Insecurity of water, energy and food are expected to worsen due to population growth, intensive resource use
and vulnerabilities to climate change. Solar energy is attractive because of its potential to deliver equally on
water-energy-food security triad and is spreading as a solution to both energy and climate concerns in
agriculture. Meanwhile, private actors and public agencies mostly lack information and tools about resource
availability and suitability which would enable or disenable sustainable solar irrigation investment. By
employing a Geographic Information System (GIS) multi-criteria decision model (MCDM), this study puts
pastoralists at the fore and identifies resource suitability of small-scale solar irrigation. It draws on cases of
two Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Turkana and West-pokot, Kenya who are not only drought-prone
but resource conflict zone and trans-boundary routes. Groundwater availability and surface water accessibility
is the driving factor for analysis; the results showed that groundwater up to 7m, groundwater up to 25m and
surface water has a total suitability of 10%, 11%, and 51% respectively. Depending on the technical pump
capacity, between 8,102km2 to 40, 548km2 would be suitable for solar irrigation and provide pastoralists with
the option to either pump from small reservoirs, shallow or very shallow groundwater.
Annotation in English
Insecurity of water, energy and food are expected to worsen due to population growth, intensive resource use
and vulnerabilities to climate change. Solar energy is attractive because of its potential to deliver equally on
water-energy-food security triad and is spreading as a solution to both energy and climate concerns in
agriculture. Meanwhile, private actors and public agencies mostly lack information and tools about resource
availability and suitability which would enable or disenable sustainable solar irrigation investment. By
employing a Geographic Information System (GIS) multi-criteria decision model (MCDM), this study puts
pastoralists at the fore and identifies resource suitability of small-scale solar irrigation. It draws on cases of
two Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Turkana and West-pokot, Kenya who are not only drought-prone
but resource conflict zone and trans-boundary routes. Groundwater availability and surface water accessibility
is the driving factor for analysis; the results showed that groundwater up to 7m, groundwater up to 25m and
surface water has a total suitability of 10%, 11%, and 51% respectively. Depending on the technical pump
capacity, between 8,102km2 to 40, 548km2 would be suitable for solar irrigation and provide pastoralists with
the option to either pump from small reservoirs, shallow or very shallow groundwater.
Keywords
Solar irrigation, Multi-Criteria Decision Model, GIS, Resilience, Drought, Pastoralism
Keywords in English
Solar irrigation, Multi-Criteria Decision Model, GIS, Resilience, Drought, Pastoralism
Length of the covering note
58 pages
Language
AN
Annotation
Insecurity of water, energy and food are expected to worsen due to population growth, intensive resource use
and vulnerabilities to climate change. Solar energy is attractive because of its potential to deliver equally on
water-energy-food security triad and is spreading as a solution to both energy and climate concerns in
agriculture. Meanwhile, private actors and public agencies mostly lack information and tools about resource
availability and suitability which would enable or disenable sustainable solar irrigation investment. By
employing a Geographic Information System (GIS) multi-criteria decision model (MCDM), this study puts
pastoralists at the fore and identifies resource suitability of small-scale solar irrigation. It draws on cases of
two Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Turkana and West-pokot, Kenya who are not only drought-prone
but resource conflict zone and trans-boundary routes. Groundwater availability and surface water accessibility
is the driving factor for analysis; the results showed that groundwater up to 7m, groundwater up to 25m and
surface water has a total suitability of 10%, 11%, and 51% respectively. Depending on the technical pump
capacity, between 8,102km2 to 40, 548km2 would be suitable for solar irrigation and provide pastoralists with
the option to either pump from small reservoirs, shallow or very shallow groundwater.
