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Water-Energy-
Food Nexus
Dr Shaheen Akhtar
Associate Prof./ HoD IR,
NDU.
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Main Argument
The complex interplay of food, energy, andwater demand and supply requires a nexusapproach to enhance cross-sectoralcoherence, to improve management of theHimalayan headwaters, watersheds, forests,rangelands, soils, and farmlands on whichthe sustainability and stability of flow ofecosystem services depend.
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What is food, water, and energy nexus from aregional dimension?
What is the role of Indus Basin in sustaining food,water, and energy security in the region?
What is extent of dependency of downstreamcommunities on upstream ecosystem services?
What are the challenges of sustaining Indus Basinecosystems for food, water, and energy security?
How nexus approach can enhance sustainability andstability of flow of ecosystem services in thegeneral, especially in case of IB?
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Food, water, and energy
nexus Food, water, and energy are inextricably linked in a nexus,
and actions in one sector influence the others. Food
production requires water and energy; water extraction,
treatment, and redistribution require energy; and energy
production requires water.
The water–energy–food nexus is about understanding and
managing these often-competing interests while also
ensuring the integrity of ecosystems.
World Economic Forum 2011, the Bonn 2011 Nexus Conference,
the sixth World Water Forum, and World Water Week 2012, have
urged an integrated approach to food, water, and energy
security.
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Dynamic relationship among the food,
water, and energy sectors
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Hydro landscape of the region
South Asia has three major trans-boundary basins – in
terms of area, population, water resources, irrigation and
hydropower potential – the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra.
Most of these river basins originate in the Himalayas. They
support rich ecosystems, irrigate millions of hectares of
fields, in the vast area stretching from Indus Basin plains of Pak.
in the west to Ganges plains traversing India & BD to
Brahmaputra basin shared b/w India-China & BD in the east.
Four main co-riparian states are India-Pakistan- Afghanistan
& China in the west; India–Bangladesh–Nepal and China in
the east.
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About 30% of the world’s total glaciated mountain area isin the HKH region.
The Himalayan topography and rivers with abundant rain-fed and snow-fed water resources provide an opportunityfor generating an enormous amount of hydropower. Thehydropower potential of the HKH region is more than 500 GW.
The Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna river system isestimated to have about 200,000 MW of hydropowerpotential, of which half or more is considered to be feasiblefor harnessing .
The contribution of hydroelectricity to total commercialenergy is about 50% in Bhutan, 17% in Nepal, 13% inPakistan, 6% in India, and 4% in Afghanistan.
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Challenges in food, water, and
energy security in South Asia
With just 3% of the world’s land, South Asia has about one-
fourth of the world’s population (1.6 billion people).
More than 40% of the world’s poor live in this region and some
51% of the population is food–energy deficient . About 20% of
the population lacks access to safe drinking water. per capita
energy consumption is among the lowest in the world, only 300
kg of oil equivalent .
Rice and wheat, the staple foods in the sub-region, require
huge amounts of water and energy. Freshwater, once
abundant, is under growing stress due to the increased
demand for competing uses, and climate change is creating
additional uncertainties.
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Rapid population growth with South Asia’s populationprojected to increase from 1.36 billion in 2000 to 2.31 billion in2050 has increased demand for food, fodder, grazing land,water, and other natural resources in the mountains anddownstream .
Rapid urbanization at an annual rate of 2.87%, as compared to 2.34% worldwide is also increasing the demand for water, energy, and food.
The HKH region suffers severe land degradation, inparticular deforestation and forest degradation, erosion,landslides, overgrazing, biodiversity loss, decliningproductivity, and desertification.
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Forest degradation and the loss of vegetation have madethe Himalayan watersheds more vulnerable to erosion,which has led to loss of soil and nutrients, siltation of riversand reservoirs, and increases in the incidence and severity offlooding.
Siltation is not only causing river beds to rise; it is alsoaffecting the water infrastructure, reducing the life ofreservoirs and dams for hydropower, irrigation, and floodcontrol, thus affecting energy and food production.
The increase in water stress and water demand raisesquestions about how to ensure enough water for growingfood without losing hydropower for energy security.
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With a large and rising population,
limited land resources, inadequate
energy supply, and growing water
stress, South Asian countries face a
common challenge of how to produce
more food with the same or less land, less
water, and increased energy prices.
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Ecosystems: regional
dimension The Hindu Kush Himalayas provide ecosystem services that
are critical for water, energy, and agricultural sustainability andproductivity in South Asia.
Much of the food, water, and energy nexus debate so far hasfocused on inter-sectoral coordination for efficient use ofcompeting resources; the emphasis has been on integratingpolicies, mainly for water pricing and withdrawing subsidies toreduce energy demand for water in agriculture or for constructionof big infrastructure to store water to support the growingdemand for water and energy for irrigation.
