By 2050, the world population is projected to reach over 9 billion and the number of people living in urban areas is expected to double. Challenges linked to an increased demand for food, water and energy resources demand innovative solutions.

The SUGI-FWE Nexus is a call by the Belmont Forum and the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe to bring together the fragmented research and expertise across the globe to address these challenges.

The initiative seeks to improve access to resources and quality of life in urban areas, by focusing on the interactions between the food, water and energy sectors. Research topics include:

• Robust knowledge, indicators and assessments
• Multi-level governance and management of the Food-Water-Energy Nexus
• Managing potential strategies and solutions to address emerging risk and tradeoffs at the intersection of sustainable urbanization and the Food-Water-Energy Nexus

START is providing an opportunity for African researchers to participate on international teams to develop solutions for this challenge.