On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security

The paper addresses the sustainability of the European Union’s food consumption through a water footprint assessment of selected vulnerable agricultural imports from a two-pronged perspective: (1) the degree of the EU’s dependence on global green water resources embedded in the apparent consumption...

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Autores principales:	Alina Petronela Alexoaei, Valentin Cojanu, Cristiana-Ioana Coman
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	water footprint virtual water agricultural trade food sustainability Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/dc4857d4e84d497db342bcd1cfa4d4a1
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:dc4857d4e84d497db342bcd1cfa4d4a12021-11-11T19:38:00ZOn Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security10.3390/su1321119522071-1050https://doaj.org/article/dc4857d4e84d497db342bcd1cfa4d4a12021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11952https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050The paper addresses the sustainability of the European Union’s food consumption through a water footprint assessment of selected vulnerable agricultural imports from a two-pronged perspective: (1) the degree of the EU’s dependence on global green water resources embedded in the apparent consumption of selected water-intensive agricultural products and (2) the degree of commitment of countries of origin to sustainability policies. The study argues that the vulnerability of the EU’s agricultural imports to water risks can be estimated based on the amount of green water consumed in producing crops in the countries of origin. The results show that the EU’s consumption of agricultural goods is highly dependent on virtual water imports for all six selected vulnerable agricultural products, from the lowest footprint for bananas (5 mil. km<sup>3</sup>) to the largest for coffee (69 mil. km<sup>3</sup>). The analysis also points to a greater concern for quality issues in the countries of origin (56.53%) relative to management (26.52%) and availability issues (16.85%), but the latter are to arise in importance for sustainable production in the years to come. Our conclusions contribute to building up a responsible commitment towards (1) development of environmental policies and the design of practical measures by providing quantitative information that makes problems more clearly defined and tangible, and (2) assessing the outcome of policies and practical measures by understanding their effects on the sustainability of food consumption.Alina Petronela AlexoaeiValentin CojanuCristiana-Ioana ComanMDPI AGarticlewater footprintvirtual wateragricultural tradefood sustainabilityEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 11952, p 11952 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	water footprint virtual water agricultural trade food sustainability Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	water footprint virtual water agricultural trade food sustainability Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Alina Petronela Alexoaei Valentin Cojanu Cristiana-Ioana Coman On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security
description	The paper addresses the sustainability of the European Union’s food consumption through a water footprint assessment of selected vulnerable agricultural imports from a two-pronged perspective: (1) the degree of the EU’s dependence on global green water resources embedded in the apparent consumption of selected water-intensive agricultural products and (2) the degree of commitment of countries of origin to sustainability policies. The study argues that the vulnerability of the EU’s agricultural imports to water risks can be estimated based on the amount of green water consumed in producing crops in the countries of origin. The results show that the EU’s consumption of agricultural goods is highly dependent on virtual water imports for all six selected vulnerable agricultural products, from the lowest footprint for bananas (5 mil. km<sup>3</sup>) to the largest for coffee (69 mil. km<sup>3</sup>). The analysis also points to a greater concern for quality issues in the countries of origin (56.53%) relative to management (26.52%) and availability issues (16.85%), but the latter are to arise in importance for sustainable production in the years to come. Our conclusions contribute to building up a responsible commitment towards (1) development of environmental policies and the design of practical measures by providing quantitative information that makes problems more clearly defined and tangible, and (2) assessing the outcome of policies and practical measures by understanding their effects on the sustainability of food consumption.
format	article
author	Alina Petronela Alexoaei Valentin Cojanu Cristiana-Ioana Coman
author_facet	Alina Petronela Alexoaei Valentin Cojanu Cristiana-Ioana Coman
author_sort	Alina Petronela Alexoaei
title	On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security
title_short	On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security
title_full	On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security
title_fullStr	On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security
title_full_unstemmed	On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security
title_sort	on sustainable consumption: the implications of trade in virtual water for the eu’s food security
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/dc4857d4e84d497db342bcd1cfa4d4a1
work_keys_str_mv	AT alinapetronelaalexoaei onsustainableconsumptiontheimplicationsoftradeinvirtualwaterfortheeusfoodsecurity AT valentincojanu onsustainableconsumptiontheimplicationsoftradeinvirtualwaterfortheeusfoodsecurity AT cristianaioanacoman onsustainableconsumptiontheimplicationsoftradeinvirtualwaterfortheeusfoodsecurity
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On Sustainable Consumption: The Implications of Trade in Virtual Water for the EU’s Food Security

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