Virtual Water Trade as a Solution for Water Scarcity in Egypt

El‐Sadek, Alaa

doi:10.1007/s11269-009-9560-9

Cited by 53 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Acknowledging its potential contribution to understand the global redistribution of virtual water flows, hardly can this stand-alone global modeling approach in its current form attract potential users and policy makers at scales where decisions are typically made. In order to be beneficial, virtual water trade information needs to better align to the needs of (water) resource managers and policy makers at the national scale ( El-Sadek, 2010 ; Wichelns, 2001 ), and VWT models need to be used in combination with water models typically applied at national level to inform water allocation decisions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

National water, food, and trade modeling framework: The case of Egypt

Abdelkader

Elshorbagy

Tuninetti

et al. 2018

Science of The Total Environment

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This paper introduces a modeling framework for the analysis of real and virtual water flows at national scale. The framework has two components: (1) a national water model that simulates agricultural, industrial and municipal water uses, and available water and land resources; and (2) an international virtual water trade model that captures national virtual water exports and imports related to trade in crops and animal products. This National Water, Food & Trade (NWFT) modeling framework is applied to Egypt, a water-poor country and the world's largest importer of wheat. Egypt's food and water gaps and the country's food (virtual water) imports are estimated over a baseline period (1986–2013) and projected up to 2050 based on four scenarios. Egypt's food and water gaps are growing rapidly as a result of steep population growth and limited water resources. The NWFT modeling framework shows the nexus of the population dynamics, water uses for different sectors, and their compounding effects on Egypt's food gap and water self-sufficiency. The sensitivity analysis reveals that for solving Egypt's water and food problem non-water-based solutions like educational, health, and awareness programs aimed at lowering population growth will be an essential addition to the traditional water resources development solution. Both the national and the global models project similar trends of Egypt's food gap. The NWFT modeling framework can be easily adapted to other nations and regions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

National water, food, and trade modeling framework: The case of Egypt

Abdelkader

Elshorbagy

Tuninetti

et al. 2018

Science of The Total Environment

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“…In his seminal studies on virtual water, Allan [19,20] discussed how the Middle Eastern countries were able to overcome national water shortages through cereal imports. Many other important studies on Brazil, China, Cyprus, Egypt, the Middle East, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia also show the role of VWT in saving (and losses, if any) of domestic water resources for these countries [11][12][13][14][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

Section: Of 25mentioning

confidence: 94%

Sustainable Water Use for International Agricultural Trade: The Case of Pakistan

Ali

Nadeem

Riaz

et al. 2019

Water

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Sustainable use of resources is critical, not only for people but for the whole planet. This is especially so for freshwater, which in many ways determines the food security and long-term development of nations. Here, we use virtual water trade to analyze the sustainability of water used by Pakistan in the international trade of 15 major agricultural commodities between 1990 and 2016 and in 2030. Most of the existing country-level studies on virtual water trade focused on net virtual water importers, which are usually water-scarce countries as well. This is the first study to concentrate on a water-stressed net virtual water-exporting country. Our results show that Pakistan has been trading large and ever-increasing volumes of virtual water through agricultural commodities. Despite the overall small net export of total virtual water per year, Pakistan has been a net-exporter of large quantities of blue (fresh) virtual water through its trade, even by fetching a lower value for each unit of blue water exported. Given Pakistan’s looming water scarcity, exporting large volumes of blue virtual water may constrain the country’s food security and long-term economic development. Improving water use efficiency for the current export commodities, for example, rice and exploring less water-intensive commodities, for example, fruits and vegetables, for export purposes can help Pakistan achieve sustainable water use in the future.

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“…Some criticisms on virtual water are also worth noting. The most common ones are that the poor countries cannot afford virtual water import and virtual water import makes the receiving country dependent upon the international market [2]. These criticisms have been often voiced loudly at international meetings, workshops and n other national and international occasions.…”

Section: National Level: Role Of Virtual Water In Egyptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, there is no positive relation between supply and demand. Virtual water is economically invisible and politically silent [2]. This had made it possible in the past for water scarce countries to cope with the water deficit by importing food without cultivating a policy discourse of national water scarcity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual water: an effective mechanism for integrated water resources management

El‐Sadek¹

2011

Self Cite

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In regions, which suffer from water shortage or potential water shortage like the Middle East, water policies and different mitigation measures are formulated. With the increasing population and increasing demand for food and drinking water with the fixed supply of water, the demand management policies have been introduced. Virtual Water has been adopted as an alternative or potential alternative water resource. In the application of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), virtual water has to be considered as a resource of water. In this paper, the practical value of the virtual water concept as well as the possibility of the application of the concept in the regional and national level are discussed. The paper emphasizes on the application of virtual water in agriculture products and virtual water trade of these products. This research concluded that, there is a possibility for the application of the virtual water concept on the national level taking into account water endowments, and other natural and social economic conditions. The virtual water strategy seeks ways to consciously and efficiently utilize the internal and external water resources to alleviate water scarcity. This, however, by no means implies that importing food is the only response the water scarce countries and regions should and can take. Other measures concerning the supply and demand sides of water management are imperative. The argument here is that the virtual water strategy should be an integral component in the whole package of integrated water resources management

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Virtual Water Trade as a Solution for Water Scarcity in Egypt

Cited by 53 publications

References 16 publications

National water, food, and trade modeling framework: The case of Egypt

National water, food, and trade modeling framework: The case of Egypt

Sustainable Water Use for International Agricultural Trade: The Case of Pakistan

Virtual water: an effective mechanism for integrated water resources management

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