Assessment of green water flows to sustain major biomes of the world: Implications for future ecohydrological landscape management

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 843-851 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Rockström ◽  
L Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Management ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
The World

A step forward toward the high-resolution assessment of virtual water flows at the company’s scale

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena De Petrillo ◽  
Marta Tuninetti ◽  
Francesco Laio
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
The State ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Food Trade ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Final Consumer

<p>Through the international trade of agricultural goods, water resources that are physically used in the country of production are virtually transferred to the country of consumption. Food trade leads to a global redistribution of freshwater resources, thus shaping distant interdependencies among countries. Recent studies have shown how agricultural trade drives an outsourcing of environmental impacts pertaining to depletion and pollution of freshwater resources, and eutrophication of river bodies in distant producer countries. What is less clear is how the final consumer – being an individual, a company, or a community- impacts the water resources of producer countries at a subnational scale. Indeed, the variability of sub-national water footprint (WF in m<sup>3</sup>/tonne) due to climate, soil properties, irrigation practices, and fertilizer inputs is generally lost in trade analyses, as most trade data are only available at the country scale. The latest version of the Spatially Explicit Information on Production to Consumption Systems model  (SEI-PCS) by Trase provides detailed data on single trade flows (in tonne) along the crop supply chain: from local municipalities- to exporter companies- to importer companies – to the final consumer countries. These data allow us to capitalize on the high-resolution data of agricultural WF available in the literature, in order to quantify the sub-national virtual water flows behind food trade. As a first step, we assess the detailed soybean trade between Brazil and Italy. This assessment is relevant for water management because the global soybean flow reaching Italy may be traced back to 374 municipalities with heterogeneous agricultural practises and water use efficiency. Results show that the largest flow of virtual water from a Brazilian municipality to Italy -3.52e+07 m<sup>3</sup> (3% of the total export flow)- comes from Sorriso in the State of Mato Grosso. Conversely, the highest flow of blue water -1.56e+05 m<sup>3</sup>- comes from Jaguarão, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, located in the Brazilian Pampa. Further, the analysis at the company scale reveals that as many as 37 exporting companies can be identified exchanging to Italy;  Bianchini S.A is the largest virtual water trader (1.88 e+08 m<sup>3</sup> of green water and 3,92 e+06 m<sup>3</sup> of blue water), followed by COFCO (1,06 e+08 m<sup>3</sup> of green water and 6.62 m<sup>3</sup> of blue water)  and Cargill ( 6.96 e+07 m<sup>3</sup> of green water and 2.80 e+02 m<sup>3</sup> of blue water). By building the bipartite network of importing companies and municipalities originating the fluxes we are able to efficiently disaggregate the supply chains , providing novel tools to build sustainable water management strategies.</p>

scholarly journals Water saving through international trade of agricultural products

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Chapagain ◽  
A. Y. Hoekstra ◽  
H. H. G. Savenije
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Global Water ◽  
National Water

Abstract. Many nations save domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products and exporting commodities that are less water intensive. National water saving through the import of a product can imply saving water at a global level if the flow is from sites with high to sites with low water productivity. The paper analyses the consequences of international virtual water flows on the global and national water budgets. The assessment shows that the total amount of water that would have been required in the importing countries if all imported agricultural products would have been produced domestically is 1605 Gm3/yr. These products are however being produced with only 1253 Gm3/yr in the exporting countries, saving global water resources by 352 Gm3/yr. This saving is 28 per cent of the international virtual water flows related to the trade of agricultural products and 6 per cent of the global water use in agriculture. National policy makers are however not interested in global water savings but in the status of national water resources. Egypt imports wheat and in doing so saves 3.6 Gm3/yr of its national water resources. Water use for producing export commodities can be beneficial, as for instance in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Brazil, where the use of green water resources (mainly through rain-fed agriculture) for the production of stimulant crops for export has a positive economic impact on the national economy. However, export of 28 Gm3/yr of national water from Thailand related to rice export is at the cost of additional pressure on its blue water resources. Importing a product which has a relatively high ratio of green to blue virtual water content saves global blue water resources that generally have a higher opportunity cost than green water.

