Water, Energy, and Food Security Nexus in Asia and the Pacific Notes

Politicians, policymakers, researchers, and the general public are increasingly aware of water security as a new and emerging threat.
High-level meetings have focused on water security, raising questions about armed conflict over water, food production for a growing population, access to safe drinking water, and extreme water events due to climate change.
The Water Security in a New World series aims to provide evidence-based and policy-relevant responses to these questions through in-depth analysis.
The book focuses on the Water, Energy, and Food Security Nexus in Asia and the Pacific, specifically East and Southeast Asia.
The book is an open access publication licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO License.
The views expressed in the book do not necessarily reflect those of UNESCO.

Rapid Economic Growth and Nexus Approach

East and Southeast Asia are experiencing rapid economic growth and environmental challenges with global impacts.
The region accounts for approximately 30.3% of the global population and significant consumption of water resources and food production.
Diverse geographical, political, and economic conditions, combined with climate change and urbanization, pose new challenges.
The Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEF) approach is recognized as key to achieving sustainable development.
A better understanding of the interconnectedness between WEF elements is needed for successful implementation of the nexus approach in policy-making and governance.
Economic integration necessitates regional-scale analysis of WEF resource security.
The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the WEF nexus in East and Southeast Asia, exploring complex links and socioeconomic implications.

Foreword by Oyun Sanjaasuren: Crucial Decade and Global Pledges

The current decade (2020-2030) is crucial for nature and climate action, requiring halving emissions by 2030, again by 2040, and reaching net zero by 2050, while also reversing biodiversity loss.
Innovations and technologies needed can bring major opportunities for a more sustainable future.
Over 140 countries, covering approximately 90% of the global economy and 80% of GHG emissions, have made carbon neutrality net zero pledges, indicating stronger political will.
Huge public pressure and support, especially from the new generation, are pushing for addressing global climate and environmental issues.

The Publication's Timely Intervention and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The publication is a timely intervention in discussions regarding the water, energy, and food security nexus, which is central to climate change challenges and solutions for sustainable development.
Work on the volume started almost a year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought an unprecedented humanitarian and health crisis, causing millions of deaths, driving the global economy down, leading to job losses, rising poverty, and risks of default in many countries, especially impacting developing countries.
Scientists see the pandemic as an outcome of forest destruction and human destruction of the environment and biodiversity, emphasizing the connection between human well-being, living things, and ecosystems.

Biodiversity Loss and the Emergence of New Viruses

Humanity’s destruction of biodiversity creates conditions for new viruses and diseases like COVID-19 to arise. A new discipline, planetary health, focuses on the connections among the well-being of humans, other living things, and ecosystems.
Invading tropical forests and disrupting ecosystems shakes viruses loose from their natural hosts, requiring a new host, often humans.
The book serves as an excellent example of international intellectual and research cooperation to bring solutions for sustainable futures in East and Southeast Asia, a timely intervention in the context of climate crisis and the outcomes of COP26.
Human beings could be committing collective suicide if they do not change the trajectory of activities that are damaging Planet Earth.

Intergenerational Equity, Global Risks, and Resource Competition

Issues of intergenerational and intragenerational equity and justice demand urgent action to reduce global warming and help vulnerable nations adapt to the changing climate.
The World Economic Forum's global risks report indicates that the top risks are dominated by an inability to respond to climate change, natural disasters, extreme weather, and biodiversity loss.
Competition over limited resources is likely to exacerbate regional and global conflicts, very relevant in the context of East and Southeast Asia.
These fast-growing economies contributed their share to climate change and extended their ecological footprint beyond their own regions, impacting the rest of the Asia-Pacific region and other developing regions.
The security of water, energy, and food resources are seriously threatened by unsustainable resource consumption.

WEF Nexus and Sustainable Development

Since the Bonn 2011 Nexus Conference, numerous studies have been conducted to understand the complex and systemic interlinkages across and between the nexus components.
Holistic approaches factor the trade-offs and synergies between resources and caution against potential conflicts in managing resources.
In East and Southeast Asia, water plays a pivotal role in sustaining agricultural productivity and energy generation.
Addressing food and energy security cannot be achieved without considering water security and vice versa.
Contributors from East Asia and Southeast Asia present in-depth analysis and empirical evidence on the water, energy, and food security nexus providing course corrections and systemic approaches.

Appreciation and Congratulation.

Appreciation is expressed for the work done by the editors, particularly Dr. Eunhee Lee, Dr. Benno Boer, and Prof. Lawrence Surendra.
Congratulations to UNESCO and KIGAM for their contributions in bringing together scholars to present research and analysis on the WEF Nexus.
The volume will catalyze profound reflections on addressing nexus challenges and be an important contribution and inspiration globally to achieve the UN SDG agenda.

Foreword by Kyung Koo Han.

