A third of the nation's vegetables and two-thirds of the country's fruits and nuts are produced in California (CA). It’s apparent that the regions water resources and energy infrastructure were developed for a climate regime that no longer exists. We’re currently facing alarming and unprecedented deficiencies in meeting the demands of agriculture and society. Deficiencies include reductions in seasonal surface-water storage, continued groundwater overdraft, reduced hydropower, more-intense storm runoff, and growing competition for water and energy demand. Taken together, they present a unique challenge for the future of irrigated agriculture.
Recognizing the need for a sustainable future, CA is advancing both requirements and incentives for improvement of water and energy management. Through analysis of the food-energy-water system (FEWS) comprised of connected wildland-storage-cropland subsystems this research will analyze how different climate-adaption pathways affect resilience, vulnerability, and sustainability of CA’s FEWS nexus. Management and alternative future scenarios will be analyzed using a Coupled Human and Natural System (CHANS) framework that fully integrates biophysical, engineering, socioeconomic, and human decision-making processes and feedbacks.
For more detail on the project, please read through the INFEWS project outline.
