Rethinking water governance in a changing world: A WEF-nexus perspective on climate challenges and emerging pollutants in the Sub-saharan Africa (RWG-CCEP-SSA)

ABSTRACT Infographic showing climate stressors and emerging pollutants interacting within the WEF Nexus, highlighting governance fragmentation and pathways toward integrated solutions. African freshwater systems are undergoing hydro-morphological changes due to climate-induced hydrological variability, rapid socio-economic transformation, expanding agriculture, and emerging pollutants (EPs). These interacting pressures threaten water security, ecosystem integrity, biodiversity conservation, and the sustainability of water, energy, and food systems. This study synthesizes water-governance challenges discussed during the 2025 RWG-CCEP-WEF Conference held in Lusaka, Zambia, involving participants from over 15 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Using thematic coding, cognitive mapping, literature synthesis, and policy reflections within the Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus framework, the analysis identified seven thematic clusters, five governance pillars, and four recurring systemic stressors: climate variability, EPs, institutional fragmentation, and ecosystem degradation. About 70% of discussions identified governance fragmentation and poor institutional coordination as major barriers to integrated WEF management, while over 60% emphasized inadequate pollution monitoring and limited integration of Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Governance structures strongly influenced Water–Energy, Water–Food, and Energy–Food interactions affecting climate adaptation, hydropower development, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), agricultural intensification, and basin-scale resource conflicts. The proposed WEF-Nexus governance framework highlights adaptive management, ecological-flow protection, pollution monitoring, cross-basin cooperation, and evidence-based policy integration as critical pathways for strengthening resilience and sustainability across SSA and other climate-vulnerable regions, in an ever-changing world.