Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 5 • Number 16 • 16th September 2005
Global Water Savings Possible Through Strategic Trade
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Countries can save domestic water resources and reduce global water use by importing water-intensive products and exporting commodities that are less water intensive, according to a new report released this month. As outlined in “Saving water through global trade” by A.K. Chapagain, A.Y. Hoekstra and H.H.G. Savenije, national water saving through the import of a product can imply saving water at a global level if the flow is from sites with relatively high water productivity (commodities with a low “virtual water” content, i.e. that use a smaller quantity of water in their production process) to sites with low water productivity (commodities with a high virtual water content). The authors, through new research and analysis of global and national water savings for the period 1997-2001, estimate that virtual water flows save global water resources by 352 Gm3/yr, amounting to a six percent reduction in water use. In order to ensure that global water use is reduced and that scarce water resources are freed up for other uses, they suggest countries should take into account the efficiency of their water use and the value of alternative uses of their water when deciding what products to import and export. Such trading decisions are often made using the idea of comparative advantage, which says that nations can gain from trade if they concentrate or specialise in the production of goods and services for which they have a comparative advantage, while importing goods and services for which they have a comparative advantage. Considering water usage in the analysis of comparative advantage, the report suggests, will lead to trade gains that have higher sustainable development value. If a country uses water inefficiently relatively to other countries, and at the same time does not have enough water for sanitation or consumption, it may make sense for the country to import water-intensive crops such as cotton rather than use domestic water resources to produce them.
The report is available at http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Report17.pdf
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