Strategic importance of green water in international crop trade

Aldaya, Maite M.; Allan, John; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.11.001

Cited by 213 publications

(134 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Moreover, it is well established in the literature that, over time, international food trade has favored more efficient use of water resources, at the global level (e.g. Aldaya, Allan, & Hoekstra, 2010;Chapagain, Hoekstra, & Savenije, 2006;De Fraiture, Cai, Amarasinghe, Rosegrant, & Molden, 2004;Oki & Kanae, 2004). This fact, together with our conclusions, highlights the important role of international trade in driving the efficient allocation of water resources.…”

Section: Policy Implications and Concluding Remarkssupporting

confidence: 54%

Virtual Water Trade and Country Vulnerability: A Network Perspective

Sartori

Schiavo

2014

SSRN Journal

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We analyze the link between virtual water trade, that is, the flow of water embodied in the international trade of agricultural goods, and vulnerability to external shocks from the vantage point of network analysis. While a large body of work has shown that virtual water trade can enhance water saving on a global scale, being especially beneficial to arid countries, there are increasing concerns that more openness makes countries more dependent on foreign food suppliers and especially more susceptible to external shocks. Our evidence reveals that the increased globalization witnessed in the last 30 years is not associated with the increased frequency of adverse shocks (in either precipitation or food production). Furthermore, building on recent advances in network analysis that connect the stability of a complex system to the interaction between the distribution of shocks and the network topology, we find that the world is more interconnected, but not necessarily less stable.

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Section: Policy Implications and Concluding Remarkssupporting

confidence: 54%

Virtual Water Trade and Country Vulnerability: A Network Perspective

Sartori

Schiavo

2014

SSRN Journal

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“…Green water is by far the main source of water used for wheat cultivation in all countries. The water footprint of wheat is overwhelmingly green as its production is dominantly rainfed, as confirmed by other studies [39,40]. It is important to distinguish green and blue water resources, as they fundamentally differ in terms of opportunity costs and for informing food and water policy-making.…”

Section: Environmental Products Declarationsmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…It is important to distinguish green and blue water resources, as they fundamentally differ in terms of opportunity costs and for informing food and water policy-making. Compared to blue water, green water has a far lower opportunity cost, as it cannot be easily reallocated to uses other than agriculture or vegetation, and its use has relatively few externalities with respect to irrigation [40,41]. Using green water for agricultural production is generally efficient in terms of opportunity cost, because its use for vegetation growth generally yields lower economic value than crop production [42].…”

Section: Environmental Products Declarationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Business Engagement with Sustainable Water Resource Management through Water Footprint Accounting: The Case of the Barilla Company

Antonelli

Ruini

2015

Sustainability

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This study investigates business engagement in sustainable water management, focusing on water footprint accounting as a tool to account for water use in food supply chains. An explorative analysis is conducted on the Barilla Company. The study explores two corporate strategies aimed at achieving more sustainable water use: the adoption of environmental products declarations (EPDs), a reporting system that accounts for the environmental footprints of Barilla's pasta and other products; and the implementation of the Aureo Wheat Programme. The study deployed both primary and secondary data. The study shows that the largest share of the water footprint of pasta relates to the cultivation phase (over 90%), which is almost fully rainfed. EPDs show that the water footprint of the other phases of the supply chain is negligible. It is argued that the use of water footprinting in EPDs can raise awareness about water use in agricultural supply chains to reach a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including consumers. The study also shows that the implementation of the Aureo Wheat Programme, consisting of a shift in cultivation site and in the type of wheat, enabled a reduction in the blue water footprint of pasta, with water savings amounting to 35 million m 3 of blue water since 2011.

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“…1. Aldaya et al (2009) then specified soil water from irrigation, either from ground or surface sources, to be classified as blue water, which proceeding studies have corroborated (Hanasaki et al 2010;Hoekstra et al 2012;Montesinos et al 2011;Zoumides et al 2013). Virtual water content includes both blue and green water, with blue water as the most 'manageable' component, leaving considerations of green water efficiency often overlooked (Aldaya et al 2009;Falkenmark and Rockstrom 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Though useful for general, widespread comparisons, the distinction between blue and green water were not made and the blue water sources were not identified. Aldaya et al (2009) estimated the proportions of blue and green water in the VWC of corn, soybean and wheat, exported from USA, Canada, Argentina and Australia. Green water of a crop was taken equal to the lower of either the effective rainfall or the crop water requirement, and blue water was equal to the irrigation water used.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Crop Groundwater and Surface Water Consumption Using Blue and Green Virtual Water Contents at a Subwatershed Scale

Starr

Levison

2014

Environ. Process.

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Large irrigation water withdraws are required where increasing development demands agricultural expansion. In many jurisdictions there is little documentation of agricultural water use, especially groundwater abstraction. Although primarily employed at a national scale, the concept of virtual water is used to calculate regional water-use. The main objective is to analyze watershed-scale crop-specific water consumption to identify local stresses and affected water systems. The 398 km 2 quaternary watershed of Whitemans Creek in Ontario, Canada, is evaluated using an approach that can be applied to other locations using often-available data. Virtual water (VW) of major field crops is calculated for 1983, 2011 and 2012, using methods outlined in the FAO and Drainage Paper No. 56. The blue and green VW components are identified. Blue water is specified as ground or surface water, and green water as available soil water. Water consumption results are compared with the regional water budget. For 2011, green and blue VW requirements were 3,540 and 157 L/s, respectively. The blue water, over 80 % sourced from groundwater, was comparable to the 151 L/s agricultural water consumption estimate from the local water budget using general extraction coefficients. With agriculture in the subwatershed using 95 % of the daily permitted blue water takings, identifying high water consumers and their withdrawal sources is important for land-use and water conservation planning. The VW calculations, using real climate data and crop inventory, provide field-scale information that can be applied as alternatives to general crop extraction coefficients.

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Strategic importance of green water in international crop trade

Cited by 213 publications

References 24 publications

Virtual Water Trade and Country Vulnerability: A Network Perspective

Virtual Water Trade and Country Vulnerability: A Network Perspective

Business Engagement with Sustainable Water Resource Management through Water Footprint Accounting: The Case of the Barilla Company

Identification of Crop Groundwater and Surface Water Consumption Using Blue and Green Virtual Water Contents at a Subwatershed Scale

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