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3.2 Food, Energy, and Water Security
Security, including “food security,” “energy security” and “water security” refers to
the ability of people to have affordable, reliable, and high-quality access to their
basic FEW needs so they can live healthy and productive lives unconstrained by
existential resource limitations. Security implicates attributes of availability, access,
utilization, stability, sustainability, reliability, and resilience. Separate definitions
of these terms are as follows:
Food Security exists when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic
access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO 1996).
Energy Security requires “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an
affordable price” (International Energy Agency).
Water Security is “the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to
adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human
well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against
water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in
a climate of peace and political stability” (UN Water).
What constitutes an individual’s “basic needs” for each consumable is related to
factors such as age, physical characteristics, level of activity, and their geographic
and community context. However, four common attributes can be identified.
1. Physical availability of the resource brings a focus on the following issues:
(a) Production of raw commodities (e.g., agricultural products, energy sources,
and untreated water) and processed products (e.g., food products, electricity
and fuels, and treated water).
(b) Stocks of commodities and products in locations controlled by the country
and available for distribution.
(c) Trade balance (imports–exports) of commodities and products.
(d) The infrastructure required to make products available (e.g., refrigeration,
electric grid, storage, pipes).
(e) Capacity of systems and infrastructures that produce and deliver the resource.
2. Physical, legal, and economic access to the resource which determines the ability of individuals to obtain the resource when it is available. Access brings a
focus on the following issues:
(a) Affordability (e.g., cost of products compared to incomes)
(b) Markets (e.g., socioeconomic arrangements which can limit access even if
the person has the money for the resource)
(c) Support programs that provide access to vulnerable populations and at times
of crisis (e.g., during an emergency, conflict, drought, flood, famine, or
severe heat/cold)
3. Utilization referring to the ability of a person to make use of the resource productively. For example:
P. Saundry and B. L. Ruddell
3.2 Food, Energy, and Water Security
Security, including “food security,” “energy security” and “water security” refers to
the ability of people to have affordable, reliable, and high-quality access to their
basic FEW needs so they can live healthy and productive lives unconstrained by
existential resource limitations. Security implicates attributes of availability, access,
utilization, stability, sustainability, reliability, and resilience. Separate definitions
of these terms are as follows:
Food Security exists when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic
access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO 1996).
Energy Security requires “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an
affordable price” (International Energy Agency).
Water Security is “the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to
adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human
well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against
water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in
a climate of peace and political stability” (UN Water).
What constitutes an individual’s “basic needs” for each consumable is related to
factors such as age, physical characteristics, level of activity, and their geographic
and community context. However, four common attributes can be identified.
1. Physical availability of the resource brings a focus on the following issues:
(a) Production of raw commodities (e.g., agricultural products, energy sources,
and untreated water) and processed products (e.g., food products, electricity
and fuels, and treated water).
(b) Stocks of commodities and products in locations controlled by the country
and available for distribution.
(c) Trade balance (imports–exports) of commodities and products.
(d) The infrastructure required to make products available (e.g., refrigeration,
electric grid, storage, pipes).
(e) Capacity of systems and infrastructures that produce and deliver the resource.
2. Physical, legal, and economic access to the resource which determines the ability of individuals to obtain the resource when it is available. Access brings a
focus on the following issues:
(a) Affordability (e.g., cost of products compared to incomes)
(b) Markets (e.g., socioeconomic arrangements which can limit access even if
the person has the money for the resource)
(c) Support programs that provide access to vulnerable populations and at times
of crisis (e.g., during an emergency, conflict, drought, flood, famine, or
severe heat/cold)
3. Utilization referring to the ability of a person to make use of the resource productively. For example:
P. Saundry and B. L. Ruddell