Multisector analysis on water, economy, and climate change
Abstract
Although water is rarely traded over long distances by itself, the total weight of the water consumed to produce traded commodities exceeds the weight of any other commodity traded in the world. This concept is known as virtual water trade. Here, we use estimates of water consumption from a global hydrological model and statistical data related to food trade to elucidate three facts that explain the fundamental nature of virtual water trade with respect to alleviating water scarcity. First, we quantitatively illustrate the unique position of water among commodities based on its unit price and quantity of sales. Water has an extremely low unit price, and a tremendous volume of water is consumed per person each day. Second, we show that rich but water-scarce countries tend to reduce local water consumption by importing virtual water. Third, we demonstrate that nations characterized by net virtual water exports have higher water resources and income per capita and that no countries fall below a certain threshold with respect to both GDP and water resources. These points suggest that the virtual water trade is explained by economic characteristics of water and that sustainable development depends on promoting the co-development of poverty alleviation and water resource development. Further, physical and economic water scarcity are analyzed at 50 km resolution. We find that approximately 40.7 million people are living in areas with concurrent severe economic and water-scarcity constraints. These areas are mostly in semi-arid parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Climate change and social development will change both the available renewable freshwater and the capability to secure water supply, and the number and the population of economically challenged and water scarce will change.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMU006...02O
- Keywords:
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- 1630 Impacts of global change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 1807 Climate impacts;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1834 Human impacts;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 6344 System operation and management;
- POLICY SCIENCES & PUBLIC ISSUES