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Quantification of Regional and Global Sustainability Based on Combined Resource Criticality of Land and Water


Affiliations
1 CSIR-National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), Dr K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110 012, India
2 Department of Mathematics, M.S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Peenya Campus, Bengaluru 560 058, India
 

The overall global food sustainability is limited by the simultaneous availability of primary resources at regional scales, although the international trade network can redistribute available (surplus) food. Assessments based on isolated resource (like water) or demand (like food) cannot provide correct estimates of sustainability. We define a novel criticality index on the basis of simultaneous regional availability of arable land and water to quantify sustainability. Analyses at regional and global scale show that while a relatively small fraction of world population is subcritical in terms of food availability, much larger fractions are becoming subcritical in terms of food production. The combined resource criticality implies stronger constraints for sustainability.

Keywords

Agricultural Sustainability, Carrying Capacity, Criticality Index, Food Sustainability, Water Sustainability.
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  • Quantification of Regional and Global Sustainability Based on Combined Resource Criticality of Land and Water

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Authors

Prashant Goswami
CSIR-National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), Dr K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110 012, India
Shivnarayan Nishad
Department of Mathematics, M.S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Peenya Campus, Bengaluru 560 058, India

Abstract


The overall global food sustainability is limited by the simultaneous availability of primary resources at regional scales, although the international trade network can redistribute available (surplus) food. Assessments based on isolated resource (like water) or demand (like food) cannot provide correct estimates of sustainability. We define a novel criticality index on the basis of simultaneous regional availability of arable land and water to quantify sustainability. Analyses at regional and global scale show that while a relatively small fraction of world population is subcritical in terms of food availability, much larger fractions are becoming subcritical in terms of food production. The combined resource criticality implies stronger constraints for sustainability.

Keywords


Agricultural Sustainability, Carrying Capacity, Criticality Index, Food Sustainability, Water Sustainability.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv114%2Fi02%2F355-366