Virtual versus real water transfers within China

Ma, Jie; Hoekstra, Arjen Ysbert; Wang, Hao; Chapagain, Ashok; Wang, Dangxian

doi:10.1098/rstb.2005.1644

Cited by 201 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…However, many local and regional trade relationships lead to irrational water resource outcomes [Chapagain et al, 2006]. For example, food trade from northern to southern China amounts to a virtual water flow of 52 km 3 yr −1 , more than the proposed diversion of real water through the South-North Water Transfer Project [Ma et al, 2006]. This paradoxical outcome can only be explained when local norms and values prioritizing food security over adverse environmental outcomes and the combined structure of land, labor, energy, ecological, and water constraints are taken into account.…”

Section: Virtual Water Trade Paradoxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio‐hydrology: Use‐inspired water sustainability science for the Anthropocene

et al. 2014

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Water is at the core of the most difficult sustainability challenges facing humans in the modern era, involving feedbacks across multiple scales, sectors, and agents. We suggest that a transformative new discipline is necessary to address many and varied water-related challenges in the Anthropocene. Specifically, we propose socio-hydrology as a use-inspired scientific discipline to focus on understanding, interpretation, and scenario development of the flows and stocks in the humanmodified water cycle across time and space scales. A key aspect of socio-hydrology is explicit inclusion of two-way feedbacks between human and water systems, which differentiates socio-hydrology from other inter-disciplinary disciplines dealing with water. We illustrate the potential of socio-hydrology through three examples of water sustainability problems, defined as paradoxes, which can only be fully resolved within a new socio-hydrologic framework that encompasses such two-way coupling between human and water systems. Need for a Water Focus on Sustainability ScienceWater represents a key aspect of sustainability challenges facing humans in the Anthropocene [Maass et al., 1962;Falkenmark and Rockström, 2004]. Human appropriation of water resources and modification of landscapes exert an accelerating influence on water-cycle dynamics from local-to global scales and decadal-to century timescales [Vörösmarty et al., 2000]. Human actions scale up in surprising and unpredictable ways to generate a suite of diverse water sustainability challenges that must be incorporated into new approaches to water science and management.Examples of wicked problems that continue to vex scientists and policy makers include: trade-offs among ecosystems, hydropower, and livelihoods in the transnational Mekong Basin [Ziv et al., 2012]; effects of human settlements in flood-prone areas on increased flood risk and fatalities in Africa [Di Baldassarre et al., 2010]; and expanding hypoxic zones in the Gulf of Mexico resulting from nutrient loading in the agricultural headwaters of the Mississippi River [Turner and Rabalais, 2003]. Due to the urgency of these problems, contemporary scholarship should draw from natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, to better understand the dynamics arising from the two-way coupling between water and humans in each case.There have been calls for a transformative new water discipline that integrates the multiple perspectives needed for confronting water challenges in the Anthropocene. For example, we should build upon the tradition in hydrology to study relatively pristine systems, in which human actions tend to be incorporated simply through parametric approximation [Wagener et al., 2010], with richer understanding of coupled human-water system dynamics [Fishman et al., 2011]. Likewise, humanistic approaches to the study of water-law, philosophy, history, and ethics-can be further integrated with scientific knowledge [Wescoat, 2013]. The most effective way to create such a new discipline is to frame it a...

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Section: Virtual Water Trade Paradoxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio‐hydrology: Use‐inspired water sustainability science for the Anthropocene

et al. 2014

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“…Berkoff (2003) suggests that China might justify the large cost of its South-to-North Water Transfer Project in part by citing concerns regarding national food security and the large number of residents employed in agriculture on the North China Plain. Ma et al (2006) also examine commodity trade between south and north China, suggesting that in 1999 northern China exported 52 billion m 3 of virtual water in the crops it sent to southern China. This volume is larger than the proposed annual transfer of 38 billion m 3 of water from southern to northern China when the project is completed.…”

Section: Policy Relevance and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Water: A Helpful Perspective, but not a Sufficient Policy Criterion

Wichelns

2010

Water Resour Manage

129

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The topic of virtual water has received substantial attention in recent years, both in scholarly literature and the popular press. Many authors have described the "flow of virtual water" between countries that engage in the trade of agricultural crops and livestock products. Some have suggested that water-short countries should import water-intensive agricultural products from water-abundant countries, while using their limited domestic water resources for higher valued activities. While compelling at first, such a policy prescription can be misleading. Virtual water is a helpful phrase for describing the water required to produce agricultural products and other goods. Discussions of virtual water have been effective in encouraging public officials and citizens to focus on water scarcity issues. Yet the phrase is not based on an underlying conceptual framework. Hence, the virtual water perspective cannot be used alone as a criterion for selecting optimal policies. Trading strategies based on the virtual water perspective are not consistent with the economic concept of comparative advantage. In a similar fashion, distinguishing between the "blue water" and "green water" components of virtual water is helpful in a descriptive sense, but these phrases are not based on an underlying conceptual framework that can serve as a policy criterion for selecting among alternative policy options.

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“…Bulsink et al (2010) showed that the external virtual water flow relieved water scarcity in Java, a densely populated area in Indonesia where water scarcity is maximal. Ma et al (2006) quantified the volumes of virtual water flow between regions in China. They demonstrated that northern China exported 52 G m 3 of water in virtual form to southern China, more than the planned real water transfer from south to north via Water Transfer Projects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of the international virtual water flow of grain crop products in Korea

Yoo

Kim

et al. 2011

Paddy Water Environ

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The Korean 2008 self-sufficiency rate for grain was only 26.2%. Because of this, the quantity virtual water (VW) for crop product imports is much greater than that of other countries. International VW trade is especially important to Korea due to its dependency on foreign imports to maintain food security and to establish an agricultural water resource policy. Using international crop products trade statistics during 2003-2007, this study analyzed the virtual water content (VWC) and international virtual water flow (VWF) of major crops. The national water savings and global water savings were also estimated. Major grain products, including 28 products made from 13 crops, were selected for the analysis, based on the net import and export of products totaling more than 10,000 tons. VWCs were computed for the selected major crop products using the VWC of the primary crop of Korea. International VWFs were estimated using the VWC of each crop products. The amount of imported VW was 16,804 and 226 M m 3 was exported, so that the net imported VW was 16,578 M m 3 .VW import is concentrated in wheat, rice, maize (corn), and soybean crops. A small number of countries, including the USA, China, Brazil, etc., account for over 96% of the imported VW, indicating Korea's heavy dependence on these countries. The average national water savings for Korea and the average global water savings according to crop were estimated using VW flow from international crop products trade during 2003-2007. The estimate of national water savings was 23,870.3 M m 3 . Three major crops, namely wheat, maize and soybean, account for 95.3% of this total VW saving. Global water savings from the VW trade amounted to 7,253.0 M m 3 . Korea depends heavily on VW imports concentrated in specific crops and which are primarily imported from a particular set of countries. This indicates that Korea is vulnerable to disruptions in the international grain harvest such as those caused by natural disasters such as floods and drought. Any such disruption could easily become a critical issue for governmental planners who establish food and water supply policies for Korea.

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Virtual versus real water transfers within China

Cited by 201 publications

References 2 publications

Socio‐hydrology: Use‐inspired water sustainability science for the Anthropocene

Socio‐hydrology: Use‐inspired water sustainability science for the Anthropocene

Virtual Water: A Helpful Perspective, but not a Sufficient Policy Criterion

Estimation of the international virtual water flow of grain crop products in Korea

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