Te nexus approach is spilling over to other sec-
tors. Te food-water-energy nexus gained a great deal of atention in late 2011 with the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference (see Box 9). In an increasingly interlinked global environment, a nexus approach to agriculture offers considerable potential to improve nutrition and health, to manage natural
resources more sustainably, to improve people’s livelihoods, and to support more inclusive eco- nomic growth. Looking ahead, it is important to build an evidence base that will improve under- standing and help identify viable opportunities to strengthen linkages across sectors and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. ■
BOX 9
Food, Water, and Energy: Understanding the Nexus Claudia Ringler, IFPRI
D
uring the last few years, the cross- sectoral linkages on the supply side
of agriculture have become more appar- ent as key agricultural inputs have grown scarcer and more expensive. Key among these linkages are those of agriculture and food with water, land and energy resources, and environmental/biodiversity outcomes. The food-water-energy nexus has come to the forefront in discussions at several international forums in the run-up to the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development that will take place in Brazil in June of 2012. One such forum, the Bonn2011 conference on “The Water, Energy, and Food Security Nexus: Solutions for the Green Economy,” con- cluded that “achieving water, energy and food security, and consequently reduc- ing hunger and eradicating poverty, is a central future challenge that is possible to overcome, even under difficult and chal- lenging global economic conditions.”1 Much work has been done on water
and food interlinkages. Water supply is essential for food production, which depletes about 80 percent of global fresh- water withdrawals annually. Population growth, economic growth, urbanization, and industrialization have fueled increas- ing water scarcity, putting as much as half of all global grain production at risk of insufficient water resources by 2050.2
Increasingly it is not only water availabil- ity that is being compromised, but also water quality. Investments in the sector have been insufficient in most developing countries to meet growing demand for clean and safe water. Less is known about the interlinkages
between energy and food and among energy, water, and food. However, the growing interdependence of food and oil prices as a result of increased energy use in agriculture and the growing share of foodcrop use as biofuels have made the need for joint policy development appar- ent. Higher energy prices have driven up food prices and reduced the availability of land and water for food production (due to competition from expanded bio- fuel production). At the same time, poor people’s access to sufficient food, water, and energy remains unacceptably low, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These linkages thus demand holisti-
cally developed programs and policies. This is particularly crucial because food production will need to increase substan- tially in the next four decades to meet growing demand. To achieve food security without compromising sustainable water and energy supplies, improved policies, institutions, and investments should include the following principles:
• develop clear national food and nutri- tion policies that take into account the consequences for water and energy;
• reduce water, food, and energy subsi- dies that lower resource-use efficiency and have adverse impacts on the poor and the environment;
• maximize complementarities between public and private stakeholders in food, water, and energy provision;
• promote resource-use-efficient tech- nology development and dissemina- tion, particularly technologies the poor can afford;
• promote tenure security for both water and land;
• focus and strengthen crop and other agricultural research at the food- water-energy nexus (for example, drought-tolerant, high-yielding, nutrient-use-efficient crops); and
• create markets and trade solutions that ensure least-cost input flow for farmers and consumers.
If food, water, and energy connections
remain unaddressed, global food security will not be achieved, particularly for the rural poor.
AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND HEALTH 61
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126