Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Worldwide local decisions are made about land use that either move a region toward food and water security or toward future conflict. Climate change is making management decisions much more difficult and we must apply systems thinking to anticipate and adapt to uncertainties associated with more extreme weather events. In the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering (UMN) we have developed a new major called Sustainable Systems Management that addresses ways to think about air, structures, energy, land, food, and water. This study focuses on case examples of watershed management in Africa and Asia. In South Africa, Cape Town nearly ran out of water in 2018 and much of the country is water stressed due to changes in weather patterns. We discuss current actions and critique the long-term sustainability and what should change to account for future food and water uncertainties. In the eastern Himalayan region, China has changed to flow of water through India and Bangladesh leaving millions of people with too little water that is poor in quality. Tribal actions in this region created a measure of strife and pollution that left an unacceptable quality of life. However, population growth has now forced new land use policies to account for the economic and sustainable production of food and horticultural products. To move land and water decisions in a better direction much of the developing world will need clear guidance about sustainable systems; at UMN we are training passionate young people to go and make a difference.