Few systematic efforts have been made to understand thespatial and regional dimensions of the nexus, to examine the
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spatial patterns of resource availability and use, howresources flow, upstream–downstream linkages, andthe potential benefits of addressing challengesthrough regional and river-basin approaches.
Failure to recognize the value of HKH ecosystemsresults in inadequate measures to manage theheadwaters of the subregion’s rivers, theircatchments, watersheds, and vital natural resources,posing a serious threat to the sustained flow ofecosystem services critical for food, water, andenergy security in the HKH and downstream.
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Dependency of downstream communities
on upstream ecosystem services
The most distinctive feature of the nexus in SouthAsia is the high degree of dependency ofdownstream communities on upstreamecosystem services for dry-season water forirrigation and hydropower, drinking water, andsoil fertility and nutrients.
So far adequate measures have not been taken toprotect the vital Himalayan ecosystem resourcesthrough coordination between upstream anddownstream stakeholders.
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Role of IB in Sustaining food, water, and
energy security
Pakistan is one of the world’s driest countries with a an
average annual rainfall of about 240 mm. It is a ‘single basin’
country & its dependence on external water resources is 76%.
The population and economy are heavily dependent on an annual
influx into the Indus river system. The basin accounts for 21 % of
GDP, 45 % employment, and more than 60 % of its exports.
It is estimated that about 50-80% of the inflows in the Indus
River system is fed by snow and glacier melt from the Hindu
Kush Karakoram part of the HKH. With over 5000 glaciers, the
upper IB has a glaciated area of about 15,000 km2, which
corresponds to about 2700 km3 of stored ice, equivalent to about 14
years of average Indus River system inflows.
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The Hindu Kush Karakoram and western Himalayas are thesource of about 90% of the lowland flow of the Indus River andits tributaries.
In Pakistan, food, water, and energy security depends heavily on thestate of the Indus River.
In the Indus River system in Pakistan, 800 potential sites havebeen identified. The collective potential of hydropower in the IndusRiver system is about 60 GW, but only 6720 MW (11%) have beenrealized.
The Indus irrigation system, the world’s largest contiguousirrigation system, irrigates about 14.3 million hectares offarmland, representing about 76% of the cultivated area inPakistan; it enables the production of more than 80% of the foodgrains of Pakistan and cash crops, in particular cotton.
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Growing water stress in Indus
Basin
With the basin’s population of 215.8 million, the annual per
capita water availability of only 1,329 m3, is much below the
threshold of 1,700 m3 and is lowest when compared to GBM (3473)
and Helmand (2589) basins in the region.
Pakistan’s per capita water availability has dwindled from
5,600 cubic meters at the time of independence to 1,066 cubic
metres in 2010. It will fall to just 858 cubic meters annually by
2025 when Pak pop will rise to 208 million.
India per capita water availability has fallen from over 5000
cubic meters in 1950 to 1545 cubic meters by 2011 & will hit
1000 cubic meter per person in 2025.
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Drivers for water stress range from rising population,industrialization, urbanization to climate change- glaciermelt, fluctuations in precipitation patterns; increasinggroundwater use, and direct withdrawals from the river.
Agriculture sector the largest consumer of water in Pak. &India, with about 90% of the available flow utilized. Pak96.03% & India 86.46%.
Overpumping and inefficient irrigation techniques haveled to sharply declining groundwater levels, loss ofwetlands and salinisation of agricultural lands.
Pakistan has very little water storage capacity, barelystore 30 days of water in the Indus basin, while India canstore for 120-220 days, Egypt up to 700 days and the US for900 days.
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The nexus approach to water-energy-
food
security
South Asian countries face serious challenges as to how to
provide adequate food and nutrition, access to modern energy,
and safe water and sanitation to a burgeoning population
without degrading the natural resource base.
The Himalayan ecosystems are critical for ensuring food, water,
and energy security not only in the HKH region but also in
downstream river basins. As water, nutrients, and other
ecosystem services flow downstream from the Himalayas, the land
use and management practices at the headwaters and in Himalayan
watersheds affect the quantity and quality of water, energy, and
other resources critical for sustaining agriculture and food security
downstream.
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The nexus approach recognizes the interdependencies ofwater, energy, and food production and aims to systemize theinterconnections to provide a framework for assessing the use of allresources and to manage trade-offs and synergies.
