545
Across political boundaries, different political environments, levels of economic
development, social norms, and administrative settings lead to different approaches
to lake basin management, with detrimental effects on the environment and development status of Basin communities.
19.5 Conclusions
Food, energy, and water systems provide critical resources that sustain and fulfill
life on Earth. All humans must have access to these elements of life in a modern
society to be empowered with the tools to engage with each other, to self-organize
to meet the challenges of climate change, and to educate their children for the future.
The sustainable management of these resources and the ecosystems that depend on
them is also needed to ensure future prosperity and quality of life.
However, these systems almost always occupy a transboundary space at local,
national, regional, and transnational scales. Across these boundaries, there is tremendous variation in the political, economic, and social contexts within which
food, energy, and water are governed, including differences in the capacity for selforganization, relative dependence on government, and political traditions. Further
aggravating these issues, population and climate change are altering the pressures
on components of the systems, leading to conflict over access and use of finite
resources.
Clearly, there is a growing interest in—and concern for—the food–energy–water
nexus, but the exact nature of this nexus and the new issues it raises are poorly
understood. It is clear that agricultural and energy systems depend on water as
inputs, and the production of food and energy affects the quality of water. But the
boundaries of the food–energy–water nexus are not yet well defined, and the appropriate scale for examining the nexus is not well understood. From the case studies
in this chapter, it is clear that land and land use are inextricably linked to the food–
energy–water nexus, but it is not explicitly considered as a dimension of the nexus.
These case studies highlight the tensions over land use for food and biofuel production, and water quality issues associated with runoff from land use.
Furthermore, there are two competing forces that are shaping national priorities
about watershed governance. First, there is a growing concern for the well-being of
local communities and issues related to sustainability and equity that contribute to
one agenda. Second, there is an influencing role of multinational corporations in
shaping national priorities for public policy, and this view would argue that that the
problems we face in food, water, and energy systems are too complex and would
best be addressed by empowering large-scale agricultural producers, constructing
large dams, and generating ever-larger investments in infrastructure in order to produce and use more of all three dimensions of the nexus. The challenges identified in
these case studies suggest that perhaps the entire conception of the food–energy–
water nexus should be reconsidered.
19 Watersheds at the Nexus
Across political boundaries, different political environments, levels of economic
development, social norms, and administrative settings lead to different approaches
to lake basin management, with detrimental effects on the environment and development status of Basin communities.
19.5 Conclusions
Food, energy, and water systems provide critical resources that sustain and fulfill
life on Earth. All humans must have access to these elements of life in a modern
society to be empowered with the tools to engage with each other, to self-organize
to meet the challenges of climate change, and to educate their children for the future.
The sustainable management of these resources and the ecosystems that depend on
them is also needed to ensure future prosperity and quality of life.
However, these systems almost always occupy a transboundary space at local,
national, regional, and transnational scales. Across these boundaries, there is tremendous variation in the political, economic, and social contexts within which
food, energy, and water are governed, including differences in the capacity for selforganization, relative dependence on government, and political traditions. Further
aggravating these issues, population and climate change are altering the pressures
on components of the systems, leading to conflict over access and use of finite
resources.
Clearly, there is a growing interest in—and concern for—the food–energy–water
nexus, but the exact nature of this nexus and the new issues it raises are poorly
understood. It is clear that agricultural and energy systems depend on water as
inputs, and the production of food and energy affects the quality of water. But the
boundaries of the food–energy–water nexus are not yet well defined, and the appropriate scale for examining the nexus is not well understood. From the case studies
in this chapter, it is clear that land and land use are inextricably linked to the food–
energy–water nexus, but it is not explicitly considered as a dimension of the nexus.
These case studies highlight the tensions over land use for food and biofuel production, and water quality issues associated with runoff from land use.
Furthermore, there are two competing forces that are shaping national priorities
about watershed governance. First, there is a growing concern for the well-being of
local communities and issues related to sustainability and equity that contribute to
one agenda. Second, there is an influencing role of multinational corporations in
shaping national priorities for public policy, and this view would argue that that the
problems we face in food, water, and energy systems are too complex and would
best be addressed by empowering large-scale agricultural producers, constructing
large dams, and generating ever-larger investments in infrastructure in order to produce and use more of all three dimensions of the nexus. The challenges identified in
these case studies suggest that perhaps the entire conception of the food–energy–
water nexus should be reconsidered.
19 Watersheds at the Nexus