Background

The nexus of water, food and energy security in a time of climate change has attracted more and more attention from researchers, water managers and politicians, and is becoming a strategic development issue for countries, regions, and the world. Managing this nexus is vitally important to ensuring economic performance, social equity, environmental sustainability, and political stability.

More study is needed how this nexus affects the countries in developing Asia, and how it can be managed in the future. The workshop will mark the launch of the Asia-Pacific Center for Water Security, established by Tsinghua University and Peking University in collaboration with ADB, and provide an opportunity to foster regional cooperation in research, capacity, and leadership development. The workshop will help the Center to identify priorities for current and future activities with partners from the region and beyond.

The workshop will include discussion of the needs of decision-makers for scientific information on the water-food-energy nexus as well as the expected outcomes of research and assessment activities that are necessary for sound resource management, adaptive planning, and policy formulation. Findings and recommendations from the workshop will be compiled and presented to leaders gathering at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Water Summit on 5-6 February 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Objectives

The workshop will serve as a forum to address recent research progress through three questions:

• How does water management impact on food and energy security in Asia?
• How can the water-food-energy security nexus be measured and managed?
• What should leaders do to tackle the water-food-energy security nexus?

Organizers

The workshop is being organized by Tsinghua University and Peking University, in cooperation with ADB.

Participants

Participation is open to researchers, practitioners and decision-makers from Asia as well as global centers of excellence. Invitation letters can be sent by the Center on request.