Rural vegetable farm in Makueni, Kenya. Photo: Lawrence Nzuve / SEI.
The literature and data review critically analyzed and synthesized relevant trends and patterns of the water-forest-energy-food (WFEF) nexus in East Africa. The trends revealed that there is urgent attention for food, water, forest and energy security and climate change in order for the realization of the sustainable development goals in the region especially since the countries are highly reliant on agriculture for livelihood. A number of recommendations can be highlighted from the study.
Data is still a major problem in all the four countries, especially on the WFEF nexus. This is evident especially with regard to the water and energy indices. The available data for some countries dates back to 2016 which is very old to warrant a conclusion. There is need to have a regional and country system for monitoring energy, water, and food security as well as forest cover while putting in place proper policy environment and institutional arrangement to manage and monitor exploitation of water, energy and forest resources.
