| Title: | Nexus thinking at river basin scale: Food, water and welfare |
| Authors: | Ponce Oliva, R.D., F.J. Fernández, F. Vasquez-Lavin, E.A. Montevechio, N. Julio and A. Stehr |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Journal: | Water |
| Volume (Issue): | 13(7) |
| Pages: | |
| Article ID: | 1000 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/w13071000 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | SWAT |
| Broad Application Category: | hydrologic only |
| Primary Application Category: | model and/or data interface |
| Secondary Application Category: | climate change |
| Watershed Description: | 4,260 km^2 Vergara River, which drains portions of the Biobío and Araucanía Regions that are located roughly 600 km south of the Capital Santiago in southern Chile. |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | |
| General Comments: | |
| Abstract: | Water resources face an unparalleled confluence of pressures, with agriculture and urban growth as the most relevant human-related stressors. In this context, methodologies using a Nexus framework seem to be suitable to address these challenges. However, the urban sector has been commonly ignored in the Nexus literature. We propose a Nexus framework approach, considering the economic dimensions of the interdependencies and interconnections among agriculture (food production) and the urban sector as water users within a common basin. Then, we assess the responses of both sectors to climatic and demographic stressors. In this setting, the urban sector is represented through an economic water demand at the household level, from which economic welfare is derived. Our results show that the Nexus components here considered (food, water, and welfare) will be negatively affected under the simulated scenarios. However, when these components are decomposed to their particular elements, we found that the less water-intensive sector—the urban sector—will be better off since food production will leave significant amounts of water available. Moreover, when addressing uncertainty related to climate-induced shocks, we could identify the basin resilience threshold. Our approach shows the compatibilities and divergences between food production and the urban sector under the Nexus framework. |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | nexus approach; welfare; hydro-economic model; climate change; trade-off effects |