Resilience thinking within water, energy and food nexus in a drought prone area: A GIS based analysis for solar irrigation suitability

Eniololade GIWA, B.Sc.

Master's thesis

Food systems transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa: adaptation of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus approach

Abstract:

Insecurity of water, energy and food are expected to worsen due to population growth, intensive resource use and vulnerabilities to climate change. Solar energy is attractive because of its potential to deliver equally on water-energy-food security triad and is spreading as a solution to both energy and climate concerns in agriculture. Meanwhile, private actors and public agencies mostly lack information and tools about resource availability and suitability which would enable or disenable sustainable solar irrigation investment. By employing a Geographic Information System (GIS) multi-criteria decision model (MCDM), this study puts pastoralists at the fore and identifies resource suitability of small-scale solar irrigation. It draws on cases of two Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Turkana and West-pokot, Kenya who are not only drought-prone but resource conflict zone and trans-boundary routes. Groundwater availability and surface water accessibility is the driving factor for analysis; the results showed that groundwater up to 7m, groundwater up to 25m and surface water has a total suitability of 10%, 11%, and 51% respectively. Depending on the technical pump capacity, between 8,102km2 to 40, 548km2 would be suitable for solar irrigation and provide pastoralists with the option to either pump from small reservoirs, shallow or very shallow groundwater.

Abstract:

Insecurity of water, energy and food are expected to worsen due to population growth, intensive resource use and vulnerabilities to climate change. Solar energy is attractive because of its potential to deliver equally on water-energy-food security triad and is spreading as a solution to both energy and climate concerns in agriculture. Meanwhile, private actors and public agencies mostly lack information and tools about resource availability and suitability which would enable or disenable sustainable solar irrigation investment. By employing a Geographic Information System (GIS) multi-criteria decision model (MCDM), this study puts pastoralists at the fore and identifies resource suitability of small-scale solar irrigation. It draws on cases of two Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Turkana and West-pokot, Kenya who are not only drought-prone but resource conflict zone and trans-boundary routes. Groundwater availability and surface water accessibility is the driving factor for analysis; the results showed that groundwater up to 7m, groundwater up to 25m and surface water has a total suitability of 10%, 11%, and 51% respectively. Depending on the technical pump capacity, between 8,102km2 to 40, 548km2 would be suitable for solar irrigation and provide pastoralists with the option to either pump from small reservoirs, shallow or very shallow groundwater.

Keywords

Solar irrigation, Multi-Criteria Decision Model, GIS, Resilience, Drought, Pastoralism

Language used: Czech

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 31. 5. 2022

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: prof. Maria Sassi

Palacký University Olomouc

Faculty of Science

Master programme / field:
Development Studies and Foresight / Development Studies and Foresight - specialization in Global Development Policy