scholarly journals Fire regime and ecosystem responses: adaptive forest management in a changing world (Part 2)

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 471
Author(s):  
Daniel Moya ◽  
Giacomo Certini ◽  
Peter Z. Fulé
Keyword(s):  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Simulation Modelling ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
The World

Fire is an ecological factor in ecosystems around the world, made increasingly more critical by unprecedented shifts in climate and human population pressure. The knowledge gradually acquired on the subject is needed to improve fire behaviour understanding and to enhance fire management decision-making. This issue (Volume 28, issue 7, International Journal of Wildland Fire) is Part 2 of a special issue aimed at synthesising ongoing research on preventive management and post-fire restoration, including characterisation of the wildland–urban interface (WUI) and assessing the post-fire restoration of wilderness and WUI areas. Landscape management was also investigated using remote sensing techniques and simulation modelling to improve ecosystem resilience. As in Part 1 (Volume 28, issue 5, International Journal of Wildland Fire), the current issue covers diverse forest settings under scenarios of changing climate and land use. The broad geographical range of these studies highlights key similarities of wildfire issues around the world, but detailed data show unique local circumstances that must be considered. The new information from these six papers helps advance fire ecology and management during a period of rapid change.

Water budget fluxes in catchments under grassland and Eucalyptus plantations of different ages

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Decio Ferreto ◽  
José Miguel Reichert ◽  
Rosane Barbosa Lopes Cavalcante ◽  
Raghavan Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Flow ◽  
Water Budget ◽  
Development Stage ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Canopy Interception ◽  
Planted Forests ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Eucalyptus Plantations

The area with planted forests increased in the last decades and they have an important role in programs to sequester carbon. However, the effects of eucalyptus plantations on water resources in the Southern Grasslands biome are largely unknown, and we herein address water budget fluxes including green and blue flows. We evaluated green (canopy interception and evapotranspiration) and blue (discharge) water flows in three watersheds; two predominantly covered with Eucalyptus, either in the first years after planting or at the end of the rotation, and one with livestock-grazing grassland. We used field measurements of rainfall, streamflow and throughfall, and estimated canopy interception and evapotranspiration by water balance. Water flows in the monitored watersheds with eucalyptus plantations were influenced by forest development stage. Annual canopy interception and transpiration were always higher in the watersheds with eucalyptus than in the one with grassland, except for the transpiration in the first year after plantation in watershed with young eucalyptus. Increase in evapotranspiration (green water flow) and the consequent decrease in streamflow (blue water flow) should be considered in local water resources management. Studies on catchment hydrology and forest management for improved water use efficiency and streamflow regulation are required, particularly in understudied regions.

scholarly journals Vulnerabilities of the European Union’s Economy to Hydrological Extremes Outside its Borders

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ertug Ercin ◽  
Daniel Chico ◽  
Ashok K. Chapagain
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Green Water ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Current Water ◽  
External Water ◽  
The Eu

Climate change is leading to increased water scarcity and drought in many parts of the world. This has implications for the European Union (EU) because a lot of the water intensive goods consumed or used there are produced abroad. This makes the EU’s economy dependent on water resources well beyond its borders since when a country imports water intensive goods, indirectly it also imports virtual water (water needed to produce the imported goods). This study maps the EU’s global dependency on water resources outside its borders in terms of virtual water imports and assesses how water scarcity and drought may disrupt supplies of key food crops that it imports. The EU uses approximately 668 km3 of water for all of the goods it produces, consumes and exports, annually. Around 38% of that water comes from outside its borders, which means that the EU’s economy is highly dependent on the availability of water in other parts of the world. In the near future, supplies of certain crops to the EU could be disrupted due to water scarcity in other parts of the world; a large portion of the water used in producing soybeans, rice, sugarcane, cotton, almonds, pistachios and grapes for import to the EU comes from areas with significant or severe levels of water scarcity. Although the immediate risks to the EU’s economy are due to current water scarcity levels, any disruption to rainfall patterns that occur in the future, due to the effects of climate change in the countries of origin of key crops, could have a far greater impact. This is because as much as 92% of the EU’s total external water demand from agriculture is attributed to green water use, availability of which has relatively higher vulnerability to drought.

