The necessity of a food-energy-water nexus approach for lake urmia basin under the risks of climate change and environment degradation

This chapter examines the nexus (interactions) of food, energy, and water at a basin scale. This framework is applied to the Lake Urmia Basin in Iran to reveal the most important conflicts derived from food, energy, and water interdependencies. Due to the absence of a mechanized irrigation system, agriculture consumes about 89% of the total freshwater withdrawals of the basin while the global average of this ratio is 70%. Also, whereas the share of food from the world’s total energy consumption is about 30%, it is only 4% for the Lake Urmia Basin. In recent decades, a dramatic reduction in the lake water level has turned a big part of the lake into a salty desert. Inefficient management is apparent in all sectors of the basin, including food, energy, water, the environment, and ecosystems. On the other hand, the region will most likely be affected by the destructive impact of climate change. Therefore, an integrated and comprehensive resource management strategy, such as food-energy-water nexus approach, is very necessary to mitigate the effects of the crisis and increase the resiliency of the society against the current and new incoming realities.