On March 5, 2025, the ONEPlanET project convened a focused webinar to address one of the most pressing challenges in sustainable development: the availability and quality of data for modeling the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus in support of Africa’s just energy transition.
The session brought together experts from the ONEPlanET team to discuss the technical and institutional hurdles they face in creating reliable, basin-level models. These models are essential for guiding policy decisions that balance water, energy, and food needs in a context of growing demand and climate vulnerability.
A central theme of the webinar was the adaptation of national datasets—often developed for broad, country-level analyses—to more localized river basin contexts. This process requires innovative methodologies that are also adaptable to global, continental, and regional datasets. The team identified three major challenges: sourcing trustworthy, open-access data; developing effective downscaling techniques; and applying robust validation frameworks to ensure the reliability and transparency of results.
In line with the European Union’s open-source standards, the team stressed the importance of using credible, official data sources to enhance transparency and reproducibility. These practices are foundational for building models that can serve both policy and planning functions at multiple scales.
The webinar also highlighted the difficulty of integrating regional economic data into WEF models. Economic policies are typically designed at the national level, leaving gaps in the ability to reflect the nuanced realities of local and rural economies—particularly in transboundary areas. Participants pointed to the need for more accessible, harmonized economic data, citing the African Union’s Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa as a critical initiative in this space.
As the ONEPlanET project moves forward, efforts will focus on refining data models, improving validation techniques, and enhancing the integration of economic analysis into WEF systems. These steps are crucial for delivering actionable, data-driven tools that empower African stakeholders to pursue equitable, sustainable development strategies.