Optimizing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus System Considering the Human Development Index

Water, energy, and food are essential resources for meeting basic human needs and for socio-economic development. The water-energy-food nexus studies the interconnections between energy, water, and food resources to improve their security and achieve sustainable development. In recent years, optimization models have been developed around systems that evaluate the water-energy-food nexus; however, social aspects have not been addressed in system planning. This study presents an optimization model involving the Human Development Index as a basis for designing water-energy-food systems that maximize the security of water, energy, and food in the regions with the lowest human development. Two cases are addressed, one where the Human Development Index was used as a parameter calculated by the United Nations Program in function of the Gross Domestic Product, education, and life expectancy, and another case where the Human Development Index is a function of the number of people that have access to electricity and is integrated to the Sustainable Development Index proposed in this works that also considers the water, energy, and food security. The state of Sonora in Mexico was considered a case study due to its unequal distribution of resources. The results indicate that the water-energy-food nexus security index can be increased up to 39% in the water sector, 8% in the energy sector, and 26% in the food sector. Increasing the water-energy-food nexus security should improve human development by implementing the resulting integrated system. The proposed model can guide decision-making to maximize human development and the security of the water-energy-food nexus.