The Water, Energy, and Food Security Nexus in Asia and the Pacific
In typical organizational and geographical distribution, Central Asia and South Asia are organized distinctly and the geographical footprint varies depending on the context. In the United Nations system, this region falls under the geographical coverage of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). In the context of this book, this region is described as including the following countries in the Central Asian subregion: Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan; and the following countries in the South Asian subregion: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The corresponding maps are shown as Figs. 1.1 and 1.2, respectively. Given the proximity of China to this region and its economic and geopolitical influence on the countries in this region, the discussion in this book duly considers the corresponding issues pertinent to the water-energy-food nexus. For example, China is situated upstream on a number of transboundary river systems in the region. Further, its Belt and Road Initiative1 ) has an impact on the economic development across the countries in this region, and beyond. Climatologically, the Central and South Asian region covers a whole range of the main climate zone spectrum, including tropical, sub-tropical and temperate zones, and within this realm a set of climate types occurs, such as the humid and subhumid tropical climates in Bangladesh, south India, and Sri Lanka, semi-arid Steppe climates of Central Asia, alpine climates in northern Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, and Bhutan, as well as hyper-arid dry desert climates in the south of Iran and Pakistan. Moreover, it includes the maritime high-humidity climate of the Maldives, with its constant sea breezes and constantly high temperatures above 25 °C, and high annual rainfall averages between 2500 and 3800 mm. According to the climate classification of Siegmund and Frankenberg (2013) the two factors temperature and water balance are the most important climate-ecologically relevant indicators of an area, and this, in turn, is a major factor for freshwater availability and food-production.
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