scholarly journals Oceanographic Observations from George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 178-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Lennon ◽  
J. Loynes ◽  
J.G. Paren ◽  
J.R. Potter
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Residual Flow ◽  
Ice Melting ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Linear Temperature ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Warm Deep Water ◽  
The World

Summer profiles of sea-water temperature, salinity and flow were obtained on George VI Ice Shelf near its northern ice front. At each depth, temperature salinity and density show little variation between sites. Their respective variation to 250 m depth confirms a linear temperature-salinity dependence. This is the first place in the world where observations confirm precisely the form of the T-S diagram predicted for fresh ice melting in sea-water. Both tidal and residual flow are small, except at the western margin of the ice front, where a strong outflow is concentrated immediately beneath the ice shelf. The observations lead to a simple circulation model for the ice-shelf regime. Warm Deep Water flows southwards into George VI Sound, replacing the colder water that spreads northwards in the surface outflow. Thermohaline exchanges beneath the ice shelf determine the salinity profile, which itself provides evidence of upwelling. Estimates can be made of the basal melt rate of the ice shelf. The rates vary from around 10 m a−1at the ice front to an average value for the ice shelf of order 1 m a−1. The average value is consistent with earlier estimates from surveys of ice-shelf strain.

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

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 1641-1660 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fader ◽  
D. Gerten ◽  
M. Thammer ◽  
J. Heinke ◽  
H. Lotze-Campen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Water ◽  
Green Water ◽  
World Population ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
The Us ◽  
Increase Food Production ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Water Volumes ◽  
Biosphere Model

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 km3 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 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.

scholarly journals Changes in Biodiversity in the National Nature Reserve of the Bohdanečský Pond from the Explorations by the Hadač Brothers in the 1950’s to the Present Times

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romana Prausová ◽  
Tereza Zlámalová ◽  
Lenka Bálková ◽  
Lenka Šafářová
Keyword(s):  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Habitat Diversity ◽  
Succession Management ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Current State ◽  
Spontaneous Succession ◽  
Floristic Data ◽  
Area Development

Abstract This paper deals with the botanically interesting locality of the Bohdanečský pond and its surroundings in the Pardubice region. Thanks to botanists’ interest in this locality, there is a lot of floristic data that can be used for evaluation of the area development in terms of species and habitat diversity. Although there is a demonstrable decline of rare plant species, this locality still belongs to the most valuable reserves in the Czech Republic. The current state of the locality is influenced by many factors, e.g. spontaneous succession, management methods of the NNR, the influence of landscape management around the NNR, or global factors (eutrophication, climate change, etc.). Present surveys carried out since 2000 show that the condition of the NNR can be positively influenced by appropriate controlled interventions which include regular meadow mowing and removal of harvested biomass, occasional mowing of reeds and tall sedge vegetation, as well as revitalisation measures for surface water (ponds, pools, water flows).

Goethe's “Delicate Empiricism”: Assessing its Value for Australian Ecologists

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
The World ◽  
Unique Approach ◽  
Science Application ◽  
Participatory Engagement

AbstractJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, recognised as a seminal German polymath, developed a unique approach for investigating nature, termed “delicate empiricism”. Goethe's approach uses empathy, imagination and intuition to promote a participatory engagement with the world. It goes beyond the dualistic-rationalism that defines “conventional” ecological research and can lead to novel insights. “Delicate empiricism” was applied in an ecologically-degraded agricultural landscape in the Brigalow Belt, Queensland, Australia, and its potential for increasing landscape understanding and providing a basis for land-use design was assessed. It was found that Goethe's approach led to holistic, qualitative landscape awareness, not ordinarily accessible via “conventional science”. Application of “delicate empiricism” also gave rise to a land-use design that refected the Australian-ness of the Brigalow Belt landscape, particularly the potential for recovery of native biodiversity values through retention of regrowth vegetation. Overall, the study suggested that there is merit in educating Australian ecologists about “delicate empiricism” to encourage more creative and sensitive landscape management, that is in sync with the environment.

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