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

Mekonnen, Mesfin; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert

doi:10.5194/hessd-8-763-2011

Cited by 426 publications

(371 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…A corresponding journal paper (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011) is currently under discussion and review in HESS. We compared the results shown in the Tables 3 and 4 of the report with our BVWC and GVWC and noted a good agreement, except for groundnuts (their estimate is much lower for BVWC) and cassava (their estimate is much lower for GVWC).…”

Section: Blue and Green Virtual Water Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internal and external green-blue agricultural water footprints of nations, and related water and land savings through trade

Fader

Gerten

Thammer

et al. 2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

191

107

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Abstract. The need to increase food production for a growing world population makes an assessment of global agricultural water productivities and virtual water flows important. Using the hydrology and agro-biosphere model LPJmL, we quantify at 0.5 • resolution the amount of blue and green water (irrigation and precipitation water) needed to produce one unit of crop yield, for 11 of the world's major crop types. Based on these, we also quantify the agricultural water footprints (WFP) of all countries, for the period 1998-2002, distinguishing internal and external WFP (virtual water imported from other countries) and their blue and green components, respectively. Moreover, we calculate water savings and losses, and for the first time also land savings and losses, through international trade with these products. The consistent separation of blue and green water flows and footprints shows that green water globally dominates both the internal and external WFP (84 % of the global WFP and 94 % of the external WFP rely on green water). While no country ranks among the top ten with respect to all water footprints calculated here, Pakistan and Iran demonstrate high absolute and per capita blue WFP, and the US and India demonstrate high absolute green and blue WFPs. The external WFPs are relatively small (6 % of the total global blue WFP, 16 % of the total global green WFP). Nevertheless, current trade of the products considered here saves significant water volumes and land areas (∼263 km 3 and ∼41 Mha, respectively, equivalent to 5 % of the sowing area of the considered crops and 3.5 % of the annual precipitation on this area). Relating the proportions of external to internal blue/green WFP to the per capita WFPs allows recognizing that only a few countries consume more water from abroad than from their own territory and Correspondence to: M. Fader (mfader@pik-potsdam.de) have at the same time above-average WFPs. Thus, countries with high per capita water consumption affect mainly the water availability in their own country. Finally, this study finds that flows/savings of both virtual water and virtual land need to be analysed together, since they are intrinsically related.

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Section: Blue and Green Virtual Water Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internal and external green-blue agricultural water footprints of nations, and related water and land savings through trade

Fader

Gerten

Thammer

et al. 2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

191

107

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Soybean cultivations in above six potential substitute countries are mostly under rainfed condition (Mekonnen & Hoekstra, 2011), hence have little effects on blue water resources. Argentina, Canada, and Paraguay have similar or even higher soybean yields than Brazil (2.9 ton ha −1 year −1 ) in 2016 (Table 1), so require comparable land (relative to Brazil) to expand soybean production.…”

Section: 1029/2020ef001482mentioning

confidence: 99%

China's Food Supply Sources Under Trade Conflict With the United States and Limited Domestic Land and Water Resources

et al. 2020

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The U.S.‐China trade conflict has already considerably reshaped China's food imports, and should the conflict continue, it might have substantial impacts on global food supply dynamics as well as China's food supply sources. We address these implications by analyzing recent trends in China's food imports and associated use of land and water resources. We show that China's limited land and water availability will make it challenging to replace soybean imports from the United States with its own production, but switching to new trading partners by investment and cooperation could secure China's food supply while avoiding much negative environmental impacts on exporting countries.

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“…Domestic water demands-driven primarily by population and GDP-are elastic, forcing users to moderate consumption if prices increase (Hejazi et al, 2013). For all water demand sectors, technology costs, water use coefficients, and consumption efficiencies are specified at regional resolution, compiled from a wide range of data sets (Amarasinghe et al, 2005;Averyt et al, 2011;Davies et al, 2013;FAO, 2011;Gerdes & Nichols, 2009;IBNET, 2011;Macknick et al, 2012;Maheu, 2009;Mekonnen & Hoekstra, 2011;Rohwer et al, 2007;Shiklomanov & Balonishnikova, 2003;Solley et al, 1998;Vassolo & Döll, 2005).…”

Section: Global Change Assessment Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Groundwater Extraction Costs and Resource Depletion Limits on Simulated Global Nonrenewable Water Withdrawals Over the Twenty‐First Century

et al. 2019

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Future rates of global groundwater depletion will depend on the economic and environmental viability of extracting water from increasingly stressed aquifers. Here we analyze global groundwater depletion by considering these factors explicitly. Global gridded groundwater availability and extraction cost data are aggregated to produce nonrenewable resource supply curves for 235 major river basins and geopolitical regions. These resources are then exposed to dynamically generated demands for water in a fully coupled, multisectoral, global simulation. As groundwater head levels drop, imposing greater capital and operating costs to bring water to the surface, modeled water use sectors are able to deploy a range of supply‐ and demand‐driven adaptive responses. Results demonstrate large sensitivity in global groundwater depletion rates to adjustments in resource exploitability. Extraction costs moderate demands for nonrenewable water substantially, resulting in the onset of a decline in global groundwater depletion rates within the twenty‐first century. New groundwater depletion hot spots may emerge as crop producers abandon overexploited basins and expand croplands in regions with cheaper, more plentiful water resources.

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

Cited by 426 publications

References 36 publications

Internal and external green-blue agricultural water footprints of nations, and related water and land savings through trade

Internal and external green-blue agricultural water footprints of nations, and related water and land savings through trade

China's Food Supply Sources Under Trade Conflict With the United States and Limited Domestic Land and Water Resources

Influence of Groundwater Extraction Costs and Resource Depletion Limits on Simulated Global Nonrenewable Water Withdrawals Over the Twenty‐First Century

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