Water-food-energy nexus

Water-food-energy nexus

Developing countries face a difficult challenge in meeting the growing demands of the population for food, water, and energy, and the problem is further compounded by climate change. Understanding the role of the water, energy, and food nexus is essential for designing effective policies and strategies to minimize the danger of sources scarcity compared to the population growth in the world.

Water, food and energy are vital to humanity survival. The interdependent relationship between water, food and energy has to be understood to have an initial idea on this strong relationship and how any change in these elements would affect the others.

Water is used for producing fossil fuels as well as biofuels which are needed for generating electricity and creating energy. Some kinds of fuels are water intensive and require great amounts of water.

Energy, on the other hand, is needed for extracting, transporting, distributing and treating water.

Food and agriculture also require enormous amounts of water. Agriculture is by far the largest consumer of the Earth’s available freshwater: 70% of “blue water” withdrawals from watercourses and groundwater are for agricultural usage, three times more than 50 years ago. By 2050, the global water demand of agriculture is estimated to increase by a further 19% due to irrigational needs.

These facts call for a fast and reliable action. Governments and societies need to collaborate and take action to reduce the over-usage of these three basic elements before it is too late. Luckily, awareness is being raised at the moment, but more responsibility needs to be taken towards this global issue.