water Review Central Asia’s Ili River Ecosystem as a Wicked Problem: Unraveling Complex Interrelationships at the Interface of Water, Energy, and Food Steven G. Pueppke 1,2,3,*, Sabir T. Nurtazin 4, Norman A. Graham 2,5 and Jiaguo Qi 3 ID 1 Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, 1066 Bogue Street, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA 2 Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Michigan State University, 427 North Shaw Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA;
[email protected] 3 Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, Michigan State University, 1405 South Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA;
[email protected] 4 Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 71 Al-Farabi Avenue, 050040 Almaty, Kazakhstan;
[email protected] 5 James Madison College, Michigan State University, 842 Chestnut Road, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-269-888-1150 Received: 13 January 2018; Accepted: 17 April 2018; Published: 24 April 2018 Abstract: The Ili River originates in the mountains of Xinjiang, China, and flows across an increasingly arid landscape before terminating in Kazakhstan’s Lake Balkhash, which has no outlet to the ocean. The river has been extensively impounded and diverted over the past half century to produce hydroelectric power and food on irrigated land. Water withdrawals are increasing to the extent that they are beginning to threaten the ecosystem, just as it is becoming stressed by altered inflows as glaciers retreat and disappear. If the Ili River ecosystem is to be preserved, it is crucial that we thoroughly understand the spatial and temporal nuances of the interrelationships between water, energy, and food—and the vulnerability of these components to climate change.