-Projections from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) show that feeding the world’s population in 2050 would require raising overall food production by some 70% between 2005/07 and 2050.
-According to an International Energy Agency (IEA) scenario, primary energy use will rise by 84%, and energy-related CO2 emissions roughly double by 2050.
-The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts that water use for crop irrigation must double by 2050 to meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) on hunger (to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger)
-The atmospheric concentration of CO2 is higher than it has ever been in the last 650,000 years.
-More than one billion people in some 100 countries are threatened by desertification. It is estimated that desertification and land degradation represent an income loss of US$42bn per year.
We need integrated solutions to tackle intertwined challenges in the food-water-energy nexus in a sustainable manner. Solutions for one sector should not come at the expense of another.
In sum, we have to rethink the way we utilise our resources and how we design the production systems that are set up to create growth.
From extractive to restorative
The traditional extractive use of resources has led to unprecedented growth, but also to tremendous environmental and social challenges. Examples of extractive processes include oil and gas extraction, mining, dredging and quarrying. For more than twenty years a more sustainable use of resources has been set as a target by politicians and policy makers. It remains a key concept in shaping our future. However, to combat climate change, food and water scarcity, establishing a sustainable balance will not be enough. We need to move beyond this approach and realize a restorative use of resources for growth that counters environmental and social challenges.
Traditionally, our production systems are set up as a rather linear process - transferring resources into products, with which are produced various waste-streams. In biological systems this linear process is very rarely encountered. Organisms that waste resources and energy have very low chances of success.
Inspired by nature
With nature as an inspiration, the Sahara Forest Project has designed a technological system where the waste product from one technology is used as resource for another. This integrated technological system creates beneficial synergies and increased technological efficiency. The project has set out to enable restorative growth using restorative practices to establish vegetation in arid areas and reverse the trend of desertification. The process will be catalysed by combining environmental technologies such as the evaporation of saltwater to create cooling and distilled fresh water (i.e. in a saltwater cooled greenhouse) and solar thermal energy technologies. The combination is designed to utilise what we have enough of to produce what we need more of, using deserts, saltwater and CO2 to profitably produce food, freshwater and energy and create green jobs.
The environmental challenges of our time are closely interlinked. The same must be true for the answers.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited (EIU) or any other member of The Economist Group. The Economist Group (including the EIU) cannot accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this article or any of the information, opinions or conclusions set out in the article.
