European Report on Development 2012 - Confronting scarcity: Managing water, energy and land for inclusive and sustainable growth

"Water, energy and land, three crucial resources for development and human well-being, are under increasing  strain due to rising food prices, climate change, global population growth and economic growth. Today almost  a billion people are undernourished, 0.9 billion have no safe water and 1.5 billion no source of electricity. Worse  still, at current rates, by 2030 demand for energy and water will have grown by 40% – and by 50% for food.  As the threat of absolute resource scarcity looms closer, poor people are the most vulnerable and least equipped  to cope. Inclusive and sustainable resource management is thus a developmental and environmental necessity  – and a moral imperative, too.
 This is why this third European Report on Development, focusing on managing water, energy and land for  inclusive and sustainable growth, is so welcome. As the international community prepares for the UN Conference  on Sustainable Development in Rio, it is also most timely. And as a proud Member of the Secretary General's  High Level Group on Sustainable Energy for All, whose work will feed into the discussions on Sustainable  Development Goals, I believe it is most relevant. 
The report strongly discounts "business as usual" as an option. Inaction would be catastrophic. But there is  hope: a path towards growth which is both inclusive and sustainable can be mapped out. 
The report analyses the interconnections among water, energy and land and stresses the benefi ts of shifting  towards an integrated nexus approach. Such an approach would be key to addressing interdependencies,  increasing coherence and creating synergies across sectors and resources." 

Andris Piebalgs - European Commissioner for Development