In 2019, the Food-water-energy for Urban Sustainable Environments (FUSE) group at Stanford Earth conducted a series of workshops at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. The FUSE created a team of researchers to study and evaluate the systems of water, food and energy in the Pune district/region (Bhima river basin) over the long term. FUSE (Food-water-energy for Urban Sustainable Environments) is a 4-year, not-for-profit, research project (2018-2022).

The FUSE team engaged in a series of activities over the past three to four years, which were aimed at understanding how the users of these systems are connected to the system, the producers, administration and governance. This involved feedback among users, producers and distribution entities, over the resources, their delivery and consumption.

The team also developed a food-water-energy systems model to explore future changes in climate, demography, land use, and economic development, considering the behaviour of a wide range of actors.

After the first series of workshops that began in Pune in 2019 (see documentation here), the FUSE team is returning to Pune this month (July 2022) to present and discuss its research findings. The Gokhale Institute will host two workshops, namely, on July 18 and July 20.

The model developed by the team focuses on freshwater provision for municipal and agricultural purposes and provides the means to quantify the impact of a future with increased climate variability, population growth, and urbanization. Using the model, we evaluate changes in vulnerability and inequity of water provision, and we come up with ideas for specific interventions, along with the likelihood of how effective they will be.