The Water, Food Energy Nexus and Security

Food production requires water and energy; water extraction and distribution requires energy; and energy production requires water.  Food prices are highly sensitive to the cost of energy inputs through fertilisers, irrigation, transport and processing. Shortages could cause social and political instability, geopolitical conflict and irreparable environmental damage.

The Lancang dams have and will continue to negatively impact the environment both in China and downstream countries.

The Tibet-Yunnan corridor is a biodiversity hotspot and part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The dams would fundamentally change fish habitats and affect the rich aquatic and terrestrial diversity in the region by turning a flowing river system into a series of reservoirs. The Lancang watershed is also known for its complex geology and seismic activity, making dam-induced earthquakes an important safety concern that has thus far been overlooked.

Studies have shown that the Lancang dams would trap half of the sediment load transported from the upper basin to the lower basin. This would have significant impacts downstream because it would reduce nutrients for riverbank and delta agriculture, increase bed and bank erosion leading to food insecurity for downstream countries, sink deltas and worsen storm damages. Studies conducted by Chinese authorities and researchers already show evidence of a significant reduction in suspended sediment concentrations following the construction of the Manwan, Daochaoshan and Xiaowan dams.

The Lancang dams would also affect seasonal water availability and flooding in the lower Mekong. A 2012 study measuring hydrological changes at gauging stations in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia showed a reduction in hydrological variability during the wet season and an increase during the dry. This change in seasonal water flow may have significant impacts on important floodplain ecosystems such as Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. Fewer and lower floods regulated by the dam cascade would also affect water availability and increase salinity in the Mekong Delta and thus have a negative impact on agricultural production.

With the construction of the Lancang dam cascade, China would be able to control the quantity of water released to downstream countries. However, the lack of any kind of formal agreements on flow volumes means downstream communities may suffer particularly in drought conditions. Vietnam and Cambodia are likely to be the most affected.

As a positive, Chinese dam construction on the Lancang has helped give the green light to downstream Laos for the planned construction of 9 dams of its own. This ambitious project funded externally by its neighbouring countries may well help one of the poorest countries in Asia push a hydropower-based economic policy that will lead it to be a net exporter of energy to its neighbouring countries like Thailand.

Extract adapted from the Guardian Article, UK Biofuel Needs Threaten Delta

To meet the worldwide demand and the regulation that petrol and diesel sold in Britain must be mixed with bioethanol or biodiesel as part of a drive to cut carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, the Mumias Sugar Company in Kenya is planning to plant 20,000 hectares of the Tana delta to grow sugar cane for biofuels and food. The £165m project, including an ethanol refinery and food-processing plant, promises to create thousands of jobs in an area dominated by traditional cattle herding, small-scale rice and subsistence farming.

But environmental campaigners claim that the scheme would destroy the wetlands - home to 345 species of birds, including the threatened Basra reed warbler, the Tana river cisticola, and 22 species of waterbirds such as slender-billed gulls and Caspian terns, which are so numerous there they are considered 'internationally important' to the global populations. Globally, the boom in this and other projects is causing growing concern about environmental damage and the part played by biofuels in pushing up food prices.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has called for a comprehensive review of the policy on biofuels as the crisis in world food prices threatens to trigger global instability. Last week, former Labour Environment Minister Elliot Morley called for the government to delay the new biofuel requirement until 'comprehensive certification and assessment schemes are put in place', echoing criticism by the Environment Department's chief scientific adviser, Professor Robert Watson. The chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, has also spoken out against the risk of biofuels, especially of growing corn for ethanol in the US.

In the Tana delta, the two main worries are that monoculture planting would replace a large area of rich and diverse habitat and that irrigation for the new plants would use up to one third of the available water.  Mumias is also only one of a handful of schemes proposed in the delta, including commercial rice-growing and cattle breeding.

If approved, large areas would become 'ecological deserts', destroying wintering grounds for birds and the bugs they feed on, and dams would divert water essential to wildlife and cattle herders during the dry season, warned Paul Matiku, executive director of campaign group Nature Kenya. Matiku is also worried about water diversion causing soil erosion, pollution harming fish stocks and damage to the nascent tourism industry. 'This development would be a national disaster, wreaking havoc with the area's ecosystem and spelling the end for wildlife across much of the delta.'

Power Struggles and Conflict over Use of Land Fan Tana Delta Clashes

Watch the following video to 14:04

Transcript summary of the Video

• The capacity from the 5 dam projects in the Tana Delta region is 5300GW of energy per year.
• In the last 15 years energy production has only been at 44% at 2300GW
• The big issue is with the hydrological system and water supply from upstream and the challenges of population pressure
• Unless upstream communities are educated to plant trees at a large scale rather clearing land for farms they threaten the viability of dams.
• This is a clear example of population pressure for land resources and deforestation is reducing water inputs into the upstream basin. Government attitudes seem to be on pressuring these communities to leave rather than accepting the problem of excluding local rural communities form the planning and decision-making process of large dams.

Adapted from extract, Climate change doubters may not be so silly, says Russia President Putin, CNBC

In an interview at the International Arctic Forum in Arkhangelsk, Russia, Putin was asked about the rollback of environmental regulations from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

"Those people who are not in agreement with opponents (of climate change) may not be at all silly," Putin replied via an interpreter.

While Putin reaffirmed Russia's commitment to the Paris climate agreement, he also agreed with Finnish President Sauli Ninistö's comments regarding the inevitability of global warming. It would "continue anyway and anyhow," Putin said of climate change.

Russia's president also pointed to the economic importance of the Arctic region as he argued global warming and ice melting in the area created beneficial conditions for economic improvement.

"Climate change brings in more favourable conditions and improves the economic potential of this region," he said. "Today, Russia's GDP is the result of the economic activity of this region." Putin explained as he revealed that 10 per cent of his country's GDP is linked to the Arctic region

   Extract adapted from the Guardian article, Quitting Paris climate deal would threaten US security,      UN chief warns

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned on Tuesday that if Donald Trump withdraws from the Paris climate agreement, there could be negative economic, security and societal consequences for the US.

Guterres issued the warning after calling on world leaders to adhere to the agreement in his first major speech on climate change as secretary-general.

His remarks at New York University came as the world waits for Donald Trump to announce whether the country will continue to uphold the Paris deal, which nearly 200 countries signed as a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In a question-and-answer session after the speech, a student asked how the US can address climate change when its president has threatened to back out of the Paris accord.

“If someone leaves a void, I guarantee someone will fill it,” said Guterres, who went on to explain what consequences such an exit could have for the US. “Today, the economy and social aspects are linked to the environmental aspects, but they are also linked to the security aspect.

    He continued: “if you leave a void to others to occupy, you might be creating a problem to your own internal security.”