Data and analysis toolbox for modeling the nexus of food, energy, and water (original) (raw)

2020, Sustainable Cities and Society

food resources are highly interdependent. Agricultural irrigation accounts for 84% of global consumptive freshwater use, the food supply chain demands up to 30% of global primary energy use, and roughly 80% of global electricity generation depends on water for cooling (an average of nearly 100 L of water withdrawn per kWh). Improving understanding of the complex interactions of this resource nexus is, therefore, a top priority for human well-being, sustainable development, and policymaking. Here, we present an interactive analysis toolbox, Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water (NeFEW), that synthesizes available global data to enable modeling and analysis of these resources and their interdependencies at the country-level and for user-specified categories and quantities. Sample analyses also presented here include country-specific estimates of water resources required to produce different types of food and energy, energy required per quantity of water or agricultural product supplied, and CO 2-equivalent emissions associated with water and energy provision. places around the world. Fig. 1 schematically depicts the interdependencies at the nexus of energy, water, and food at the global scale. Energy, water, and food resources are planned for and managed by different institutions based on different priorities and perspectives (Harris, 2002). When policymakers are concerned about food, both water and energy are considered as inputs/constraints to food/agricultural production. One illustrative example of policymaking based on the food perspective is that of the East and Southeast Asian countries, which substantially reduced the number of hungry individuals from 134 million in 1990−92 to 65 million in 2010−12 (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2012); Lele, Klousia-Marquis, & Goswami, 2013). These countries achieved this goal through "rapid agricultural intensification, diversification of agriculture and international trade in food and agriculture, while increasing water use efficiency and water productivity" (Food and Agriculture Organization of the