Urbanization, Extreme Climate Hazards and Food, Energy Water Security
Abstract
Research is urgently needed that incorporates the interconnected nature of three critical resources supporting our cities: food, energy and water. Cities are increasing demands for food, water and energy resources that in turn stress resource supplies, creating risks of negative impacts to human and ecological wellbeing. Simultaneously, shifts in climatic conditions, including extremes such as floods, heat, and droughts, threaten the sustainable availability of adequate quantities and qualities of food, energy and water (FEW) resources needed for resilient cities and ecosystems. These resource flows cannot be treated in isolation simply because they are interconnected: shifts in food, energy or water dynamics in turn affect the others, affecting the security of the whole - i.e., FEW nexus security. We present a framework to examine the dynamic interactions of urbanization, FEW nexus security and extreme hazard risks, with two overarching research questions: Do existing and emerging actions intended to enhance a population's food, water and energy security have the capacity to ensure FEW nexus security in the face of changing climate and urban development conditions? Can we identify a common set of social, ecological and technological conditions across a diversity of urban-regions that support the emergence of innovations that can lead to structural transformations for FEW nexus security?
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFM.U13A..05R
- Keywords:
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- 1622 Earth system modeling;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1630 Impacts of global change;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 4327 Resilience;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 4329 Sustainable development;
- NATURAL HAZARDS