A decision support tool for the assessment of water-energy-food nexus in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The sustainable management of natural resources is a fundamental component that drives the economic growth of most countries. Economic crisis, poverty, and hunger have been escalating in different parts of the world due to unsustainable use of natural resources. Thus, the goals of economic and sustainable development should be defined in terms of sustainability of resources: water, energy, and food. Identifying factors affecting these resources, and explaining the interconnectedness between them, is the first step towards sustainable management of natural resources. Several frameworks and models have been designed to help policymakers understand the complexity of the interlinkages between natural resources and assist with planning and regulating these resources. This paper describes a spatial-temporal decision support tool that analyzes energy requirements in the food sector. The tool provides policymakers with essential information to assess which energy inputs in food production are the largest and which factors might influence the increase in energy use over space and time. The tool was developed using a web-based Geographical Information System (GIS) application in a way that allows the user to navigate over different spatial locations, select a point of interest to grow a certain quantity of a specific crop, and calculate water, land, and energy requirements accordingly. This application provides a web-mapping platform and helps users determine when and where they can grow crops based on water and energy requirements objective functions. This application is very helpful for areas with limited information on natural resources. It utilizes satellite imagery to identify major environmental features that are important for analysis. It also allows comparison between different scenarios of food production, promotes natural resources usage efficiency, and encourages greater policy coherence.