Systematic Approach for Assessing the Water–Energy–Food Nexus for Sustainable Development in Regions with Resource Scarcities (original) (raw)
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Water, energy and food security
2012 IEEE Conference on Technology and Society in Asia (T&SA), 2012
Water, energy and food are inextricably linked and underpin the development and expansionary nature of current global trade and productivity models. Global concerns about limited access to these three fundamentals for life are compounded by growing concerns about their future availability and sustainability. Adding more people to an increasingly urbanized planet will exert significant pressure on the level and complexity of trade-offs required among these three development goals; trade-offs that at the same time must act to minimize the potential to accelerate ecosystem degradation. This paper argues that realizing long-term water, energy and food security is possible; however, a "business as usual" approach cannot achieve this. A transformation in thinking and approach is necessary with the adoption of new management and development opportunities, which are enabled by innovative technology. A new approach, thinking in a Nexus perspective, is at the core to redefining our understanding of the inter-relationships between the water, energy and food security, and is a fundamental tenet to realizing the Green Economy. This paradigm shift is vital to achieving the sustainability development goals in an environment of global climate and economic change.
-The nexus between water, energy and food (WEF) is the focus of growing concerns on the availability of vital resources derived from these intertwined systems, and how to manage the nexus resources to respond to the challenges posed by future human demands, aggravated by the perspective of climate change. This paper uses the recent Paris Climate Agreement as a WEF nexus case study, in which we assess the near-term and medium-term implications of the Paris pledges on the WEF nexus in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). For this purpose, we employ the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), a state-of-the-art integrated assessment model of human and natural processes that captures the national-level WEF synergies and tradeoffs and allows the understanding of the key drivers of the WEF sectoral interactions and the role of climate policies such as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) that are included in the Paris pledges. Our findings indicate that under the emissions mitigation scenario explicitly modeled to represent the Paris pledges framework, potential conflicts regarding the use of nexus resources in LAC countries may be exacerbated by the induced changes in the energy and food sectors that would impact water availability and use. Despite the differential implications of the Paris pledges across the LAC region, increased water demands for crop irrigation and electricity generation were identified as the pivotal sources of the nexus conflicts that may emerge under the climate policy NDC scenario. Hence, this study underscores the need to refine national climate policies fully-integrated within a WEF nexus resource planning framework such that a balance between the rational use of the nexus resources and stringent climate policies can be found. The interdependency between water, energy and food is growing in importance as demand for water, energy and food (WEF) securities increases. Several regions of the world are already experiencing WEF security challenges, which adversely affect sustainable economic growth. For instance, in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, population and income per capita continue to grow, which in turn increases demand for water, energy and food, especially in fast-growing countries. At the same time, scarcity in water, energy or food is caused not only by physical factors, but there are also political and economic issues at play that effect the allocation, availability, and use of these resources. Almost all primary energy production and electricity generation processes require significant amounts of water, and the treatment and transport of water require energy (mainly in the form of electricity); food production requires both water and energy resources. For instance, even though water use for energy generation is non-consumptive, temperature changes in return flows have impacts on aquatic ecosystems, and conflicts with other uses of water (such as food production) may arise in water scarce regions and basins due to different demand regimes. Climate change will further exacerbate problems like this, as local climate dictates spatial and temporal variations of water availability, and lead to intensified flooding and drought events. This is likely to increase competition for water across sectors, such as agriculture, the biggest consumer of water worldwide, but also energy generation, potable water supply, as well as the environment. Specifically, in the LAC region, a number of key interactions illustrate the relevance of the WEF nexus. Water is needed for food production: 90 percent of the region's agricultural land is rain-fed. In the water-constrained Andes, there is sufficient water to produce a diet of 3,000 kcal with 20 percent animal products. But changing precipitation patterns and growing demand for food are increasing the need for irrigation. Combined with urbanization, this is increasing pressures on rural landscapes and on water supplies.Water is needed for energy
Energy, 2020
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The nexus approach to water–energy–food security: an option for adaptation to climate change
Developing countries face a difficult challenge in meeting the growing demands for food, water, and energy, which is further compounded by climate change. Effective adaptation to change requires the efficient use of land, water, energy, and other vital resources, and coordinated efforts to minimize trade-offs and maximize synergies. However, as in many developing countries, the policy process in South Asia generally follows a sectoral approach that does not take into account the interconnections and interdependence among the three sectors. Although the concept of a water–energy–food nexus is gaining currency, and adaptation to climate change has become an urgent need, little effort has been made so far to understand the linkages between the nexus perspective and adaptation to climate change. Using the Hindu Kush Himalayan region as an example, this article seeks to increase understanding of the interlinkages in the water, energy, and food nexus, explains why it is important to consider this nexus in the context of adaptation responses, and argues that focusing on trade-offs and synergies using a nexus approach could facilitate greater climate change adaptation and help ensure food, water, and energy security by enhancing resource use efficiency and encouraging greater policy coherence. It concludes that a nexus-based adaption approach – which integrates a nexus perspective into climate change adaptation plans and an adaptation perspective into development plans – is crucial for effective adaptation. The article provides a conceptual framework for considering the nexus approach in relation to climate change adaptation, discusses the potential synergies, trade-offs, and offers a broader framework for making adaptation responses more effective. Policy relevance This article draws attention to the importance of the interlinkages in the water, energy, and food nexus, and the implications for sustainable development and adaptation. The potential synergies and complementarities among the sectors should be used to guide formulation of effective adaptation options. The issues highlight the need for a shift in policy approaches from a sectoral focus, which can result in competing and counterproductive actions, to an integrated approach with policy coherence among the sectors that uses knowledge of the interlinkages to maximize gain, optimize trade-offs, and avoid negative impacts.
