Water footprints of nations

The water footprint concept has been developed in order to have an indicator of water use in relation to consumption of people. The water footprint of a country is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. Closely linked to the water footprint concept is the virtual water concept. Virtual water is defined as the volume of water required to produce a commodity or service. International trade of commodities implies flows of virtual water over large distances. The water footprint of a nation can be assessed by taking the use of domestic water resources, subtract the virtual water flow that leaves the country and add the virtual water flow that enters the country. The internal water footprint of a nation is the volume of water used from domestic water resources to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The external water footprint of a country is the volume of water used in other countries to produce goods and services imported and consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The study aims to calculate the water footprint for each nation of the world for the period 1997-2001

Water saving through international trade of agricultural products

Many nations save domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products and exporting commodities that are less water intensive. National water saving through the import of a product can imply saving water at a global level if the flow is from sites with high to sites with low water productivity. The paper analyses the consequences of international virtual water flows on the global and national water budgets. The assessment shows that the total amount of water that would have been required in the importing countries if all imported agricultural products would have been produced domestically is 1605 Gm3/yr. These products are however being produced with only 1253 Gm3/yr in the exporting countries, saving global water resources by 352 Gm3/yr. This saving is 28 per cent of the international virtual water flows related to the trade of agricultural products and 6 per cent of the global water use in agriculture. National policy makers are however not interested in global water savings but in the status of national water resources. Egypt imports wheat and in doing so saves 3.6 Gm3/yr of its national water resources. Water use for producing export commodities can be beneficial, as for instance in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Brazil, where the use of green water resources (mainly through rain-fed agriculture) for the production of stimulant crops for export has a positive economic impact on the national economy. However, export of 28 Gm3/yr of national water from Thailand related to rice export is at the cost of additional pressure on its blue water resources. Importing a product which has a relatively high ratio of green to blue virtual water content saves global blue water resources that generally have a higher opportunity cost than green water.\u

The water footprint of cotton consumption

The consumption of a cotton product is connected to a chain of impacts on the water resources in the countries where cotton is grown and processed. The aim of this report is to assess the ‘water footprint’ of worldwide cotton consumption, identifying both the location and the character of the impacts. The study distinguishes between three types of impact: evaporation of infiltrated rainwater for cotton growth (green water use), withdrawal of ground- or surface water for irrigation or processing (blue water use) and water pollution during growth or processing. The latter impact is quantified in terms of the dilution volume necessary to assimilate the pollution. For the period 1997-2001 the study shows that the worldwide consumption of cotton products requires 256 Gm3 of water per year, out of which about 42% is blue water, 39% green water and 19% dilution water. Impacts are typically cross-border. About 84% of the water footprint of cotton consumption in the EU25 region is located outside Europe, with major impacts particularly in India and Uzbekistan. Given the general lack of proper water pricing mechanisms or other ways of transmitting production-information, cotton consumers have little incentive to take responsibility for the impacts on remote water systems

Crisis? What Crisis? The Normality of the Current Food Crisis

The 2005–8 food crisis was a shock to political elites, but in some respects the situation was normal. Food policies are failing to respond adequately to the squeeze on land, people, health and environment. Strong evidence of systems failure and stress, termed here New Fundamentals, ought to reframe twenty-first century food politics and effort. Yet so far, international discourse is too often narrow and technical. The paper suggests that 2005–8 reinforced how the dominant twentieth century productionist policy paradigm is running out of steam. This assumed that producing more food would resolve social problems. Yet distortions in markets, access and culture remain. At national and international levels of governance, despite realization of the enormity of the challenge ahead, there is still a belief in slow incremental change

Globalisation of water: Opportunities and threats of virtual water trade

More information: http://www.taylorandfrancis.co.ukCivil Engineering and Geoscience

The water footprints of Morocco and the Netherlands

Although bulk water itself is not a tradable commodity, agricultural commodities – that generally consume a lot of water during production – are increasingly being traded. As a result, water use within a nation is no longer an appropriate indicator of national water demand, at least not if one takes the consumer’s perspective. The aim of the paper is to assess the water footprints of Morocco, a semi-arid / arid country, and the Netherlands, a humid country. The water footprint of a country is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The internal water footprint is the volume of water used from domestic water resources; the external water footprint is the volume of water used in other countries to produce goods and services imported and consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The study shows that both Morocco and the Netherlands import more water in virtual form (in the form of water-intensive agricultural commodities) than they export, which makes them dependent on water resources elsewhere in the world. The water footprint calculations show that Morocco depends for 14% on water resources outside its own borders, while the Netherlands depend on foreign water resources for 95%. It is shown that international trade can result in global water saving when a water-intensive commodity is traded from an area where it is produced with high water productivity to an area with lower water productivity. If Morocco had to domestically produce the products that are now imported from the Netherlands, it would require 780 million m3/yr. However, the imported products from the Netherlands were actually produced with only 140 million m3/yr, which implies a global water saving of 640 million m3/yr

