3.2 Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption Flashcards
What is the water-food-energy nexus?
-The complex and dynamic interrelationships between water, energy, and food resource systems.
-Understandingthese interrelationships is essential if natural resources are to be used and managed more sustainably.
What is water security?
When all people, at all times, have sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable-quality water for sustainable livelihoods, well being and development.
What is food security?
-When all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy lifestyle.
-Based on this definition, four food security dimensions can be identified: food availability, economic & physical access to food, food utilization, and stability over time.
What is energy security?
When all people, at all times, enjoy uninterrupted availability of the energy they require to meet their needs, and at an affordable price.
Diagram showing the WFE nexus
What are the issues associated with WATER and how are these connected to food and energy?
-2017 sees 2 billion people worldwide in the middle-income groups demanding consumer goods with high energy footprints
-Much of the population growth and the middle-income growth will occur in countries that are already water-scarce
-Increased water insecurity will lead to widespread displacement and tension from the village to the global scale
-Researchers estimate that cereal harvests decreased by an average of 9% during droughts and heat waves between 1964 and 2007, with the worst effects seen in North America, Europe, and Australia
-Persistent drought leads to the major food security crisis in Somalia, 2017
What are the issues associated with FOOD and how are these connected to energy and water?
-Meat-rich diets require far more land and water than traditional diets
-Food production impacts water quality through agro-chemical runoff & salinization
-Pastoral and arable food production needs clean water. Water scarcity increases tensions and conflict.
-Natural resource conflict escalates the Darfur crisis.Increasing pressure on land and other natural resources in Darfur is adding fuel to the fire of ethnic tensions in the region
What are the issues associated with ENERGY and how are these connected to food and water?
-Biofuels production fuels land grabs and impacts food security
-Energy infrastructure such as rigs and dams displaces people and impacts food supplies
-Energy production impacts on water quality e.g. pollution of groundwater supplies and National Energy security is fundamental to the geopolitics of countries, including the US and UK.
-China’s huge dam construction on the Upper Mekong will threaten Southeast Asia as water scarcity build downstream
Describe the connections between water and energy, giving specific examples
If the water supply falls:
-Declining water availability might reduce the input of water into reservoirs in hydroelectric power generation schemes, so a country that is heavily dependent on hydro-power may be unable to generate as much electricity as previously and may be unable to meet demand. E.g. Spain Summer drought 2022.
-Need to safeguard supplies of safe water might lead to fracking being banned
-Falling availability of potable water may lead to an increased need for desalinization plants (with their heavy energy usage)
-Lack of water needed for steam generation or cooling in thermal/nuclear power plants. E.g. France summer 2022
Describe the connections between water and food, giving specific examples
Water needs increase:
-Reservoir/dams built in one country uses water that another country needs for agriculture e..g Grand Renaissance dam in Ethiopia and its potential impact on Egypt’s agriculture.
-One country’s water imports leave another country with less water, imports of water cost money – less to invest in agriculture
-Water used for tourism or industry means there is a decreasing supply of water to agricultural areas/farms.
Agricultural land flooded by reservoir/dam.
Place example of the FWE nexus: Tana Delta, Kenya
-5 dams currently only produce 44% of energy needs rather than 50%, due to deforestation & agriculture upstream affecting the hydrological cycle.
-There are also plans by the government to convert 20,000 hectares of land into sugar cane production for biofuels (ethanol to be exported to the UK).
-Impacts: Rivers are disappearing and subsistence farmers are struggling to farm + facing higher food prices.
-These issues are causing conflict between farmers and the government, which is prioritizing energy over the local livelihoods.
Place example of the FWE nexus: Mekong River, China
-Flows through 6 Asian countries.
-Vital source of water for energy, food & livelihoods.
-Contains 11 HEP and 120 tributary dams.
-These impact the volume of water arriving in Vietnam, causing salinization and affecting rice crop yields.
-Food security in Laos is also affected by the above water & energy demands on the Mekong. Laos is the least developed downstream nation with 65% living in rural areas, with many densely populated farming communities living by the Mekong.
-Solution: Focusing on the Mekong to create an energy pathway (HEP) (meets industrial needs & CC requirements to cut emissions), but this has had a huge impact on other countries that lie on the Mekong.
How is energy a geopolitical issue?
-A vital component of the economy & thus a geopolitical issue. Can be seen at the moment – European gas supplies are cut by Russia and the impacts on the cost of living and thus consumer spending power.
-In order to manage sustainable industrial output and domestic energy supply, there needs to be energy security.
-Domestic production of oil and gas, both fossil fuels, remains a national priority for resource-rich countries despite the known impacts they have on climate change.
-For the USA this has meant huge capital investments into shale gas fracking, which now accounts for about 30% of its energy mix and 94% of its natural gas use, providing it with energy independence.
