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REPUBLIC OF DOUMBELANE: A FICTITIOUS CASE STUDY Seizing investment opportunities and activating positive Nexus interactions in the Repuoiic of Doumbeionez The Republic of Doumbelane is located in the midlatitudes of SubSaharan Africa. In general, it is well endowed with water resources, but there are strong spatial disparities. Rainfall is abundant in the south and moderate in the centre, while the north is dry. The country is drained by a number of significant watercourses, including some ofthe continent's major transboundary rivers. It also has several aquifers, most of them transboundary, which are often poorly studied and underutilized. Shared governance mechanisms for these transboundary resources {especially those on the surface) have been in place for several decades, and function with some success (coownership of water infrastructures, integration of national regulatory frameworks, etc). Their effectiveness, however, continues to be plagued by political, financial and technical problems. Half of the national territory of Doumbelane is in the underexploited savannah that the World Bank compared to the Brazilian Cerrado. Nearly 60% of the population earn their living through farming, which is essentially rainfed and thus vulnerable to the vagaries of climate. Doumbelane is heavily dependent on agricultural imports. Consumption oftraditional food crops (millet, cassava, yarn} is declining, while that of rice, corn and wheat is rising sharply from year to year. In 20072008, during the surge in imported grain prices, the populations of Doumbelane's large cities took to the streets to express their discontent, threatening the country's stability. Doumbelane is not an oil producer and is highly energy insecure. The peasant organizations that came together at the national level condemn the passivity of the Doumbelane government in the face of the current food crisis and explain the decline in local agricultural production by the economic liberalism adopted by the Doumbelane government in the early 19805 which led to the withdrawal of the State from the productive sectors (including agriculture}. With the support of national and international NGOs, Doumbelane's peasant organizations are denouncing the appropriation of their land, pointing the finger at the proliferation of land concessions granted by the State to foreign private investors. Doumbelane has a very long tradition of agricultural and agribusiness research. Unfortunately, its institutional capacity has eroded over time, resulting in a marked decline in scientific productivity. It is still struggling to generate, appropriate and apply, in an integrated manner, the knowledge and know-how essential for understanding and addressing the issues and challenges associated with the profitable and sustainable management of natural resources. While the management of water resources {irrigation} and land resources (fertility and agronomy} is relatively well developed at the micro level, higher-level knowledge and techniques are scarce, Incomplete or uncertain (long-term water resource planning, watershed management, environmental impact, etc.) Doumbelane is an open democracy with many platforms for dialogue and exchange between government, producers, cIvIl society, academics and researchers, but the current food crisis is creating tensions between stakeholders. It Is commonly accepted that the solutions adopted to date have not been effective and that new answers, or even a new paradigm, must be considered. However, little attention has been paid to the Interactions between water, arable land, energy and food security. Very few national actors have been Involved in the International discussion and debate on Nexus. It Is In this context that three large foreign investors, aware of Doumbelane's great water and arable land potential, have come to the country's capital with proposals for major agricultural investment projects. - Investor A Is asking for 100,000 hectares of land for biofuel production [sunflowen jatropha, oIl palm) destined primarily for the European market, but some ofthch could be sold locally. I Investor B would like to obtain 20,000 hectares of irrigable land along the country's largest river - a river that Doumbelane shares with 5 other countries. He wishes to expand his grain production area, which already extends Into three of the fIve countries along the rIver. - Investor C, whose financial resources exceed those of Investors A and B combined, is exploring the market and is open to any agricultural investment opportunities. However, Investor C has clearly indicated to the Doumbelane authorities that he is not Interested in philanthropy and Is seeking to maximize return on investment. The peasant organizations have been mobilizing for several months to denounce these investment projects, which they consider to be an aggressive large-scale appropriation of their land. They advocate support for family farming. The movement's most radical fringe is calling on the State to stop promoting conventional "star" cropsgrains such as rice, corn and wheatin favour of supporting a revival and revitalization of \"orphan crops\" {millet, sorghum, cowpeas, fonio, plantain, vam, cassava, etc} to reduce the impacts of international market fluctuations on the food security of Doumhelane. The government is working on several fronts to develop an ambitious food security strategy. It plans to team up with partners who can provide access to nancial resources and expertise. It also wishes to revise Its rural area management practices: land laws, appropriate land and water resource allocation mechanisms, environmental protection, decentralization, etc. The Prime Minister of Doumbelane instructs the Minister of Agriculture to convene and chair a meeting of the High Advisorv Authoritv on Agricultural Investment {HAAAI} of the Republic of Doumbelane. The purpose of the meeting is to examine the investment proposals and make recommendations to the government. HAAAI is a structure made up of representatives of the State, civil societv, peasant organizations and the private sector. Investors A, B and C are invited, on an exceptional basis, to attend the HAAAI meeting In order to defend their projects and receive suggestions. You are the scientific advisor to the Minister of Agriculture. You suggest to her that she should use the Nexus approach to prepare the HAAAI meeting. She receives this idea with enthusiasm, as she thinks that Nexus will change the perspectives of those present. However, she feels that there are still few examples of the application of Nexus models in other African countries 1 Don mbelane is the name of a mythical country:r founded by animals, the setting for most of LS. Sen ghor and A. Sadji's \"Leuk- le-livre\" stories. In the Republic of Doumbelane, "the animals lived in peace" and "loved one another\". "The strong protected the weak. Everybodfs needs were met through the collective efforts of all". [Senghor F: Sadji, La Belle Hisfoire de Leu k-le- LiEvre. EDICEF-NEA, 2001 {Reprint}