Quantifying and linking Sustainable Land-water-energy-food nexus: A perspective of sustainable livelihoods in Gidabo Watershed, East African Rift Valley

Abstract BackgroundThe sustainable management of Land - Water - Energy - Food (LWEF) nexus requires an environmental characterization that allows the comparison of complex interlinkages between nexus resources and livelihoods. This complexity makes this characterization difficult coupled with limited study in quantifying sustainability of LWEF nexus and its linkage with livelihood. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the link between sustainable LWEF nexus and livelihoods. We used analytical hierarchy process and pairwise comparison matrix in combination with weighting model.ResultThe result of composite LWEF nexus index was 0.083 representing, low sustainability. This could be linked with nexus resources consumption, use, and management. From the analysis of the weight of land, water, energy and food nexus resources, the highest weight was observed for food. The focus of on food production only shows no clear synergy on provisioning, supporting or regulating nexus resources to address livelihoods. The result further showed that LWEF nexus resources have strong correlation with livelihoods. This was evidenced by social (r ≥ 0.8, P < 0.01), natural (r ≥ 0.3, P < 0.05) and physical (r ≥ 0.6, P < 0.01) livelihood indicators showed strong positive correlation with LWEF nexus resources.ConclusionBased on the finding of the study, it was observed that managing nexus resources not only provide a significant contribution to achieve sustainable LWEF nexus, but also be effective for enhancing livelihood through food security. This could be attained by strong evidence based policy to ensure sustainable use of nexus resources. The results provided by this study would serve as the foundation for future study, policy formulation and implementation.