Chapter 2, Problem 2.6.3P

Between 2009 and 2050, as the world population is expected to increase by 2.3 billion, urban populations are projected to grow by 2.9 billion-from 3.4 to 6.3 billion (UNDESA, 2009). Urban areas are therefore expected to absorb all of the world’s population growth over the next four decades, while also drawing in some of the rural population. Furthermore, most of the urban population growth will be concentrated in the cities and towns of less developed regions that already face enormous backlogs in shelter, infrastructure, and services, as well as insufficient drinking water supply, deteriorating sanitation, and increasing environmental pollution. What would you say are the most important factors of water resources sustainability that must be studied to handle this urban growth, particularly in the less developed regions?

Figure P2.2.5 The water, energy, and food nexus perspective. Reproduced with permission from the International Food Policy Research Institute www.ifprl.org. The original report from which this figure comes can be found online at http://ebray.ifprl.org/edm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131154.

(Source: Adaptations by Al-Riffal, et al, (2017) of Hoff (2011) and von Braun (2015).)