Resource Security (DP IB Geography)

The Water-Food-Energy Nexus

• Proposed at the Bonn Nexus Conference in 2011, the water, food and energy (WFE) nexus refers to the connections or links between the consumption and supply of natural resources

• Changes in any of the three resource areas will impact the security of the others

• If resources are to be sustainably managed, then an understanding of the links and interactions is essential 

  • The WFE nexus helps stakeholders such as governments, international organisations, TNCs and research establishments achieve this

What are water, food and energy security?

• Resource security refers to the ability of a country to maintain a reliable and sustainable flow of resources to maintain the living standards of its population

  • Water security is sufficient water of high enough quality to meet the population's needs

  • Food security is access to a diet of sufficient quantity and quality to meet daily health needs and allow people to lead an active life 

  • Energy security is an available, affordable energy supply which is uninterrupted

Water security

• By 2050, global water demand is predicted to increase by 20–25% 

• In 2023, almost 50% of the world's population faced high water stress for at least one month

• There are different levels of water shortage - these are water stress and water scarcity:

  • Water stress occurs when the supply of water is below 1700m³ a year per person

  • Water scarcity is when the supply is below 1000m³ a year per person

• According to the World Resources Institute, 25 countries faced extremely high levels of water stress in 2023

  • This affects over 25% of the world's population

  • More than 80% of the water available to agricultural, domestic and industrial users is withdrawn annually

  • Leaves businesses, farms and communities vulnerable to scarcity

Food security

• Large spatial variations exist in food security

  • North America, Europe, Japan and Australasia are the regions considered most food secure

  • The greatest risk of food insecurity is in sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan and Haiti

• Climate change and growing population are increasing the risk to food security in many regions of the world

• The UN estimates that the number of people in 'hunger emergencies' has increased from 135 million in 2019 to 345 million in 2022

  • Global food prices are rising; 23% higher in 2023 than in 2021

  • World grain reserves are lower than they have been for 14 years

  • Women and girls account for 70% of the people suffering hunger

  • Globally, approximately 783 million people are suffering from severe hunger

• In more developed countries, there is often a food surplus and large amounts of food waste

Energy security

• An energy gap is when a country cannot meet the demand for energy using its resources

• When countries have an energy gap, they have to import energy to meet the demand

• Having an energy gap means that a country is not energy-secure

• Fossil fuels still supply over 80% of the world's energy and account for 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions

• According to the International Energy Agency, 775 million people do not have access to electricity

  • The majority of these people live in Sub-Saharan Africa

The WFE nexus

• The interactions between food, energy and water may contribute to food, energy and water insecurity because they reduce the amount of the resource which is available

• This may be due to:

  • Increased use of the resource

  • Pollution of the resource

Global examples of interactions in the WFE nexus

• A lack of available water to cool power plants in India led to the loss of 8.2 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy because the power plants could not function

• In Europe the land used to grow biofuels could be used to produce for an estimated 120 million people

Interactions of Food, Energy and Water Resources

Value of the nexus concept

• Resources and resource security do not exist in isolation, they are all linked 

  • The nexus concept acknowledges these connections and interactions

• It views energy, food and water security as of equal importance

• The WFE nexus provides a framework, enabling integrated solutions to be developed

Challenges for the nexus concept

• Resource management crosses international boundaries, making stakeholder cooperation essential to the success of resource management

• The participation of stakeholders is not equal, governments and TNCs have more power than local communities

• The balance between food, energy and water security is not always achieved when the main focus of projects is on one particular issue