day conference on the theme of "The Water, Energy and Food Security Nexus - Solutions for the Green Economy" was opened this morning by German Development Minister Dirk Niebel and Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen. The Nexus Conference has attracted more than 600 participants from 89 countries who are active in politics and government, science and academia, civil society and business. The conference's patron is Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Opening the proceedings, Development Minister Dirk Niebel said, "We are looking at three of the biggest challenges of our times - water, energy and food. The distribution of these resources around the world is extremely unequal. Finding sustainable and resource-efficient ways of supplying a growing global population represents a major challenge. This is why it is so important that, here in Bonn, we are bringing together experts and decision-makers from these three sectors to discuss at a global level the interactions and interlinkages - the nexus - between secure water and energy provision and food security."
Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen emphasised that, "All in all, we are today leading debtor's life, living at the expense of future generations. This is why we need a new way of managing our economic life." That meant, he said, transforming a resource-wasting into a resource-efficient economy – a green economy. Such a fundamental transformation was, just like the question of structuring financial markets, an aspect of global governance, because sustainable production and consumption could, he explained, only be achieved through a global order. "Water, energy, food – these three basic elements of human life and human economy form the core of a humane and fair global order. Only if we succeed in securing lasting access to all three will we create such a global order. And that is why it is hugely important to focus on these three central elements as we are doing here at this conference for the first time," concluded Germany's Environment Minister.
The Nexus Conference has three objectives. First, by drawing on inputs from a range of different interest groups, the aim is to develop policy recommendations for global water, energy and food security and to propose concrete initiatives. Second, the conference will ensure that the interlinkages between these three sectors are fed into preparations for the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) taking place in Rio des Janeiro next year. Finally, the Nexus Conference is part of a year-long international discussion process. This process is to continue among experts, political decision-makers and stakeholder groups making strong use of new social media.