The Big 3: Water, Energy And Food—Cornerstones Of Human Well-Being

Interdependence and Challenges

Deeply Interconnected Resources: Water, energy, and food form a complex system where the demand and supply of each influence the others. These resources are inter linked to well-being of humans and are interrelated. Demand for all three is increasing immensely. With the climate change impacts affecting all three of these there is a need to balance the needs of people, nature and economy.

Rising Global Demand: Population growth, rapid urbanization, economic development, and changing diets (favoring water-intensive foods like meat and dairy) are increasing the pressure on these resources. There is a significant global move away from a mainly starch-based diet.

Climate Change Impact: 80% of the global population most at risk from crop failures and hunger from climate change are in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, where farming families are disproportionately poor and vulnerable. Extreme weather, heatwaves, unpredictable water supply, and crop diseases compound the stress on agriculture and resource availability.

Rising global warming and climate change are causing frequent and prolonged extreme heat seasons, less predictable water supply, more crop disease. The intense heat due to climate impacts causes rapid evaporation from plants and soil and the crops need more water today than before.

Environmental Impact: Food production’s significant contribution to greenhouse gases and biodiversity loss aggravates climate issues. It’s recently been estimated that the global food system is responsible for about a third of greenhouse gas emissions—second only to the energy sector; it is the number one source of methane and biodiversity loss.

The integrated systems of land, soil and water are being stretched to breaking point. Efficiency measures along the entire agri-food chain can help save water and energy, such as precision irrigation based on information supplied by water providers, and protection of ecosystems alongside agriculture and energy production can ensure environmental integrity.

There needs to be much more support for the development of less water-intensive renewable energy, such as hydropower and wind. Geothermal energy has great potential and does not consume water.

The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist & a communications professional in the field of climate and energy