An In-Depth Analysis of Physical Blue and Green Water Scarcity in Agriculture in Terms of Causes and Events and Perceived Amenability to Economic Interpretation

Abstract

An analytical review of physical blue and green water scarcity in terms of agricultural use, and its amenability to economic interpretation, is presented, employing more than 600 references. The main definitions and classifications involved and information about reserves and resources are critically analyzed, blue and green water scarcity are examined along with their interchange, while their causal connection with climate in general is analyzed along with the particular instances of Europe, Africa, Asia and the WANA region. The role of teleconnections and evaporation/moisture import-export is examined as forms of action at a distance. The human intervention scarcity driver is examined extensively in terms of land use land cover change (LULCC), as well as population increase. The discussion deals with following critical problems: green and blue water availability, inadequate accessibility, blue water loss, unevenly distributed precipitation, climate uncertainty and country level over global level precedence. The conclusion singles out, among others, problems emerging from the inter-relationship of physical variables and the difficulty to translate them into economic instrumental variables, as well as the lack of imbedding uncertainty in the underlying physical theory due to the fact that country level measurements are not methodically assumed to be the basic building block of regional and global water scarcity.

The Optical Characterization and Distribution of Dissolved Organic Matter in Water Regimes of Qilian Mountains Watershed

“…Fresh water is an essential resource for modern civilization. The human intervention scarcity of water was driven by land use land cover change, as well as population increases [ 1 ]. Global water scarcity is driven by water quality issues (water temperature, salinity, organic pollution and nutrients), and polluted return flows degrade water quality and exacerbate water scarcity.…”

Water Economics: An In-Depth Analysis of the Connection of Blue Water with Some Primary Level Aspects of Economic Theory I

“…In particular, these notions, as applicable to Blue Water, are directly connected, where possible, with primary sources of economic theory so as to obtain a direct connection with the foundations of economics and avoid the watering down and methodoriented omission and bias stemming from connections with directly applicable economics. This leads to a water economics framework which is conducive to theoretical development with water and economics connected at first principle level in conjunction with the physical aspects amenable to economic interpretation as seen in [19]. The methodology connections are displayed in Figure 1 in terms of the linkage of contributing factors to the main elements of this paper (colored boxes).…”

“…It is obvious that when we refer to water economics the three main variables that exert influence on water economic behavior are existing water supply (ground and hydrological cycle), climate and consumption/population in the regime of physical distributions, interconnections and constraints as seen in [19]. Their relationship is not clear-cut as they exhibit two interesting characteristics: there are multiple interactions between many different components and multiple elements adapt or react to the pattern these elements create.…”

Polar Ice as an Unconventional Water Resource: Opportunities and Challenges

“…Water scarcity is one of the largest global risks and is a major challenge to sustainable development and a potential source of conflict within and between countries, especially in arid and semiarid regions [1][2][3][4]. Over 60% of the global population lives in areas under water stress, where available water resources cannot meet demand for at least 1 month of the year [5,6].…”

“…The initial definition of UWRs, by Brewster and Buros [15], included saline water, wastewater, and available water in remote regions. According to a revised definition by Odendaal [16] and Qadir et al [17], UWR (1) is a source of water which has not been used in the past to meet normal water demands, (2) has main features which may lead to complications in using it for a specific goal, and (3) is not accessible for public use [18,19]. According to the latter definition, water harvesting from icebergs can be categorized as a UWR, as it provides a unique, pure, and reliable freshwater source that can be towed by vessels to various regions around the globe [20].…”