Sustainability
Water, energy, and food security are essential for maintenance and human survival. This research applied an approach for the water–energy–food system to a watershed in the Atlantic Rainforest in Southern Brazil. It is based on a WEAP system that was developed and evaluated future water demand scenarios for the 2020–2050 timespan. The Sustainability Index (SI) was used to assess the scenarios to propose an alternative to compare the current development trend. The results indicated that by 2050, the necessary flow for different water uses would be 78.75% greater than in 2020 while maintaining the present scenario (C_REF). Substituting part of the hydroelectric energy by photovoltaic solar energy (C_EAL), implementing watershed action masterplans as a water resource instrument (C_GES), and integrating these scenarios (C_INT) will reduce the current demand ranging from 8.96% to 24.59%. The average flow would decrease by 28.44% and 29.07%, respectively, by evaluating water availability i...
Regional Environmental Change, 2016
Water is considered the bloodstream of the biosphere, but its management is one of the most important challenges for human development. In view of the sustainable water management, several approaches have been proposed: Integrated Water Resources Management, Adaptive Management and, more recently, Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus. Considering these approaches, over the last few decades, extensive efforts have been made to develop assessment methods and tools framed within the paradigm of sustainable development. As part of a holistic assessment of water resources, the recent approach based upon the WEF Nexus narrows down the consideration of intersectoral linkages to three dimensions that are of prominent interest, in particular in developing countries. This study presents a comprehensive indicator-based approach for the assessment of water, energy and food securities, with reference to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The main ambition of the proposed approach is to provide a tool to monitor progresses, compare different geographical areas, highlight synergies and conflicts amongst and within the three dimensions of the WEF Nexus, and provide support for improved-more effective-management strategies to meet the goals. The proposed approach is demonstrated in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) River Basin in Asia and to the Po River Basin in Europe. The comparative analysis suggests that WEF security is currently rather low in the GBM basin compared to the other case study and other parts of the world and allows the identification of which dimensions (indicators) require special attention on the part of local and global policy makers.
The Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A systematic review of methods for nexus assessment
The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is rapidly expanding in scholarly literature and policy settings as a novel way to address complex resource and development challenges. The nexus approach aims to identify tradeoffs and synergies of water, energy, and food systems, internalize social and environmental impacts, and guide development of cross-sectoral policies. However, while the WEF nexus offers a promising conceptual approach, the use of WEF nexus methods to systematically evaluate water, energy, and food interlinkages or support development of socially and politically-relevant resource policies has been limited. This paper reviews WEF nexus methods to provide a knowledge base of existing approaches and promote further development of analytical methods that align with nexus thinking. The systematic review of 245 journal articles and book chapters reveals that (a) use of specific and reproducible methods for nexus assessment is uncommon (less than one-third); (b) nexus methods frequently fall short of capturing interactions among water, energy, and food—the very linkages they conceptually purport to address; (c) assessments strongly favor quantitative approaches (nearly three-quarters); (d) use of social science methods is limited (approximately one-quarter); and (e) many nexus methods are confined to disciplinary silos—only about one-quarter combine methods from diverse disciplines and less than one-fifth utilize both quantitative and qualitative approaches. To help overcome these limitations, we derive four key features of nexus analytical tools and methods—innovation, context, collaboration, and implementation—from the literature that reflect WEF nexus thinking. By evaluating existing nexus analytical approaches based on these features, we highlight 18 studies that demonstrate promising advances to guide future research. This paper finds that to address complex resource and development challenges, mixed-methods and transdisciplinary approaches are needed that incorporate social and political dimensions of water, energy, and food; utilize multiple and interdisciplinary approaches; and engage stakeholders and decision-makers.