A Nexus Approach to Food, Water, and Energy: Sustainably Meeting Asia’s Future Food and Nutrition Requirements (Sarfraz K. Qureshi Memorial Lecture)

Abstract

Agricultural and food production systems in Asia must undergo a significant transformation in order to meet the concurrent challenges of increasing food, water, and energy demands amid on-going climate change. This is particularly true in countries in South Asia, including Pakistan, where hunger and undernutrition persist and natural resource are increasingly strained. Sustainable intensification with a focus on nutrition is particularly crucial to provide adequate and nutritious food for all without further damages to the planet. However, a silo approach to meeting the demands of a growing, increasingly urbanised, and wealthier population is no longer acceptable. Instead, capitalising on the inter sectoral linkages between food, water, and energy can more effectively minimise trade-offs and maximise synergies across concurrent efforts to improve water, energy, food, and nutrition security sustainably.