51 3 1 A review of existing studies on energy food water security nexus As previously discussed in the conclusion of Chapter 2, a major shortcoming of Vietnam’s current energy–food–water policymaking[.]
51 3.1 A review of existing studies on energy-food-water security nexus As previously discussed in the conclusion of Chapter 2, a major shortcoming of Vietnam’s current energy–food–water policymaking is its focus on individual sectors, which fails to consider the connections among these sectors and their impacts on society’s development in terms of its economy, employment, and environment This limitation primarily occurs due to Vietnam’s lack of an appropriate policymaking framework and strategic planning practices; hence, it is significant to review existing studies on energy– food–water security on both of global and national scale The strength and shortcomings of these could be developing a research framework for the current research Therefore, this section reviews existing energy–food–water studies in terms of their objectives, scope, underlying research methods, and key findings regarding the analysis of linkages among energy, food and water, assessment of socio-economic-environmental impacts and discussion on policy discourse Table 3.1 summarises the key features in these studies The findings from this review will provide a foundation to identify major shortcomings of existing research, and will also be useful for developing a more appropriate integrated research framework for this research, as also noted in Sections 3.3 and 3.4 Linkages among energy, food and water Following studies focus on analysis of linkages among energy, food and water in either quantitative or qualitative approach FAO (2000) examines the energy and agriculture nexus in the context of sustainable development Over the last two decades, per capita energy consumption has increased, with a global average annual consumption of approximately 1.6 tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) per capita As modern agriculture requires energy inputs at all stages of agricultural production, FAO (2000) aims to support the use of sustainable, sensible energy in agriculture A key finding of this report is that energy and agriculture should be considered as part of integrated management policies, as improved energy services will support rural development, and agriculture provides biomass energy The results also indicate that using biofuels will decrease both fossil fuel consumption and the environmental impacts of energy use in agriculture: theoretically, bioenergy can meet 25% of the world’s fossil fuel demands This research applies a life cycle assessment method, the results of which can raise awareness among policymakers about energy’s role in agriculture as well as the need for change in developing countries’ rural energy