Abstract
In the face of climate change, achieving resilience of desirable aspects of food-energy-water (FEW) systems already strained by competing multi-scalar social objectives requires interdisciplinary approaches. This study is part of a larger effort exploring “Innovations in the Food-Energy-Water Nexus (INFEWS)” in the Columbia River Basin (CRB) through coordinated modeling and simulated management scenarios. Here, we focus on a case study and conceptual mapping of the Yakima River Basin (YRB), a sub-basin of the CRB. Previous research on FEW system management and resilience includes some attention to social dynamics (e.g., economic and governance systems); however, more attention to social drivers and outcomes is needed. Our goals are to identify several underutilized ways to incorporate social science perspectives into FEW nexus research and to explore how this interdisciplinary endeavor alters how we assess innovations and resilience in FEW systems. First, we investigate insights on FEW nexus resilience from the social sciences. Next, we delineate strategies for further incorporation of social considerations into FEW nexus research, including the use of social science perspectives and frameworks such as socio-ecological resilience and community capitals. Then, we examine a case study of the YRB, focusing on the historical development of the FEW nexus and innovations. We find that a resilience focus applied to the FEW nexus can inadvertently emphasize a status quo imposed by those already in power. Incorporating perspectives from the social sciences, which highlight issues related to inequality, power, and social justice, can address these shortcomings and inform future innovations. Finally, we use causal loop diagrams to explore the role of the social in the FEW nexus, and we suggest ways to incorporate social aspects into an existing stock and flow object-oriented modeling system. This project represents a starting point for a continued research agenda that incorporates social dynamics into FEW system resilience modeling and management in the CRB.
Highlights
The Columbia River Basin (CRB) in the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States is home to a network of food production systems, hydroelectric dams, and tributaries and watersheds that shape the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus
Social science perspectives help us consider in more depth what we mean by resilience, inequality and power in driving processes and outcomes; goals of the FEW nexus; strategies for adaptation vs. system change; and boundaries of coupled human and natural systems at various scales and across space and time
Via historical case analysis and conceptual modeling over time, that FEW management decisions in the Yakima River Basin (YRB) led to starkly unequal outcomes
Summary
The Columbia River Basin (CRB) in the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States is home to a network of food production systems, hydroelectric dams, and tributaries and watersheds that shape the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus. Over the past century the YRB has experienced a veritable food-energy-water transformation, from one dominated by Native American tribes and fishing, to a multicultural, highly managed, highly profitable agricultural center This transformation was made possible by innovative developments and massive investments in infrastructure for irrigated agriculture, reservoir storage, railroad and highway connectivity, and fish ladders and screens Numerous scholars address why resilience as a concept is unappealing to social sciences (Olsson et al, 2015) or how it has important limitations (Davidson, 2010; Cote and Nightingale, 2012; Hatt, 2013) Many of these issues are relevant to discussions of sustainability. This paper represents an interdisciplinary approach—while engineers may not be aware of some of the social science frameworks we discuss, sociologists may not be as familiar with system dynamics modeling— our work aims to facilitate collaboration between diverse audiences
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