MIT Launches Water and Food Security Lab

MIT Has Created the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab

The Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS) has been formed to spearhead research that will help humankind adapt to a rapidly changing planet and combat world-wide water and food-supply scarcity. The lab aims to address the collective pressure of population growth, urbanization, and climate variability — factors that endanger food and water systems in developing and developed countries alike.

J-WAFS will commence operations in September 2014. Because water and food systems, needs, and challenges are often specific to a particular country or region, the lab's approach will emphasize solutions that vary by area of activity. And the lab will seek to develop broad-based approaches through a range of disciplines: urban planning and design, engineering and technology, climate and hydrology, and policy, economics, and social sciences.

The lab will frame broad, high-level questions in science and engineering and then coordinate the efforts of MIT's faculty, labs, and centers to work towards solutions for water and food security that are environmentally benign and energy-efficient. J-WAFS will also seek to partner with other institutions, foundations, industry, and governments to develop regionally appropriate solutions, whether for fast-growing megacities or for the rural developing world. Water supply in urban settings, for example, may benefit from conservation policies and infrastructure-scale systems, whereas rural populations may need small-scale, locally powered water purifiers. And ensuring stable food supplies to these populations requires a similarly varied approach.

The lab will also support research in a broad range of water and food technologies.

Source: MIT

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Taxonomy

• Research
• Water Safety Plan
• Water Management