Development of water-energy-food nexus model for promoting sustainable Thailand bioeconomy

Abstract

Bioeconomy is one of the key policies to develop Thailand's new economic growth engine. However, several limitations and challenges, such as weather and climate change, market price, and production cost, can affect the implementation feasibility. In this research, the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus approach was applied to determine the policies at three different implementation scales, including national, watershed, and local scales, using the Material Flow Analysis (MFA) technique. In assessing the bioeconomy at the national level, allocating the supply from exporting to PLA production has the second-highest eco-efficiency but consumes much less water and energy than others, resulting in better economic value. On the watershed/regional scale, the study was conducted within the scope of the Chaopraya watershed area. The land-use change from rice to sugarcane provided the highest financial gain and supported the bioeconomy policy, even consumed more energy and remained a water stress issue. Therefore, policymakers need to be concerned about water sustainability and adequately convince farmers to follow. Lastly, in assessing the bioeconomy at the local level, the study focusing on the Nakhon Sawan Biocomplex (NBC) area found that the site is susceptible to rainfall changes since the sugarcane cultivation area is mainly rainfed. Thus, developing more irrigation areas is the proper alternative to ensuring the NBC's sugarcane crop yield. The significant rainfall fluctuation has been discovered from the future projections of GCMs. Therefore, developing an additional irrigation water supply of about 400 m3 /crop and expansion to cover more than 90% of the cultivated area is recommended to ensure the minimum supply of sugarcane business for the future.