The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products

Mekonnen, Mesfin; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert

doi:10.5194/hess-15-1577-2011

Cited by 1,884 publications

(1,798 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Fischer (2011) analyzed livestock feed energy balances and found that in 2000 about 55% to 60% of available grassland biomass globally was required for animal feeding. Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2010) highlighted the water footprint of livestock production on a global scale. A further concern is the sector's contribution to climate change and pollution.…”

Section: Climate Change and Livestock -A Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to climate change – exploring the potential of locally adapted breeds

Hoffmann

2013

Animal

102

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The livestock sector and agriculture as a whole face unprecedented challenges to increase production while improving the environment. On the basis of a literature review, the paper first discusses challenges related to climate change, food security and other drivers of change in livestock production. On the basis of a recent discourse in ecology, a framework for assessing livestock species' and breeds' vulnerability to climate change is presented. The second part of the paper draws on an analysis of data on breed qualities obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization's Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) to explore the range of adaptation traits present in today's breed diversity. The analysis produced a first mapping of a range of ascribed adaptation traits of national breed populations. It allowed to explore what National Coordinators understand by 'locally adapted' and other terms that describe general adaptation, to better understand the habitat, fodder and temperature range of each species and to shed light on the environments in which targeted search for adaptation traits could focus.Keywords: climate change, livestock, breeds, adaptation, habitat ImplicationsAdaptation is necessary to respond adequately to climate change, food security and livelihoods needs, and natural resources conservation. The paper highlights the paucity of comprehensive data on the adaptive capacity of breeds and their management but also gives a glimpse of the range of options available in the genetic diversity of the world's livestock. Particularly in today's extreme environments, adaptation traits including tolerance of climatic extremes and adaptation to poor-quality diets can be found on which targeted search for adaptation traits could focus. Better characterization of locally adapted breeds will be a key for adaptation breeding or exchange of genetics. IntroductionBetween 1980 and 2010, the livestock sector has seen impressive production increases, with global output growing by more than 4% annually. The global trends mask high variation in productivity between livestock production systems, both within and between regions. The increase in livestock production in developing countries has come from increases in animal numbers rather than productivity increases. The variations in productivity are larger in ruminants than in monogastric species for which industrial systems prevail in both developed and developing regions. The most revolutionary change is in poultry production, which has an annual growth rate of more than 10%; its share in world meat production increased from 13% in the mid-1960s to 35% in 2010mid-1960s to 35% in (FAO, 2010a FAOSTAT, 2013).The growing demand for animal food products is met increasingly through industrial systems. Extrapolating the figures of Steinfeld et al. (2006), industrial systems utilizing sophisticated technology and based on internationally sourced feed and animal genetics produced about 55% of pork, 68% of eggs and 74% of poultry meat globally in 2009. This trend...

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Section: Climate Change and Livestock -A Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to climate change – exploring the potential of locally adapted breeds

Hoffmann

2013

Animal

102

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“…In the meantime however, the average water footprint of almond cultivation is 8047 m 3 /ton, approximately twice as much as cotton, and twenty three to forty times more than the other main arable commodities -strawberries (347 m 3 /ton), tomatoes (214 m 3 /ton) and lettuce (237 m 3 /ton) (Mekonnen & Hoekstra 2010). Annually, California has approximately 53 billion m 3 of water available (combining surface water that is diverted and groundwater pumped to the surface).…”

Section: Disturbances and Resilience In Food Systems: Drought In Calimentioning

confidence: 99%

Adapting a social-ecological resilience framework for food systems

2015

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The purpose of applying social-ecological resilience thinking to food systems is twofold: First, to define those factors that help achieve a state in which food security for all and at all scales is possible. Second, to provide insights into how to maintain the system in this desirable regime. However, the resilience of food systems is distinct from the broader conceptualizations of resilience in social-ecological systems because of the fundamentally normative nature of food systems: humans need food to survive, and thus system stability is typically a primary policy objective for food system management. However, society also needs food systems that can intensify sustainably i.e., feed everybody equitably, provide livelihoods and avoid environmental degradation while responding flexibly to shocks and uncertainty. Today's failure in meeting food security objectives can be interpreted as the lack of current governance arrangements to consider the full and differential dimensions of food system functions -economic, ecological and social -at appropriate scales: in other words, the multifunctionality of food. We focus on functional and response diversity as two key attributes of resilient, multifunctional food systems; respectively, the number of different functional groups and the diversity of types of responses to disturbances within a functional group. Achieving food security will require functional redundancy and enhanced response diversity, creating multiple avenues to fulfill all food system objectives. We use the 2013-15 drought in California to unpack the potential differences between managing for a single function -economic profit -and multiple functions. Our analysis emphasizes how the evolution of the Californian food system has reduced functional and response diversity and created vulnerabilities. Managing for the resilience of food systems will require a shift in priorities from profit maximization to the management for all functions that create full food security at multiple scales.

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“…Results of a modelling study using the CROPWAT model indicate that the use of water for low value crops is a major concern in the Guadiana basin and that future water management policy should emphasize "more cash and nature per drop" (Aldaya and Llamas, 2009, p. 2). A global water footprint study by Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011), also using CROPWAT, suggests that crop water footprints are influenced by agricultural management practices rather than climate and that this presents an opportunity for improved water productivity. Different footprint analyses for the same area can exhibit great variability as a result of the many assumptions and uncertainties introduced to the model, especially regarding crop properties.…”

Section: Uses Of Hydrological Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Streamflow Modelling: A Primer on Applications, Approaches and Challenges

2012

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This article examines the current practice of streamflow modelling, a field under development for over a century. A sample of the wide range of assessment and planning applications of streamflow models is presented. The diversity in the use of these models is mirrored in the diversity of model complexity, and modelling approaches ranging from empirical to physically based and from lumped to fully distributed are described with examples. Predictions derived from hydrological models are subject to many sources of error; these are discussed along with methods for error minimization or anticipation. Model error is generally quantified using an ensemble of forecasts meant to sample the range of predictive uncertainty. This ensemble can be used to generate reliable probabilistic forecasts of hydrological quantities if all sources of error are accounted for. To date, applications of ensemble methods in streamflow forecasting have typically focused on only one or two error sources. A challenge will be to develop ensemble streamflow forecasts that sample a wider range of predictive uncertainty.

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The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products

Cited by 1,884 publications

References 39 publications

Adaptation to climate change – exploring the potential of locally adapted breeds

Adaptation to climate change – exploring the potential of locally adapted breeds

Adapting a social-ecological resilience framework for food systems

Streamflow Modelling: A Primer on Applications, Approaches and Challenges

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