To address the nexus challenges, a two-pronged approach isneeded: first, to enhance cross-sectoral coherence and second,to improve management of the Himalayan headwaters,watersheds, forests, rangelands, soils, and farmlands on whichthe sustainability and stability of flow of ecosystem servicesdepend. Harmonize policies among the three sectors, taking into
account interdependencies of resources across both sectors andscales, upstream and downstream, as well as the role ofHimalayan ecosystems in long-term security of water, energy,and food in the region.
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Strengthen coordination mechanisms among upstreamand downstream countries to maximize synergies andminimize trade-offs in resource use, and take a river basinapproach to protect Himalayan ecosystems, catchments,watersheds, and headwaters and to harness the potential ofwater resources, as the benefits of sustainable watershedmanagement transcend national boundaries.
In exploiting hydropower potential, take the ecological,environmental and social implications of hydropowerdevelopment seriously into account. Detailed studies oftechnical and economic feasibility are required to identifypotential hydropower areas and to demarcate fragile zoneswhere heavy construction must be avoided, for example athigh altitude and in vulnerable watersheds.
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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 complex interplay of food, energy, and water
demand and supply requires a holistic approach and
institutional mechanisms to coordinate the actions and
strengthen complementarities and synergies among the
three sectors of water, energy, and food.
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The interfaces among water, energy, food, and
adaptation
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IWT & Nexus Approach
Political asymmetry is a critical factor in shaping the
transboundary water agreements.
The powerful economy in shared catchments has higher potential
to use and develop water resources.
The IWT divides the transboundary rivers, disintegrating the basin.
The disagreements on implementation of the treaty have become
frequent and stronger as with time as upstream hydropower
development , high water stress and climate change create serious
challenges for Pakistan.
The IWT does not consider ground water aquifer, environmental
flows to keep eastern rivers operational, pollution and
environmental degradation, climate change.
There are gray areas i.e. number of dams India can build on
western rivers & cumulative impact on downstream flows.
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The periods of dry river reaches is increasing for allIndus tributaries despite floods and heavy monsoon.
There are also consequences of non-consultative,expensive and narrow process of dispute resolution.
Pakistan need to adopt an inclusive approach to workin three areas; Implementation of existing IWT:
Real time data sharing through installation oftelemetry system;
Transparency in data sharing regarding theconstruction of Indian projects on W. Rivers;utilizing Article VII on Future Cooperation.
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identifying emerging gaps and proposing
remedial measures.
Sharing of Environment Impact Assessment
(EIA) of the Indian projects on the western rivers
will build trust.
Assessment of the cumulative impact of the
Indian hydro projects on W. rivers on the down
stream flows & environment.
Pursuing collaboration in joint research &
knowledge generation, to respond to climatic
threats & environmental degradation.
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The study of the behaviour of Himalayan glaciers:
Both sides need to form a group of experts to study
behavior of glaciers whether advancing or
decreasing. The largest challenges stem from
inadequate information and monitoring, and limited
scientific understanding of these high elevation glaciers.
India-Pak need to declare all glaciers protected area.
Siachin must be demilitarized.
Coordination in transboundary watershedmanagement in IB. It is critical to maintainsustainable flow, to control soil erosion,sedimentation & floods, esp flash floods.
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Watershed management projects should factor in
climate change, and some ‘dedicated climate change
adaptation projects’ should be designed to deal with
high-risk watersheds within UIB.
both sides need to work together in mapping
deforestation and its impact on Indus watershed in
UIB and coordinate strategies for sustainable
conservation, protection and development of forests
in the region.
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Integrated Water Resources Management
• Internal water resource management becomes v. imp
given the fact that physical separation of the Indus
tributaries has hampered the possibilities of efficient
integrated basin management.
• In view of growing demographic change adding to water
scarcity, it is the responsibility of both countries to
ensure internal water resources management by
following the principles of Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) & share best practices in water
conservation techniques in agriculture, industrial &
domestic uses.
• A nexus approach can be adopted in internal water
resource management31
Conclusion
Water plays a vital role in both food and energy
production, and in sustaining the ecosystems that
support agriculture and other economic activities that are
critical for achieving food security
Despite the inherent interconnections between food,
water, and energy production, agencies often work in a
fragmented and isolated way.
Poor sectoral coordination and institutional
fragmentation have triggered an unsustainable use of
resources and threatened the long-term sustainability of
food, water, and energy security in the region.
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Understanding the linkages within the food, energy,
and water nexus can provide opportunities to
increase resource use efficiency and enhance
cooperation and policy coherence among the three
sectors. The nexus perspective should help to promote
interdisciplinary and mutually beneficial actions.
Pakistan shares a large tributary river Kabul on
Indus with Afghanistan, where there is no water
agreement as yet. A nexus approach can be adopted to
enhance sustainability of shared Kabul river and its
ecosystem.
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