Water footprints of nations: water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern

The water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption of people. The water footprint of a country is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The internal water footprint is the volume of water used from domestic water resources; the external water footprint is the volume of water used in other countries to produce goods and services imported and consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The study calculates the water footprint for each nation of the world for the period 1997–2001. The USA appears to have an average water footprint of 2480,m3/cap/yr, while China has an average footprint of 700,m3/cap/yr. The global average water footprint is 1240,m3/cap/yr. The four major direct factors determining the water footprint of a country are: volume of consumption (related to the gross national income); consumption pattern (e.g. high versus low meat consumption); climate (growth conditions); and agricultural practice (water use efficiency)

Water footprints of nations. Volume 1: Main Report

The water footprint concept has been developed in order to have an indicator of water use in relation to consumption of people. The water footprint of a country is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. Closely linked to the water footprint concept is the virtual water concept. Virtual water is defined as the volume of water required to produce a commodity or service. International trade of commodities implies flows of virtual water over large distances. The water footprint of a nation can be assessed by taking the use of domestic water resources, subtract the virtual water flow that leaves the country and add the virtual water flow that enters the country. The internal water footprint of a nation is the volume of water used from domestic water resources to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The external water footprint of a country is the volume of water used in other countries to produce goods and services imported and consumed by the inhabitants of the country. The study aims to calculate the water footprint for each nation of the world for the period 1997-2001. The use of domestic water resources comprises water use in the agricultural, industrial and domestic sectors. The total volume of water use in the agricultural sector is calculated based on the total volume of crop produced and its corresponding virtual water content. The virtual water content (m3/ton) of primary crops is calculated based on crop water requirements and yields. The crop water requirement of each crop is calculated using the methodology developed by FAO. The virtual water content of crop products is calculated based on product fractions (ton of crop product obtained per ton of primary crop) and value fractions (the market value of one crop product divided by the aggregated market value of all crop products derived from one primary crop). The virtual water content (m3/ton) of live animals is calculated based on the virtual water content of their feed and the volumes of drinking and service water consumed during their lifetime. The calculation of the virtual water content of livestock products is again based on product fractions and value fractions. Virtual water flows between nations are derived from statistics on international product trade and the virtual water content per product in the exporting country. The global volume of water used for crop production, including both effective rainfall and irrigation water, is 6390 Gm3/yr. In general, crop products have lower virtual water content than livestock products. For example, the global average virtual water content of maize, wheat and rice (husked) is 900, 1300 and 3000 m3/ton respectively, whereas the virtual water content of chicken meat, pork and beef is 3900, 4900 and 15500 m3/ton respectively. However, the virtual water content of products strongly varies from place to place, depending upon the climate, technology adopted for farming and corresponding yields. The global volume of virtual water flows related to the international trade in commodities is 1625 Gm3/yr. About 80% of these virtual water flows relate to the trade in agricultural products, while the remainder is related to industrial product trade. The global water footprint is 7450 Gm3/yr, which is 1240 m3/cap/yr. The differences between countries are large: the USA has an average water footprint of 2480 m3/cap/yr, while China has an average footprint of 700 m3/cap/yr. The four major factors determining the water footprint of a country are: volume of consumption a (related to the gross national income); consumption pattern (e.g. high versus low meat consumption); climate (growth conditions); and agricultural practice (water use efficiency). The countries with a relatively high rate of evapotranspiration and a high gross national income per capita (which often results in large consumption of meat and industrial goods) have large water footprints, such as: Portugal (2260 m3/yr/cap), Italy (2330 m3/yr/cap) and Greece (2390 m3/yr/cap). Some countries with a high gross national income per capita can have a relatively low water footprint due to favourable climatic conditions for crop production, such as the United Kingdom (1245 m3/yr/cap), the Netherlands (1220 m3/yr/cap), Denmark (1440 m3/yr/cap) and Australia (1390 m3/yr/cap). Some countries can exhibit a high water footprint because of high meat proportions in the diet of the people and high consumption of industrial products, such as the USA (2480 m3/yr/cap) and Canada (2050 m3/yr/cap). International water dependency is substantial. An estimated 16% of the global water use is not for producing domestically consumed products but products for export. With increasing globalisation of trade, global water interdependencies are likely to increase