 |
| Titel |
Local and global perspectives on the virtual water trade |
| VerfasserIn |
S. Tamea, P. Allamano, J. A. Carr, P. Claps, F. Laio, L. Ridolfi |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
Englisch
|
| ISSN |
1027-5606
|
| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ; 17, no. 3 ; Nr. 17, no. 3 (2013-03-19), S.1205-1215 |
| Datensatznummer |
250018833
|
| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/hess-17-1205-2013.pdf |
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
Recent studies on fluxes of virtual water are showing how the global food and
goods trade interconnects the water resources of different and distant
countries, conditioning the local water balances. This paper presents and
discusses the assessment of virtual water fluxes between a single country and
its network of trading partners, delineating a country's virtual water budget
in space and time (years 1986–2010). The fluxes between the country under
study and its importing/exporting partners are visualized with a geographical
representation shaping the trade network as a virtual river/delta. Time
variations of exchanged fluxes are quantified to show possible trends in the
virtual water balance, while characterizing the time evolution of the trade
network and its composition in terms of product categories (plant-based,
animal-based, luxury food, and non-edible). The average distance traveled by
virtual water to arrive to the place of consumption is also introduced as a
new measure for the analysis of globalization of the virtual water trade.
Using Italy as an example, we find that food trade has a steadily growing
importance compared to domestic production, with a major component
represented by plant-based products, and luxury products taking an
increasingly larger share (26% in 2010). In 2010 Italy had an average net
import of 55 km3 of virtual water (38 km3 in 1986), a value which
poses the country among the top net importers in the world. On average each
cubic meter of virtual water travels nearly 4000 km before entering Italy,
while export goes to relatively closer countries (average distance:
2600 km), with increasing trends in time which are almost unique among the
world countries. Analyses proposed for Italy are replicated for 10 other
world countries, triggering similar investigations on different
socio-economic actualities. |
| |
|
| Teil von |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|