Covid-19 and opportunity for integrated management of water–energy–food resources for urban consumption

Abstract The recent outbreak of Covid-19 has caused widespread impact on economy and has interrupted normal livelihood of people all over the world. However, it also offers an opportunity for integrated management of already stressed natural resources like water, energy and food. Stringent lockdown imposed under Covid-19 scenarios is likely to have reduced stress on these natural resources by way of reduced water pollution due to closure of polluting industries, reduced wastage of food from the restaurants, parties, and conferences as well as reduced consumption of energy resources especially due to restrictions on transport. Overall, this would have reduced the level of environmental pollution. Simultaneously, Covid-19 lockdown is likely to have increased water consumption under improved hygiene norms, increased food and electricity consumption at the urban household level. However, environmental benefits due to Covid-19 lockdown do not satisfy the criteria of sustainable development as this has been at the cost of reduced industrial production and economic development. As it is necessary to establish a balance between social, environmental and economic components for sustainable development, it is necessary to resume economic activities, but an integrated approach about the management of water–energy–food (WEF) resources has potential to ensure the sustainability of environmental benefits achieved during Covid-19. WEF interlinkages concept recognizes the synergies between WEF systems and aims to provide framework for optimal use of all these resources. This paper reviews the various aspects related to WEF nexus at the city level with reference to two major satellite towns in India namely, Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Gurugram (Haryana), under both pre-Covid-19 and in current scenarios and examines the possibility of implementation of integrated mitigation measures to ensure optimized WEF consumption levels and the sustainability of environmental benefits.