Increasing regional to global-scale resilience in a climate constrained world

Resilient natural resource management hinges on understanding the complex and interdependent relationships between food, energy and water (FEW).  In the Columbia River Basin (CRB), these issues revolve around the competition for limited surface water resources to sustain irrigated agriculture, hydropower generation, and in-stream flow requirements for endangered fish populations. This proposal seeks to develop a framework for achieving maximum co-benefits between FEW sectors to foster CRB resilience.  Using conceptual and bio-physical regional models, this project will evaluate FEW innovations in technology and institutions across multiple spatio-temporal scales and develop storage management strategies that incorporate stakeholder feedback to identify, legitimize and remove barriers to innovative solutions.

The spatial distribution of FEW systems across the CRB.

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Support

National Science Foundation
United States Department of Agriculture
Washington State University

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Collaborators

A Food-Energy-Water Center Collaborative (FEW2C) interdisciplinary project involving:

• Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach (CEREO)
• Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR)
• State of Washington Water Research Center (WRC)

In participation with:

• Biological Systems Engineering, WSU
• Civil and Environmental Engineering, WSU
• Mechanical and Materials Engineering, WSU
• School of Economic Sciences, WSU
• School of the Environment, WSU
• School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, WSU

• Civil and Environmental Engineering, UU
• College of Law, UI
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
• Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, USU