Bridging ICTs with governance capabilities for food – energy – water sustainability

• The governance of food-energy-water (FEW) systems presents us with a challenging problem. Due to divergent understandings, this issue cannot be precisely articulated or solved because of inherent complexities associated with the monitoring and evaluation of these interlinked systems. Partly as a response to these challenges, we are witnessing a proliferation of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Examples include the use of the internet and mobile phones as a means of communicating information or as tools for monitoring the delivery of key services. Many of these ‘small infrastructures’ have been implemented through strong public-private sector partnerships as well as direct involvement of citizens in ICT initiatives. However, there is still insufficient understanding of how ICTs can better support the governance of FEW. Drawing upon scholarship on governance capabilities, we explore new theoretical avenues with the aim to better understand the relationship between ICTs and FEW governance. We further draw upon a literature survey to identify key ICT examples to relate our analysis with five main governance capabilities: reflexivity, resilience, responsiveness, revitalisation, and rescaling.

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)