First GoNexus webinar
The first GoNexus webinar took place on 22 October and gathered more than 50 participants online for an hour-long session focused on the co-construction of the WEFE (Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems) nexus scenarios and strategies for engaging key stakeholders.
After first defining the WEFE nexus and the four sectors it covers (Water, Energy, Food, and Ecosystem), the GoNexus team’s methodology was introduced. It relies on dynamic tools: a model toolbox and a series of nexus Dialogues. These tools help develop, test, and validate future scenarios, supported by evidence and implemented through feasible solutions, projections, or policies. For GoNexus, this process is repeated across 8 case studies. This webinar focused on two of them: the Spanish Tagus-Segura basin and the Senegal River basin.
‘Thanks to our transdisciplinary approach, we would like to facilite the integration of our research findings into the decision-making process, explains Laurent Bruckmann from Laval University (Canada). Co-thinking and co-designing scenarios can assist stakeholders in selecting sustainable future paths and adapting to upcoming conditions.’
In addition to presenting the findings for these two basins, GoNexus partners have shared several best practices to ensure effective stakeholder engagement and to develop realistic scenarios. For instance, they used fictitious press articles to evoke emotions and encourage connections with non-specialist audiences, making it easier for them to relate to the various proposed scenarios.
‘It wasn’t always easy to get all the WEFE components around the table, particularly in the energy sector, remembers Desamparados Martinez Domingo, from Valencia Polytechnic University (Spain). We’re talking about transboundary basins, so we thought it was important that all the countries in the basin were represented.’