Growing risks of natural disasters and increasing demands on Earth’s resources pose a critical concern for sustainable development.
Competition over limited resources exacerbates regional and global conflicts, climate change, biodiversity loss, and global pandemics have created new dimensions to global challenges, of particular concern for East and Southeast Asia.
Security of water, energy, and food resources are seriously threatened by unsustainable resource consumption.
Water plays a pivotal role in sustaining agricultural productivity and renewable energy efficiency and the security of food and energy cannot be achieved without considering water security and vice versa.
A holistic governance strategy that fully encompasses the relationships among water, energy, and food is no longer an option but a necessity for ensuring resilient societies.
The publication provides a comprehensive analysis of the socio-economic implications of the water, energy, and food nexus in East and Southeast Asia and will guide us in terms of where we are and where we should go.
The Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU) raises awareness of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promotes cooperation to achieve these goals.
The information in this book will give readers valuable new insights into the resilient nexus solutions in East and Southeast Asia that can be put to good use in work to achieve the SDGs and a resilient society.

Foreword by Prof. Shahbaz Khan.

The availability of water has always been a key-defining factor for sustainable human living. The same is true for the availability of food and energy.
Integrated water, energy, and food crisis is a global crisis, with more than four billion people with insufficient water availability, more than a billion people with limited or no access to electricity, and almost a billion people living a daily struggle of finding enough food to eat.
Climate change will exacerbate the problem, and by 2050, more than half of humanity could be living in areas of water stress, disproportionately affecting girls and women.
Actions to save the planet and its water will have to involve future generations via education for sustainable development, about how we can better manage the nexus.
The volume is a part of a three-volume series to examine in an integrated manner the water–energy–food nexus in the Asia and Pacific Region, and presents an overview of the sub-region.
It explores socio-economic implications of the nexus approach with a focus on cross-cutting issues, such as climate change, gender, urbanization, impacts on environment and economy, and transboundary issues.
It is time to readjust global, regional, national, provincial, and local priorities with a clear view towards those parameters that are of the greatest importance for human survivability, and congratulates the editors and authors of the volume.

Foreword by Pyeong-Koo Lee.

The WEF nexus security has become the most prominent issue in East and Southeast Asia, rapid economic growth and environmental changes have led to the limited resource availability.
The security of WEF resources in the region is strongly tied to each other through various nexus relations.
Abundant rainfall due the monsoon climatic zone means water resources play an important role in supporting food productivity and sustainable economic development.
However, the growing frequency of extreme rainfall and droughts creates serious risks for water security and food productivity and the situation may worsen where infrastructure development has lagged behind population and economic growth.
The WEF security in the region is seriously threatened by climate change, urbanization, and increasing standards of living. The global COVID-19 pandemic moreover is posing a new challenge across all sectors of human livelihood.
Comprehensive analysis of WEF nexus status and predictions in East and Southeast Asia should be conducted based on state-of-the-art scientific research, technological innovation, policy suggestion, and multi-sectoral cooperation.
The Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) and UNESCO publication aims to provide an overview of the regional status of WEF security and identify common themes that interlink the nexus components.
KIGAM has been focusing on sustainable development and management of groundwater and geothermal resources to contribute to achieving WEF security and is expanding its role to global society by actively participating in international research collaboration.
By presenting the most recent science-based evidence and policy advice, this volume presents a glimpse of nexus solutions available across the region.

Preface: A Message from the Editors.

2021 was a year when a global pandemic shook the world in the Anthropocene era disregarded nature and COVID- 19 pandemic disease closely related to WEF security as well as population dynamics exacerbate the ongoing trend of unbridled exploitation of natural resources.
Beyond textbook teaching is needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda 2030.
A lot of global environmental and socio-economic challenges could have been avoided, preventive measures would have place and that the Asia-Pacific region is not on track to achieve the sustainable use of air, water, soil, and energy.
UN climate summits especially COP27 young people demand demand to be heard because they see environmental degradation is compromising their future as clean energies alternatives are available for decades.
Building capacity of young people is the key element towards attaining SDGs and WEF security in this region to develop the skills towards climate change as well as socio-ecological expertise keeping WEF security in focus it will foster the spirit of peace of the youth via developing a joint mental model in an inter-regional approach.

Turning Rhetoric to Action and UNESCO's Role.

The SDGs of the Agenda 2030 very well reflect the hopes and challenges of humanity and the United Nations suggest local actions for global change issues towards the sustainable and resilient society.
UNESCO was designed and established to foster peace on the platform of education, the sciences, and culture under consideration of all SDGs and with a solid understanding of issues, such as peace, democracy, and gender presenting The Water, Energy, Food Security Nexus in East and Southeast Asia, that we address the environmental and socio-economic challenges of East and Southeast Asia regions and capture some important WEF nexus relation.
This is why we urgently have to have policy-makers, civil servants, practitioners, and academia inspired and take actions towards a resilient, sustainable society to get more knowledge on the WEF security nexus and ultimately for sustainable development.