Annotation in English
Insecurity of water, energy and food are expected to worsen due to population growth, intensive resource use
and vulnerabilities to climate change. Solar energy is attractive because of its potential to deliver equally on
water-energy-food security triad and is spreading as a solution to both energy and climate concerns in
agriculture. Meanwhile, private actors and public agencies mostly lack information and tools about resource
availability and suitability which would enable or disenable sustainable solar irrigation investment. By
employing a Geographic Information System (GIS) multi-criteria decision model (MCDM), this study puts
pastoralists at the fore and identifies resource suitability of small-scale solar irrigation. It draws on cases of
two Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Turkana and West-pokot, Kenya who are not only drought-prone
but resource conflict zone and trans-boundary routes. Groundwater availability and surface water accessibility
is the driving factor for analysis; the results showed that groundwater up to 7m, groundwater up to 25m and
surface water has a total suitability of 10%, 11%, and 51% respectively. Depending on the technical pump
capacity, between 8,102km2 to 40, 548km2 would be suitable for solar irrigation and provide pastoralists with
the option to either pump from small reservoirs, shallow or very shallow groundwater.
Keywords
Solar irrigation, Multi-Criteria Decision Model, GIS, Resilience, Drought, Pastoralism
Keywords in English
Solar irrigation, Multi-Criteria Decision Model, GIS, Resilience, Drought, Pastoralism
Research Plan
Water, energy, and food are necessary resources for wellbeing and economic development. The physical and economic access to these resources in most Sub-Saharan countries remains very low while the outbreak of COVID-19 is projected to worsen the situation. Resilience thinking is increasingly promoted to address some of the grand challenges of the 21 st century: providing water, energy, and food to all, while staying within the limits of the Earth system that is undergoing (climate) change. Concurrently, a partially overlapping body of literature on the water – energy – food (WEF) nexus has emerged through the realization that water, energy, and food systems are intricately linked — and should therefore be understood and managed in conjunction.
Transforming food systems is among the most powerful ways to make progress towards all 17 SDGS. Meanwhile millions of people have been left behind in the global development spur. Today still, three in ten people, i.e., 2.1 billion, are lacking access to safe drinking water and six in ten lack safely managed sanitation facilities (UN-WWAP, 2019); nearly one billion people remain deprived of electricity (OECD and IEA, 2018); more than 820 million people have insufficient food, and many more consume unhealthy diets that contribute to premature death and morbidity (Fears et al., 2019; Willett et al., 2019). Both the negative environmental impacts and insecurity of water, energy and food supply are expected to worsen in the near future, driven by population growth, increasingly resource-intensive lifestyles and vulnerabilities to disruptive shocks including climate change (Hoekstra and Wiedmann, 2014; Steffen et al., 2018).
The research seeks to identify factors influencing the dissemination and sustainable adaptation of climate-smart, water- and energy-efficient innovations by food system actors in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Research Plan
Water, energy, and food are necessary resources for wellbeing and economic development. The physical and economic access to these resources in most Sub-Saharan countries remains very low while the outbreak of COVID-19 is projected to worsen the situation. Resilience thinking is increasingly promoted to address some of the grand challenges of the 21 st century: providing water, energy, and food to all, while staying within the limits of the Earth system that is undergoing (climate) change. Concurrently, a partially overlapping body of literature on the water – energy – food (WEF) nexus has emerged through the realization that water, energy, and food systems are intricately linked — and should therefore be understood and managed in conjunction.
Transforming food systems is among the most powerful ways to make progress towards all 17 SDGS. Meanwhile millions of people have been left behind in the global development spur. Today still, three in ten people, i.e., 2.1 billion, are lacking access to safe drinking water and six in ten lack safely managed sanitation facilities (UN-WWAP, 2019); nearly one billion people remain deprived of electricity (OECD and IEA, 2018); more than 820 million people have insufficient food, and many more consume unhealthy diets that contribute to premature death and morbidity (Fears et al., 2019; Willett et al., 2019). Both the negative environmental impacts and insecurity of water, energy and food supply are expected to worsen in the near future, driven by population growth, increasingly resource-intensive lifestyles and vulnerabilities to disruptive shocks including climate change (Hoekstra and Wiedmann, 2014; Steffen et al., 2018).
