27 March 2015: The UN University Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources (UNU-FLORES) convened the inaugural Dresden Nexus Conference, with a focus on a “nexus approach” to climate change, urbanization and population growth, and how it could contribute to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

DNC2015 took place from 25-27 March 2015, in Dresden, Germany, with participants addressing the sustainable management of environmental resources such as water, soil and waste, through a nexus approach that integrates environmental management and governance across sectors and scales, to increase resource use efficiency while minimizing environmental risks and ecological degradation.

The first day of the conference focused on how adopting a nexus approach could mitigate growing water, food and energy insecurity due to climate change. The second day explored the possibilities and challenges of urbanization, while the last day of the conference examined strategies to address challenges for sustainable resource management posed by population growth.

“The train that is going to bring us a total global population of 9.6 billion people by 2050 has already left the station.… Our task is to be prepared to receive these guests,” said Rattan Lal, Chair of UNU-FLORES Advisory Committee. UNU-FLORES Director Reza Ardakanian said education in the “nexus mind-set” is the first step to implementing the integrated management of environmental resources.

According to UNU-FLORES, scientific case studies presented at DNC2015 showed that action taken to implement the SDGs will produce both positive and negative feedback, or tradeoffs. They indicated the need to identify the mechanisms and tools that result in the least negative feedback, and noted that applying a nexus approach provides a better understanding of these synergies and tradeoffs, and enables the detection of the most optimal strategies.

DNC2015 was organized by UNU-FLORES, the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD), and the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER).

The Dresden Nexus Conference is planned to take place every two years. [UNU Press Release] [UN-FLORES Press Release]