RETOUCH NEXUS Policy Briefs
Evidence-based recommendations for integrated water governance within the WEFE Nexus
About our Policy Briefs
The RETOUCH NEXUS project develops evidence-based policy recommendations to support effective, sustainable, and integrated water governance across the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus. Our policy briefs translate research findings into actionable guidance for decision-makers and stakeholders at local, regional, national, and European levels.
Each brief synthesizes insights from governance analysis, stakeholder engagement, and innovative practices to address the complex challenges of water management in a changing climate.
General Policy Recommendations
Cross-cutting policy briefs addressing broad governance challenges
Water resilience is built with better water governance
This policy brief examines the fundamental principles and practices needed to build resilient water governance systems. It addresses the institutional, legal, and participatory mechanisms that enable adaptive management in the face of climate change and increasing resource pressures. The brief provides recommendations applicable across diverse European contexts, emphasizing multi-level coordination, stakeholder engagement, and the integration of water security with broader sustainability goals.
Leveraging Economics for Water Resilience
This policy brief examines the role of economic instruments in building water resilience across Europe. It presents a structured economic toolbox, spanning price-based instruments, subsidies and Payments for Environmental Services, trading schemes, risk-management tools, and blended finance arrangements, and sets out the enabling governance conditions required for these tools to be effective. The brief also highlights how economic and Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems (WEFE) nexus modelling, including Computable General Equilibrium approaches, can help policymakers assess trade-offs and distributional impacts before implementation. Published by the WaterGovernance2027 synergy group, bringing together InnWater, GOVAQUA and RETOUCH NEXUS.
What "Nexus"? Towards Resource Nexus Standardization
This policy brief, co-authored by RETOUCH NEXUS coordinator Dr. Maria Vrachioli and led by UNU-FLORES and the PRIMA Foundation, proposes a new definition of the Resource Nexus and outlines a concrete roadmap toward standardization and certification of Nexus projects. It demonstrates how a broader Resource Nexus Framework, extending beyond Water-Energy-Food to include soil, biota, marine ecosystems, and material resources, can improve policy coherence, manage trade-offs, and unlock synergies across sectors and scales.
Case Studies Policy Briefs
Regional pathways for improved integrated water governance across our demonstration sites
Júcar River Basin
Key Focus Areas
- Cross-sector stakeholder partnerships
- Water pricing and economic instruments
- Basin-wide WEFE nexus integration
Island Water Sustainability
Key Focus Areas
- Water-energy nexus integration
- Water reuse prioritization
- Stakeholder platform expansion
Building Effective Participation
Key Focus Areas
- Meaningful stakeholder engagement
- Organizational culture change
- Capacity building for participation
Upper Main River Basin
Key Focus Areas
- Multi-stakeholder partnerships
- Digital engagement platforms
- Nature-based solutions incentives
National Water Governance
Key Focus Areas
- Inter-ministerial coordination
- River basin-based planning
- Economic instruments and pricin
Blue Deal into Action
Key Focus Areas
- Decentralized water solutions
- Business models and financing
- Public-private partnerships
Scaling Water Governance
Instruments Across Europe
Collective Rainwater Systems: A More Cost-Effective Path to Water Resilience
How much more valuable is a shared rainwater infrastructure than individual tanks? The Keiberg Vossem greenfield business park in Flanders provides a compelling answer. This brief applies a full cost-benefit analysis over a 40-year horizon, comparing business-as-usual individual rainwater systems against a collective, connected approach, revealing a net saving of over €242,000 and significant WEFE co-benefits including groundwater recharge and reduced energy demand for treatment.
What Farmers Actually Want: Designing Drought Policy Around Real Preferences
In Noord-Holland’s supply-constrained polders, farmer investment in drought adaptation has stalled, not for lack of awareness, but because existing instruments fail to reflect what farmers value. Using a choice experiment methodology, this brief reveals that storage investments remain unattractive without robust cost-sharing; that abstraction bans are only acceptable when paired with bridging support; and that cooperative schemes outperform isolated instruments by addressing trust and transaction costs.
Pricing Scarcity: How Dynamic Water Tariffs Balance Allocation and Ecosystem Health
Two river basin case studies, the Júcar in Spain and the Upper Main in Germany, demonstrate how hydro-economic models can transform static tariffs into adaptive pricing instruments. Dynamic pricing linked to reservoir storage levels delivers a more balanced sectoral trade-off than uniform tariffs. In Germany, shadow water prices rise steadily toward 2050, while quality degradation compounds scarcity, reducing production potential by up to 15%. Transparency through open dashboards is key to public acceptance.
When Growth Becomes Unsustainable: Water-Energy Trade-offs in Island States
Malta depends on energy-intensive desalination to meet its water needs, creating a deep interdependence between water and energy security. Monte Carlo simulations over 50 years show that without deliberate reinvestment policy, current economic growth trajectories become potentially unsustainable within three decades. This brief proposes expanding Malta’s governance framework to a full WEFE nexus approach, with full-cost recovery pricing and renewable energy integration.
Hidden Water: How Supply Chains Transmit Water Risk Across Slovakia's Economy
In Slovakia, agriculture accounts for only 2% of added value yet consumes 29% of total blue water. But the risk doesn’t stop there, water constraints cascade through food processing, manufacturing, and services via hidden supply-chain linkages. Using an environmentally extended input-output framework, this brief maps these virtual water flows and shows why blanket restrictions cause disproportionate harm while targeted efficiency measures deliver savings at low economic cost.