Regulating the water-energy-food nexus: Interdependencies, transaction costs and procedural justice

Author

Shaun LARCOM
Terry VAN GEVELT, Singapore Management UniversityFollow

Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

6-2017

Abstract

There have been calls for an overhaul of regulatory and governance frameworks to incorporate the implications of the water-energy-food nexus. We map one small component of the regulatory space of the nexus and highlight its immense complexity. We draw on insights from the economics and socio-legal literatures to show that a decentralised approach to regulation based upon procedural justice can enable the trade-offs of the nexus to be considered and addressed. We use a nexus case study of micro hydro-electricity generation in Dartmoor National Park in England to show that when we take into account interactions between state and non-state regulation, the economic concepts of interdependencies and transaction costs, and a recognition that regulation of the nexus is a process involving decisions of procedural justice, some existing regulatory frameworks are already well-equipped to deal with the implications of nexus analysis.

Keywords

Environmental regulation, Environmental justice, Water-energy-food nexus, Renewable energy

Discipline

Environmental Sciences | Urban Studies and Planning

Publication

Environmental Science & Policy

Volume

72

First Page

55

Last Page

64

ISSN

1462-9011

Identifier

10.1016/j.envsci.2017.03.003

Publisher

Elsevier Inc.

Citation

LARCOM, Shaun and VAN GEVELT, Terry. Regulating the water-energy-food nexus: Interdependencies, transaction costs and procedural justice. (2017). Environmental Science & Policy. 72, 55-64.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/54

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2017.03.003