The research seeks to identify factors influencing the dissemination and sustainable adaptation of climate-smart, water- and energy-efficient innovations by food system actors in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Recommended resources
FAO (2014). The Water-Energy-Food Nexus. A New Approach in Support of Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture.
Fears, R., Canales, C., ter Meulen, V., and von Braun, J. (2019). Transforming food systems to deliver healthy, sustainable diets — the view from the world's science academies, Lancet Planet. Health, 3, e163 – e165. doi: 10.1016 / S2542-5196 (19) 30038-5
International Water Management Institute dialogue (2021). Role of Water-Energy-Food Nexus for achieving food security in a changing climate for Pakistan. https://summitdialogues.org/dialogue/9111/
OECD and IEA. (2018). World energy outlook 2018, Paris: International Energy Agency
Oludare S. Durodola (2021). COVID-19 and the water – energy – food nexus in Africa: Evidence from Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Rick J. Hogeboom et. al., (2021). Resilience Meets the Water – Energy – Food Nexus: Mapping the Research Landscape.
UN-WWAP. (2019). The united Nations world water development report 2019 - leaving No one behind, Paris: WWAP (United Nations World Water Assessment Program).
Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., Springmann, M., Lang, T., and Vermeulen, S. (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT – Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems, The Lancet 393, 447–492. doi: 10.1016 / S0140-6736 (18) 31788-4
Recommended resources
FAO (2014). The Water-Energy-Food Nexus. A New Approach in Support of Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture.
Fears, R., Canales, C., ter Meulen, V., and von Braun, J. (2019). Transforming food systems to deliver healthy, sustainable diets — the view from the world's science academies, Lancet Planet. Health, 3, e163 – e165. doi: 10.1016 / S2542-5196 (19) 30038-5
International Water Management Institute dialogue (2021). Role of Water-Energy-Food Nexus for achieving food security in a changing climate for Pakistan. https://summitdialogues.org/dialogue/9111/
OECD and IEA. (2018). World energy outlook 2018, Paris: International Energy Agency
Oludare S. Durodola (2021). COVID-19 and the water – energy – food nexus in Africa: Evidence from Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Rick J. Hogeboom et. al., (2021). Resilience Meets the Water – Energy – Food Nexus: Mapping the Research Landscape.
UN-WWAP. (2019). The united Nations world water development report 2019 - leaving No one behind, Paris: WWAP (United Nations World Water Assessment Program).
Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., Springmann, M., Lang, T., and Vermeulen, S. (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT – Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems, The Lancet 393, 447–492. doi: 10.1016 / S0140-6736 (18) 31788-4
Enclosed appendices
-
Appendices bound in thesis
maps, tables
Taken from the library
No
Full text of the thesis
Appendices
Reviewer's report
Supervisor's report
Defence procedure record
Student Giwa presented her thesis titled “Resilience thinking within the water, energy, and food nexus in a drought-prone area: A GIS-based analysis for solar irrigation suitability”. She introduced the structure of the thesis with a focus on specific research questions, goals and methodology. Then she focused on the suitability analysis of GIS usage. A great part of the thesis defence was dedicated to the presentation of the results and discussion. The committee was familiarized with both reviews of the thesis as they were read out. The supervisor stressed that the thesis was created as a result of the internship and with high usage GIS methods. The student reacted to the questions from the reviews. The student was asked for instance: “ Your study includes suitability of small-scale solar-powered irrigation system in Keynayn context up to the depth of 25m. What do you think about the potential of extraction beyond 25m?” This requires more technical solutions. The student answered all of the proposed questions to the committee as well as the question from the committee. What are the policies about drought mitigation (institutional frameworks) in Kenya? “Kenya's main policies are focused on semi-arid and arid areas because it takes up to 80 % of its area. There is a risk of overexploitation of water resources and the possibility of conflict over such a resource, but policies are being implemented. It is a question of their efficiency.