Bridging ICTs with governance capabilities for food–energy–water sustainability: Emergent Governance Studies

In this chapter, we critically explore the important role that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play in food, energy, and water (FEW) governance. In particular, we perceive an important role for ICTs in bridging the knowledge gap associated with FEW development goals and for addressing the many synergies and trade-offs between these goals and existing governance arrangements (Mol, 2006; UN, 2014; WWAP, 2015). FEW governance presents us with a ‘wicked’ problem in that it is unstructured, complex, and contains multiple and interconnected subsets of problems (Weber & Khademanian, 2009). A wicked problem can be understood as a problem that is typically ill-defined and involves many uncertainties and contrary views of how to address it (Dewulf & Termeer, 2015). In a similar way in which climate change adaptation is a wicked problem, FEW governance cannot be precisely formulated or solved due to diverging understandings of FEW development priorities as well as inherent complexities associated with their monitoring and evaluation (Murthy et al., 2013). Yet, FEW governance is becoming a key political priority as the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) places huge importance on FEW systems and the need for putting in place a comprehensive monitoring framework to track progress towards global sustainability (EAT Initiative, 2015). It is in this context that we envisage ICTs will play a substantial role in creating better conditions for FEW governance and thus aid in achieving the SDGs over the coming years.