How is energy a geopolitical issue in the Middle East?
Source regions, such as the Middle East are of huge geo-strategic importance to countries like the US and Russia, securing safe production and supply routes is, therefore, a priority.
How might global climate change impact water security?
-Sahel region – climate data suggest a long-term reduction in rainfall may be taking place. Rainfall was lower in recent decades than during decades of the 20th century.
-50mn poor & vulnerable people live there.
-There is little money & technology available for them to adapt to shrinking water supplies.
-Crops & livestock may die.
-Other areas at risk – the desert fringes of Australia, China & the USA.
How might global climate change impact energy security?
-Shrinking ice stores & changing river regimes may threaten HEP. Energy companies in China that rely on runoff from Himalayas & Tibetan Plateau may suffer. This could lead to water and power shortages in the region.
-Changes in wind patterns, cloud cover, and rainfall patterns may affect renewable energy supplies. Biofuels may become harder to grow if certain areas suffer from unreliable rainfall.
Could increase reserves of fossil fuels if the access to the Arctic Ocean improves through melting.
-However, climate change does bring political uncertainty over the future use of fossil fuels – mitigation and globally binding agreements ( COP26)
-Warmer temperatures could increase the demand for air conditioning or desalinized water – both of which put higher pressure on energy supplies.
Give an example of how climate change impacts energy security- 2022 drought in Europe
2022 Drought in Europe – HEP plants & Nuclear plants had to cut their supply. The latter was due to the French rivers being too warm & not available for cooling.
How might global climate change impact food security?
-Warmer climates lead to extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, which can destroy crops and reduce food security.
long-term/gradual climate change risks, such as desertification, sea level rise, and changing climatic belts, leading to changes in the magnitude of crop production, salinization of soils, and patterns of floods for irrigation.
-Access to food decreases because of an increase in price – price increases because of food shortages in droughts.
-Temperature increase allows more agricultural output – increase in crop yields, changing limits of cultivation
Income declines in the agricultural sector – unable to access food.
-Spread of pests – changing climate means insects and fungi also spreading towards the poles.
-Ocean acidification – acid oceans impact plankton, the basis of the food chain.
-Warmer temperatures lead to increased evaporation and possibly less water availability for crops. Warmer climates require more irrigation and/or increased efficiency of irrigation
What is the impact of climate change on South Africa’s water resources?
-Models predict higher precipitation in the east, but 20% less in the west, overall in a decrease in rainfall, causing further water stress.
-Water supplies will be impacted by higher evapotranspiration and decreased run-off.
What is the impact of climate change on South Africa’s food resources?
-Likely to be more floods and droughts, with more irregular rainfall, which will impact food production, causing food insecurity.
-In the short term crop failures and in the long term overall production decline.
-This could affect water resources and the distribution of pests and diseases.
Describe the droughts in South Africa in 2018-19
-Cape Town – dams below 13% capacity and residents’ water allowance reduced to 50 liters per day.
-2019 – dams in the country are still 10-16% below 2018 levels.
-Northern Cape’s agriculture relies on rainfall and has suffered years of serious droughts, leading to livestock deaths, crop failures & financial ruin for farmers.
-It was estimated that $40mn would be needed to alleviate the effects & sustain 60,000 jobs.
-2/3 of the game in the area was wiped out.
Describe the UK’s energy security
-The UK once produced enough energy to be self-sufficient (oil, coal & North Sea gas), but now they are reliant on imported fossil fuels, which leads to a lack of energy security.
-Depends on Norway for gas & like all countries is affected by the markets.
-Prices of oil & gas have recently risen to the Ukraine war & the restriction of Russian supplies.
-76% of UK energy was generated by oil & gas in 2019.
-41% of electricity (gas), 38% renewables, with wind producing the most at 20%.
-Boris wanted the UK to become the Saudi Arabia of wind energy.
-Continues to invest in nuclear- 8 new reactors & wants to increase solar production by x5.
-Shift to renewables will take time, as need new infrastructure & storage.
Why is waste disposal a major challenge in MICs?
-Rising wealth = more consumption = more waste to tackle.
-China’s waste has risen x2 as fast as population growth.
-It produces less per capita than the USA. In total it produces 400mn tonnes ( largest in the world).
Describe the presence of e-waste in Ghana
-200,000 tonnes annually ( 70% 2nd hand goods)
-15% are broken beyond repair, despite EU laws.
-No distinct policies for the management of e-waste & no clear regulations to prohibit unsafe work practices.
-Old Fadama in Accra has developed into an e-waste dumping ground. It contains around 30,000 people, who have been driven to the area by poverty, causing tribal conflicts.
-Burning old computer circuit boards releases toxic substances, which go into the air, soil & water, leading to health problems, such as lung damage.
-Lead has been found in their blood & urine, which could lead to kidney & brain damage.
