Global trade saves water
Global trade saves water!
Researchers of UNESCO-IHE and the University of Twente found an interesting effect of global trade on the worldwide use of water. In a recent study they show that international trade of crop and livestock products reduces worldwide water use in agriculture by 6 per cent.
The global water saving is achieved by the fact that agricultural products are often traded from regions with high to regions with low water productivity. If importing countries had produced all imported agricultural products domestically, they would have required 1605 billion m³ of water per year. The products are however being produced with only 1253 billion m³/yr in the exporting countries, saving global water resources by 352 billion m³/yr.
The results suggest that further globalization of trade offers opportunities for increasing the global water use efficiency. The researchers warn however that care should be taken. Saving domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products in countries that have relatively high water scarcity and low water productivity looks very attractive. But there are a number of drawbacks that have to be taken into account. Saving domestic water through import should explicitly be seen in the context of:
* the need to generate sufficient foreign exchange to import food which otherwise would be produced domestically;
* the risk of moving away from food self sufficiency that associates with the fear of being held to political ransom;
* increased urbanization in importing countries as import reduces employment in the agricultural sector;
* reduced access of the poor to food; and
* increased risk of environmental impact in exporting countries, which is generally not accounted for in the price of the imported products.
The full report can be downloaded as follows:
http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Report17.pdf
For further information please contact:
Prof.dr.ir. Arjen Y. Hoekstra / University of Twente
Phone +31 53 489 3880
E-mail waterfootprint@unesco-ihe.org
Website: www.waterfootprint.org