Impact of international trade on water scarcity: An assessment by improving the Falkenmark indicator

Zhong, Rui1; Chen, Aifang1; Zhao, Dandan1,2; Mao, Ganquan1; Zhao, Xu3; Huang, Hao1; Liu, Junguo1

2023-01-20

10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135740

Journal of Cleaner Production   Impact Factor & Quartile

0959-6526

1879-1786

Water scarcity, a threat to the sustainable development of human society, is determined mainly by water resource endowment and human water withdrawals. International trade may affect national water withdrawal, indirectly influencing nationwide water scarcity. However, most previous studies could not disentangle the in-direct water consumption for local consumption and international trade purposes, failing to assess the sole impact of trade on water scarcity. Here, we developed an improved Falkenmark indicator to separate the effect of trade-related water withdrawal on water scarcity. Results show that international trade alleviates water scarcity for 2.2 billion people in high and upper-middle income countries. However, it aggravates water scarcity for 2.1 billion people in low and lower-middle income countries, of which almost all countries are already facing water scarcity and some even are of severe scarcity. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the primary product and food sectors contribute most significantly to intensifying and alleviating water scarcity, respectively. Hence, much greater attention needs to be paid to low and lower-middle income water-scarce countries since international trade could make these countries drier, which is becoming more important to improve the sustainability of global water resources management with a changing climate.

Global trade Virtual water Water scarcity Falkenmark indicator Input-output model

SCI

English

First ; Corresponding

National Key R&D Program of China[2017YFA0603704] ; Strategic Priority Research Pro-gram of the Chinese Academy of Sciences[XDA20100104] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[42101025]

Science & Technology - Other Topics ; Engineering ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Green & Sustainable Science & Technology ; Engineering, Environmental ; Environmental Sciences

WOS:000914022800001

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Web of Science

1.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Sch Environm Sci & Engn, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
2.Aalto Univ, Dept Built Environm, Water & Dev Res Grp, 15200, Espoo 00076, Finland
3.Shandong Univ, Inst Blue & Green Dev, Weihai 264209, Peoples R China

Zhong, Rui,Chen, Aifang,Zhao, Dandan,et al. Impact of international trade on water scarcity: An assessment by improving the Falkenmark indicator[J]. Journal of Cleaner Production,2023,385.

Zhong, Rui.,Chen, Aifang.,Zhao, Dandan.,Mao, Ganquan.,Zhao, Xu.,...&Liu, Junguo.(2023).Impact of international trade on water scarcity: An assessment by improving the Falkenmark indicator.Journal of Cleaner Production,385.

Zhong, Rui,et al."Impact of international trade on water scarcity: An assessment by improving the Falkenmark indicator".Journal of Cleaner Production 385(2023).