One of the biggest challenges for humankind is how can we ensure a future with sustainable water food, and energy under the unprecedented threat of climate change? The cross-scale interactions, from local levels to the global scale, between climate and human systems contribute to the intertwined relationship among water, food, and energy (WFE). There is no silver bullet or single solution to this problem and research in both engineering and policies is needed to gain a broad and interdisciplinary perspective on WFE-related issues.

The overall goal of this research at NUS is to develop a climate-resilient and smart platform to better understand the impact of hydrological extremes (i.e., droughts, floods) on the interlinked WFE systems using a novel integrative approach that includes both direct and indirect impacts, and develop a more holistic framework for managing risks, leveraging on recent proliferation of geospatial big data and methodological advances in biophysical models, machine learning techniques, and socio-economic sciences. Currently, no such frameworks are available for managing risks and impacts arising from hydrologically related natural hazards, especially taking into account their scaling effects and the role of interconnected infrastructures. The framework is locally applicable (e.g., Singapore) and can be extended to regional (e.g., Southeast Asia) and even global scales to support decisions related to disaster preparedness, water resources management, energy infrastructure design and investment, agricultural practices, among many others. This platform will specifically benefit Singapore, whose WFE and economic sectors are likely to be more vulnerable to future intensified droughts and floods because of climate change, due to its high dependency of international trade to meet domestic WFE demand as well as the potentially heightened risk of supply chain disruptions outside of Singapore (such as the 2011 floods in Bangkok). Furthermore, the tools and datasets hosted by this platform can be tailored to meet the local needs of Singapore’s various business and industry sectors (e.g., banks, insurance, energy finance, agricultural business) to help them develop smart climate risk management strategies, and therefore enhance proactive risk identification and boost their resilience to short-term shocks as well as long-term climate change. This will further strengthen Singapore’s national security beyond its WFE sectors, as the enhanced regional resilience (e.g., the entire Southeast Asia) can help mitigate possible regional conflicts and displacements between Singapore and neighboring countries, due to anticipated future disruptions of WFE supplies resulting from hydroclimate shocks.

For more details, please contact:
Dr He Xiaogang
Email: hexg@nus.edu.sg