Integrated Modelling for Climate-Resilient Food and Water Systems

Food and water are the two most fundamental needs of humans. Climate change is adversely affecting global food and water security by altering crop water and nutrient demands and adding uncertainty to water availability. The multi-sectoral and sometimes conflicting demands on food and water create challenges in maintaining a sustainable, interconnected food-water system. This project aims to address the limited understanding of the quantitative interactions between crop production, nutrient pollution, and water scarcity. This will be achieved by integrating and improving the underlying processes related to crop-nutrient-water interactions of current models. The improved integrated model will be applied under different climate and socio-economic change scenarios to analyse trends and spatial distribution of future hotspots with different food and water security challenges. Impacts of crop, nutrient and water management and their interactions will also be quantified by the integrated models. Based on insights into crop-nutrient-water interactions, feasible solutions for sustainable management measures will be explored in selected hotspot area through participatory scenario analysis with stakeholders. By combining top-down modelling and case studies, this project is expected to develop effective management measures for food and water security issues.