The global community is increasingly discussing the links between water, energy, and food sectors. Issues related to the simultaneous management of water, energy, and food resources, as well as finding ways to achieve the goals without harming the resource bases, are priorities. Moreover, the WEF’s relations are influenced by other sectors, such as economic, political, and social. This paper aims to examine all the elements of the Swedish WEF and describe the barrier of the Swedish technological triangle.
Water is a limited resource, but the number of people is growing, as is the number of uses of water resources. The energy and food sectors also depend on water. Since these three sectors are at the heart of sustainable development, the environmental community is increasingly focusing on water resources management. Sweden is a country with many reservoirs, lakes, and streams, a large number of forest areas, and relatively many other countries with low energy emissions from production. Heuvel et al. argue that historically Sweden is abundant in water, it still faces several problems related to the quantity and quality of water. For example, in times of drought, the country faced the possibility of a shortage of drinking water. The United Nations has estimated that by 2050, the world’s population could grow to about 10 billion people, of which 4 billion will be water-poor. This indicator is frightening and obliges people to find ways to solve this problem so that future generations do not suffer from a lack of water.
The connection between water and energy is quite strong since water is an essential component in producing and using energy. In order to get energy without using water, people use substitutes. For example, thermoelectric energy production occurs by converting air into electricity. This technology is quite adequate, but it is much more expensive in comparison with the use of water. Another option for energy production is the use of bioenergy, that is, using biomass. In this case, there are also limitations, since different plants give different amounts of energy and, moreover, plants require certain climatic conditions, that is, they do not grow well everywhere, especially in large quantities. As for Sweden, biofuels in this country are the second most popular source of energy, after nuclear power, and the largest renewable energy source. Although Sweden somehow uses water for energy production, they have found another source of energy that is renewable and helps to conserve limited water resources.
The production of agricultural products to provide the population with food requires the use of connections with both water and energy. The world’s population is growing, and in this regard, the demand for food production is constantly growing. Moreover, in developing countries, the standard of living is increasing, which leads to changes in the structure of food consumption and an increase in the consumption of animal products. Water is actively used in agriculture to irrigate plants, but people find other ways to saturate plants with water to reduce the consumption of water resources. Energy, in this case, is used to operate machinery and agricultural machinery, that is, for fertilizing, irrigation, collecting and transporting grown products. For the production of animal food, water and energy are essential components. Since animals also need to be watered, fed, and then bred as food, it is necessary to have water, food, and energy. Sweden has about 63,000 farms, which gives it the second-largest share of agricultural land among the European Union countries. The National Food Strategy links the food sector and environmental goals and helps in the more efficient use of resources.
There is a barrier to Sweden’s more high-tech development in the use of water and energy for food production, in the form of a low level of innovation. Perhaps Sweden, like some other countries, needs to think about more innovative approaches to the use of limited water resources and find more energy-intensive resources for energy production. The goal of the Swedish government is to bring the country’s agriculture to a competitive global market. Even though Sweden has not found absolutely profitable water and energy sources, it still has rather more valuable sources of these limited resources than many other countries.
In conclusion, the use of the planet’s limited resources is a global problem for the entire planet’s population. It is necessary to ensure a high level of technological development to obtain the resources needed to provide the people with food and drinking water. Sweden has found several positive ways, but this will not be enough over time, and new solutions will need to be found. At present, people need to take care not only of their own well-being but also of the lives of future generations. It is necessary to find ways to develop innovative technologies that can help people provide themselves with water and food without harming the planet’s resources and not wholly exhaust them since some of them are not renewable. Unfortunately, solutions to save resources have not yet been found, but many countries have already set themselves goals to find a way out and save the planet.
References
L. Heuvel, et al. “Ecosystem services in the Swedish water-energy-food-land-climate nexus: Anthropogenic pressures and physical interactions.”Ecosystem Services, vol. 44, pp. 1-13, 2020. Web.
Y.Chang, et al. “Quantifying the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Current Status and Trends.” Energies, vol. 9, no. 65, pp. 1-17, 2016.
SEA (Swedish Energy Agency), 2017. Energy in Sweden 2017. ET 2017:33.
J. C. Björklund. “Barriers to Sustainable Business Model Innovation in Swedish Agriculture.”Journal of entrepreneurship, management, and innovation, 2018. Web.