MNN - Mother Nature Network

Water, food and energy go hand-in-hand. Water scarcity, food security and energy consumption and production are all important green business topics, but they often aren’t thought of in an interconnected manner.  Tomorrow, participants in an online water-food-energy nexus event will be forced to think of these three topics in a relational manner, both on a local and a global level.

 

What is the water-food-energy nexus?  “Given these trade-offs and interactions, successfully addressing the triple challenge of water stress, food security and energy supplies means taking a holistic view and balancing the many competing demands. We call this interconnected issue the water-food-energy nexus.”  Source: SABMiller

 

The Guardian and SABMiller are hosting the live event on Feb. 6, from 11 a.m. GMT to 4:30 p.m. GMT (6 a.m. EST to 11:30 a.m. EST). A series of debates will be broadcast live online with an interactive online panel discussion planned after each debate.  

 

Professor Gordon Conway (Centre for Environmental Policy), Andy Wales (SABMiller) and Tim Fox (Institute of Mechanical Engineers) will participate in the first debate, Water for Food. After the 45-minute debate, a 45-minute online follow-up discussion is scheduled.

 

The second debate will be on the topic of Food and Water for Energy with Herbert Oberhaensli (vice president of economics and international relations at Nestle), Camilla Toulmin (Economist with the International Institute for Environment and Development) and David Norman (director of Campaigns, WWF UK).  

 

Energy for Water is the topic of the third and final debate, which kicks off at 3 p.m. GMT. Scheduled participants include Jens Berggren (Stockholm Water Prize and Stockholm Industry Water Award), Usha Rao-Monari (director, Sustainable Business Advisory, IFC) Gerard Payen (president, Aquafed) and Fiona Harvey (environment correspondent, The Guardian).

 

Register for the online event and submit questions to the panel of experts in advance: Water-Food-Energy Nexus Debates.