Abstract

• Global tensions over the provision of water, food and energy are growing in response to demographic change and rapid economic development.

• Whilst water-food-energy challenges are becoming increasingly interconnected by complex ecological, socio-economic and sociopolitical factors, this complexity is not adequately reflected in assessments of these challenges, or in problem solving.

• There is a need to integrate multi-actor, multi-objective frameworks for interlinked water-food-energy challenges across scales and between scales, whilst accommodating uncertainty.

• There are multiple decision making tools available but their ability to replicate the capacity for compromise amongst stakeholders and objectives in real-world decision making processes is limited.

• Game theory can offer an alternative decision making approach by generating a set of near-optimal, feasible and ‘stable’ results, allowing the analysis of the various trade-offs involved, and of potential fallback positions. The outputs from such an approach can be practical in real-world situations when compared to the ‘optimal’, but often impracticable options, given by conventional multi-objective optimisation methods.

Using game theory to address modern resource management problems and infrastructure provision (pdf, 270 KB). Grantham Institute Briefing note No 2, September 2015. 6pp.

Authors

Madani, K., Darch, G., Parra, F. & Workman, M.