Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma: Sri Lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffs
Food, energy, and water are three critical resources for humanity. As climate variability, population growth, and lifestyle changes amplify the stress placed on each of the resources, the interrelationships among food, energy, and water systems become more pronounced. Political conflict, social and...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014005 |
| _version_ | 1827871321942392832 |
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| author | Debra Perrone George Hornberger |
| author_facet | Debra Perrone George Hornberger |
| author_sort | Debra Perrone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Food, energy, and water are three critical resources for humanity. As climate variability, population growth, and lifestyle changes amplify the stress placed on each of the resources, the interrelationships among food, energy, and water systems become more pronounced. Political conflict, social and cultural norms, and spatial and temporal distribution of the resources add additional layers of complexity. It is in this context that the significance of understanding the impacts of water scarcity on the decisions around food and energy productions has emerged. Our work establishes tradeoff frontiers (TFs) as a method useful in illustrating the system-level tradeoffs between allocating water for food and water for energy. This paper illustrates how TFs can be used to (1) show how scarcity in water resources affects the tradeoffs between food and energy and (2) explore the political and social constraints that can move production away from what is feasible technically. We use Sri Lanka, a country where water resources are variable both in space and time and a country with relatively self-contained energy and agricultural sectors, as a microcosm of the food security, energy security, and water security trilemma. Nevertheless, our application of tradeoff frontiers is applicable widely to other systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:08:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a9c9e9e56d124ffabff6ec5874cf7cb9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:08:45Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-a9c9e9e56d124ffabff6ec5874cf7cb92023-08-09T14:15:35ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262016-01-0111101400510.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014005Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma: Sri Lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffsDebra Perrone0George Hornberger1Civil and Environmental Engineering, Woods Institute for Environment, 473 Via Ortega Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USAVanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment, PMB 407702, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37240, USAFood, energy, and water are three critical resources for humanity. As climate variability, population growth, and lifestyle changes amplify the stress placed on each of the resources, the interrelationships among food, energy, and water systems become more pronounced. Political conflict, social and cultural norms, and spatial and temporal distribution of the resources add additional layers of complexity. It is in this context that the significance of understanding the impacts of water scarcity on the decisions around food and energy productions has emerged. Our work establishes tradeoff frontiers (TFs) as a method useful in illustrating the system-level tradeoffs between allocating water for food and water for energy. This paper illustrates how TFs can be used to (1) show how scarcity in water resources affects the tradeoffs between food and energy and (2) explore the political and social constraints that can move production away from what is feasible technically. We use Sri Lanka, a country where water resources are variable both in space and time and a country with relatively self-contained energy and agricultural sectors, as a microcosm of the food security, energy security, and water security trilemma. Nevertheless, our application of tradeoff frontiers is applicable widely to other systems.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014005food–energy–water trilemmatradeoff frontierSri Lankafood–energy–water nexus |
| spellingShingle | Debra Perrone George Hornberger Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma: Sri Lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffs Environmental Research Letters food–energy–water trilemma tradeoff frontier Sri Lanka food–energy–water nexus |
| title | Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma: Sri Lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffs |
| title_full | Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma: Sri Lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffs |
| title_fullStr | Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma: Sri Lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma: Sri Lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffs |
| title_short | Frontiers of the food–energy–water trilemma: Sri Lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffs |
| title_sort | frontiers of the food energy water trilemma sri lanka as a microcosm of tradeoffs |
| topic | food–energy–water trilemma tradeoff frontier Sri Lanka food–energy–water nexus |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/014005 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT debraperrone frontiersofthefoodenergywatertrilemmasrilankaasamicrocosmoftradeoffs AT georgehornberger frontiersofthefoodenergywatertrilemmasrilankaasamicrocosmoftradeoffs |