Kevin Thomas

Compare and contrast the national resource security of 2 countries you have studied (10)

Water, food and energy is very important for human survival. Therefore, having resource
security measures on these 3 sources is very crucial. Having security is to have a reliable and
accessible source of the recourses. Having food security is the condition in which all people, at
all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that
meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Furthermore,
having water security is the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for
health. Having energy security is to have access to (relatively) cheap energy that is assessable to
everyone in the area. In this essay, I will be comparing the national security of resources between
the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland.

Food is a very important resource in terms of human survival. Both the UAE and Switzerland
take their national food resource security very seriously. UAE is heavily reliant on imports
especially for food, this is because the temperatures in the UAE make it difficult to produce high
amounts of food. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a desert climate, with very mild winters
and very hot and sunny summers, in which the humidity of the Persian Gulf makes the heat
unbearable. The annual precipitation is almost below 100 millimeters (4 inches), and is
concentrated in the winter months. This makes farming very difficult and not sustainable
especially for certain crops. However, the country has one of the highest food security which is
still appealing and affordable for most income groups due to its imports. With this in mind, the
UAE aims to build stronger ties with numerous nations and increase their trade portfolio as they
are heavily reliant on trade. On the other hand, the weather in Switzerland varies greatly between
different places. The highest precipitation is approximately 260 cm per year and the abundance
of fresh water makes it easy and sustainable for Switzerland to grow most of its produce and
manage a high national food security. Fertile land exists in Switzerland and they can locally
produce most of their demand for food. This makes it different compared to the UAE but both
nations have a high national food security.

Water is a public resource and managing water is a provincial responsibility. Managing a resource
of this importance requires a long-term vision and a well-planned series of actions. Many water
management initiatives, such as implementing source water protection or developing new
infrastructure, take years to plan and complete. Both UAE and Switzerland have a water security
plan but they both have different approaches. Water security is difficult for the UAE to manage
as the the nation is heavily reliant on desalination in order to obtain fresh water, which is an
energy intensive process. Residents receive their drinking water supply entirely from desalinated
seawater and the wastewater is being treated and reused for the irrigation of green spaces. In
2016, groundwater contributed 71% to total water demand for all purposes, desalinated water
24% and treated wastewater 5%. Moreover, there are 8 seawater desalination plants in Abu
Dhabi owned and operated by private and public entities. In contrast, in Switzerland water is
probably the most valuable natural resource. Apart from its use for domestic and industrial
purposes, water is Switzerland’s most important domestic energy source. In principle, there is
enough water available in Switzerland for domestic and industrial use. Currently, domestic water
resources amount to 5,000 m3 water per inhabitant and year. With an internal water footprint
accounting for only 18 per cent, these results contrast sharply with Switzerland being named
Europe’s “water tower”. The natural water also plays a huge role in hydro electricity generation
in Switzerland. Furthermore, agricultural commodities make up the bulk of Switzerland’s water
footprint, accounting for 81 per cent of the total, industrial commodities account for 17 per cent
of the country’s total water footprint. The remaining 2 per cent of Switzerland’s water footprint
Kevin Thomas

goes into domestic water use. Therefore, Switzerland is more sustainable compared to the UAE
in their means of getting water for their domestic and industrial usage requirements. Switzerland
also correlates more in comparison the the UAE with goal 11 (sustainable cities and
communities) and 12 (responsible consumption and production) in the sustainability goals of the
UN.

Despite the efforts made by the UAE the UAE's energy usage is very high (11,263.53 kWh per
capita). The government in the UAE is constantly implementing new renewable energy sources
like solar panels across the country. The nation is also inclined to be a world leader in terms of
sustainability and the country has invested 1billion dollars annually on research and development
of new ways and projects to improve the energy security in the UAE. The UAE is currently
transitioning from an electricity generation system nearly 100% powered by gas power plants to
100% powered by nuclear, solar and other renewables in order to substantially reduce its carbon
emissions. United Arab Emirates was 6th top carbon dioxide emitter per capita in the world in
2009 (40.31 tonnes per capita) and now has drastically improved their statistics. On the other
hand, in 2010 the Swiss government drafted an agenda to green our economy, to be more
resource efficient and to reduce CO2-emissions. The Swiss government has also set a target to
cut fossil fuel use by 20% by the year 2020. Most of the energy produced within Switzerland is
renewable from Hydropower and biomass. However this only accounts for around 15% of total
overall energy consumption as the other 85% of energy used is imported, mostly derived from
fossil fuels and nuclear power. As far as efficiency in buildings, public transport and in industry
are concerned, Switzerland is among the leading nations in innovation and competitiveness
according to various performance indexes and rankings, especially in the clean-tech sector.
Therefore, the UAE and Switzerland are quite similar when it comes to energy resource security
as both the countries aim to be global leaders in energy innovation and sustainability and have to
make a lot of improvements to be set as an example for other nations.

In conclusion, both the Switzerland and the UAE are developed nations and are aim to be
classified as world leaders in terms of national resource security, however they have a lot of
differences. The UAE is very reliant on imports for food and relies solely on desalination plants
for fresh water. This makes the UAE a very energy intensive country and the government is
attempting to increase the number of sustainable energy sources in the UAE. Switzerland, on the
other hand, is quite sustainable in terms of their national resource security. They have fresh
water which is used to generate electricity and the fresh water and the energy is used to maintain
their agricultural production and meet their countries demand.