Download The Food-Energy-Water Nexus: Opportunities in the Tropics

The Food-Energy-Water Nexus:
Opportunities in the Tropics
Ximing Cai, Kevin Wallington
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Connected Food, Energy and Water Issues In the Tropics
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Agricultural land expansion vs. deforestation
Irrigation vs. water and energy requirement
Biofuel vs. water and environment
Hydropower vs. fishery
Hydropower vs. CO2 emissions
Charcoal (a source of cooking energy) vs. food
production vs. water
• Impact of land use change for food and energy on
hydrology
• Agricultural land expansion vs. deforestation
“IN THE TROPICAL DOMAIN, net annual LOSS OF FOREST area from 2000 to 2010 was about 7
MILLION HECTARES and net annual INCREASE IN AGRICULTURAL LAND area was more than 6
MILLION HECTARES” (FAO 2016)
• Irrigation vs. water and energy requirement
• Irrigation is expected to increase
considerably due to land
expansion and climate change
especially in arid and semi-arid
tropical regions (Zabel, et al. 2014)
• Increasing pressure on the supply
of both water and energy (for
pumping)
• Biofuel vs. water and environment
• Agricultural land is expanding to meet demand
for biofuels in countries such as Brazil,
Indonesia, and Malaysia (Gibbs et al, 2011)
• Global resilience declines when converting
tropical forest to savanna (a critical transition)
• It can take several decades or longer to reach
carbon payback time for biofuels that are
grown at the expense of forests (Gibbs et al.
2008)
Hirota et al. 2011
• Hydropower vs. fishery
• Hydropower is a major source of
electricity in Brazil and has
growing potential in many
tropical regions
• Debate about “more
hydropower and less fishery”
• A decline of 70% in measures of
tropical freshwater biodiversity
since 1970 (WWF’s Living Planet
Report 2012)
Planned dams in tropical regions and vulnerable
fish species (Winemiller et al. 2016)
• Hydropower vs. CO2 emissions
• Traditionally, hydropower recognized as a
“clean energy” in terms of GHG emissions
• Emissions from decomposition in
reservoirs can be significantly higher than
previously believed (Fearnside, 2012;
Winemiller et al., 2016)
• The initial surge in GHG emissions due to
decomposition of the inundated upstream
vegetation may outweigh the GHG savings
of fossil fuel reduction (Gunkel, 2009).
• Charcoal vs. food production vs. water
• Charcoal is recognized as a key source of
energy in the rural areas of tropical countries
• Charcoal production contributes about 7% to
total forest cover loss in tropical countries.
• Emissions of GHGs from charcoal production
in tropical ecosystems in 2009 are estimated
at 71.2 million t for carbon dioxide and 1.3
million t for methane (Chidumayo and
Gumbo 2012)
• Impact of land use change on hydrology
Potential effects of deforestation on
tropic hydrology
Wohl et al 2012
Teleconnections between Amazon tropical
forest and regions across the globe.
Rockstram et al 2009
Food-Energy-Water Nexus Framework
What does nexus represent?
• Resource to each other
(input/output relation)
• Connected processes
• Institutions and markets with
overlays
What does nexus end with?
Biggs et al. 2015
• Trade-offs among different
stakeholders/sectors
• Synergies
• Joint solutions for co-benefits
Water-Food-Energy-Environment  Water FEE!
Research Opportunities
Tropics are relatively unstudied region
• Fundamental earth system
processes
• Technology innovation and
system design
• Policy reform
• FEW system resilience
• Monitoring
• Interdisciplinary studies
• International collaboration
Wohl et al 2012
Filling the Knowledge Gaps
in fundamental earth system processes that
Earth system processes in the tropics region are characterized
by greater magnitude, inter-annual variability, and spatial
gradients than those generally found elsewhere (Wohl et al, 2012,
Bronell and Bruijnzeel, 2005).
• Land use pattern  Water flow regime, nutrient
dynamics  fishery habitats, biodiversity
• Land and water use thresholds in catastrophic shifts in
ecosystems
• Sensitivity to and uncertainty in climate change and
socioeconomic development
Technologies for the Co-Benefits of F, E and W
Harnessing renewable energy sources
Use of solar power for
groundwater pumping
(Omer 2001)
Potential for wind
power in Brazil (Dutra
and Szklo 2008)
Use renewable
energy for food
storage
Desalinization
Environmentally
enhanced
hydropower
Policies for the Co-Benefits of F, E and W
• Balancing economic interests and ecological
sustainability
• Accounting for social equity, especially for
underrepresented groups
• The role of international food market and prices
• Targeting local contexts and priorities, e.g.,
 food security focus in tropical African
countries
 zero-deforestation goal in tropical South
American countries
Shift from individual food, energy
or water centric attempts to
coordination of F, E, and W goals
can make the tropics more
sustainable!
Thanks! Questions?