Trade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network

Abstract The virtual water (VW) trade associated to food is composed by the quantity of water utilized for the production of the crops exchanged on the global market. In assessing a country’s water abundance or scarcity when entering the international VW trade, scholars consider only physical water...

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Autores principales: Elena Vallino, Luca Ridolfi, Francesco Laio
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/9242223cfcbc4a9cbe64c757cae86e68
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:9242223cfcbc4a9cbe64c757cae86e682021-11-28T12:19:33ZTrade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network10.1038/s41598-021-01514-w2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/9242223cfcbc4a9cbe64c757cae86e682021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01514-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The virtual water (VW) trade associated to food is composed by the quantity of water utilized for the production of the crops exchanged on the global market. In assessing a country’s water abundance or scarcity when entering the international VW trade, scholars consider only physical water availability, neglecting economic water scarcity, which indicates situations in which socio-economic obstacles impede the productive use of water. We weight the global VW trade associated to primary crops with a newly proposed composite water scarcity index (CWSI) that combines physical and economic water scarcity. 39% of VW volumes is exported from countries with a higher CWSI than the one of the destination country. Such unfair routes occur both from low- to high-income countries and among low- and middle-income countries themselves. High-income countries have a predominant role in import of CWSI-weighted VW, while low- and middle-income countries dominate among the largest CWSI-weighted VW exporters. For many of them economic water scarcity dominates over physical scarcity. The application of the CWSI elicits also a status change from net exporter to net importer for some wealthy countries and viceversa for some low- and middle-income countries. The application of CWSI allows one to quantify to what extent VW exchanges flow along environmentally and economically unfair routes, and it can inform the design of compensation policies.Elena VallinoLuca RidolfiFrancesco LaioNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-18 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Elena Vallino
Luca Ridolfi
Francesco Laio
Trade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network
description Abstract The virtual water (VW) trade associated to food is composed by the quantity of water utilized for the production of the crops exchanged on the global market. In assessing a country’s water abundance or scarcity when entering the international VW trade, scholars consider only physical water availability, neglecting economic water scarcity, which indicates situations in which socio-economic obstacles impede the productive use of water. We weight the global VW trade associated to primary crops with a newly proposed composite water scarcity index (CWSI) that combines physical and economic water scarcity. 39% of VW volumes is exported from countries with a higher CWSI than the one of the destination country. Such unfair routes occur both from low- to high-income countries and among low- and middle-income countries themselves. High-income countries have a predominant role in import of CWSI-weighted VW, while low- and middle-income countries dominate among the largest CWSI-weighted VW exporters. For many of them economic water scarcity dominates over physical scarcity. The application of the CWSI elicits also a status change from net exporter to net importer for some wealthy countries and viceversa for some low- and middle-income countries. The application of CWSI allows one to quantify to what extent VW exchanges flow along environmentally and economically unfair routes, and it can inform the design of compensation policies.
format article
author Elena Vallino
Luca Ridolfi
Francesco Laio
author_facet Elena Vallino
Luca Ridolfi
Francesco Laio
author_sort Elena Vallino
title Trade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network
title_short Trade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network
title_full Trade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network
title_fullStr Trade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network
title_full_unstemmed Trade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network
title_sort trade of economically and physically scarce virtual water in the global food network
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/9242223cfcbc4a9cbe64c757cae86e68
work_keys_str_mv AT elenavallino tradeofeconomicallyandphysicallyscarcevirtualwaterintheglobalfoodnetwork
AT lucaridolfi tradeofeconomicallyandphysicallyscarcevirtualwaterintheglobalfoodnetwork
AT francescolaio tradeofeconomicallyandphysicallyscarcevirtualwaterintheglobalfoodnetwork
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